Flying Very Close to Airport

[gabe_air2s]

Hey everyone, later this week I will be doing a drone shoot for a university that is under 5 miles from an airport. I have already communicated with someone at the school who is in charge of UAV operations and I have approval to fly from the university. I have also communicated with the airport manager and have gotten a waiver to fly from him. I am also operating under part 107 of course. I know that I will need to communicate with the ATC prior to flight and possibly during the flight. But here’s my question: will I still need to apply to fly through LAANC or DroneZone? Thanks

 

[B52-D]

Hey everyone, later this week I will be doing a drone shoot for a university that is under 5 miles from an airport. I have already communicated with someone at the school who is in charge of UAV operations and I have approval to fly from the university. I have also communicated with the airport manager and have gotten a waiver to fly from him. I am also operating under part 107 of course. I know that I will need to communicate with the ATC prior to flight and possibly during the flight. But here’s my question: will I still need to apply to fly through LAANC or DroneZone? Thanks

In my opinion I would say you will need LAANC authorization as long as you are in controlled/restricted airspace.
B52-D
Blue Skys and Happy Contrails

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

It depends on the airport. The map in Aloft (and probably the other LAANC apps) will tell you if you need clearance from the FAA. You don't need clearance unless you are in controlled airspace (class B, C, D or surface E).

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

In my opinion I would say you will need LAANC authorization as long as you are in restricted airspace.
B52-D
Blue Skys and Happy Contrails

The key is whether or not it is controlled airspace. Not all airports have associated controlled airspace.

 

[gabe_air2s]

In my opinion I would say you will need LAANC authorization as long as you are in restricted airspace.
B52-D
Blue Skys and Happy Contrails

In my opinion I would say you will need LAANC authorization as long as you are in restricted airspace.
B52-D
Blue Skys and Happy Contrails

It depends on the airport. The map in Aloft (and probably the other LAANC apps) will tell you if you need clearance from the FAA. You don't need clearance unless you are in controlled airspace (class B, C, D or surface E).

Thanks

 

[sar104]

Hey everyone, later this week I will be doing a drone shoot for a university that is under 5 miles from an airport. I have already communicated with someone at the school who is in charge of UAV operations and I have approval to fly from the university. I have also communicated with the airport manager and have gotten a waiver to fly from him. I am also operating under part 107 of course. I know that I will need to communicate with the ATC prior to flight and possibly during the flight. But here’s my question: will I still need to apply to fly through LAANC or DroneZone? Thanks

1. The distance from the airport is not a determining factor;
2. A university has no airspace authority - you don't need approval from them, unless you mean simply to operate from their property;
3. Airport managers have no airspace authority and cannot issue waivers;
4. Communication with ATC is only required if you are flying in controlled airspace and your FAA authorization to fly there explicitly requires it as a condition of flight;
5. Whether or not you need to apply to the FAA for authorization depends entirely on the class of airspace that you will be operating in. In controlled airspace you always need it.

It sounds like you are confusing current Part 107 requirements with defunct recreational requirements. That you could be Part 107 certified and not know all of that is rather worrying.

 

[gabe_air2s]

The key is whether or not it is controlled airspace. Not all airports have associated controlled airspace.

Also, what is the difference between DroneZone and Laanc?

 

[sar104]

Also, what is the difference between DroneZone and Laanc?

LAANC is an automated system to get authorization for controlled airspace up to pre-determined heights. It's not yet implemented around all airports. Dronezone allows you to put in requests for airspace not yet covered by LAANC or where you want to exceed the pre-determined LAANC heights, or for other kinds of waivers.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

LAANC is available at selected airports. You can find the coverage at https://www.faa.gov/uas/commercial_operators/uas_facility_maps/

In most cases LAANC clearance is automatic and pretty much immediate, as long as you are requesting an appropriate altitude. If you are requesting clearance in airspace that is controlled but does not offer LAANC, or you are requesting access outside the permissible altitudes, you need to route your request through DroneZone, and it will take longer (I haven't done it myself, but I believe it is days or weeks).

 

[gabe_air2s]

1. The distance from the airport is not a determining factor;
2. A university has no airspace authority - you don't need approval from them, unless you mean simply to operate from their property;
3. Airport managers have no airspace authority and cannot issue waivers;
4. Communication with ATC is only required if you are flying in controlled airspace and your FAA authorization to fly there explicitly requires it as a condition of flight;
5. Whether or not you need to apply to the FAA for authorization depends entirely on the class of airspace that you will be operating in. In controlled airspace you always need it.

It sounds like you are confusing current Part 107 requirements with defunct recreational requirements. That you could be Part 107 certified and not know all of that is rather worrying.

Sorry man, I didn’t make what I said very clear. I had to get clearance from the university to operate on their property. And the letter I got from the airport manager was a letter of agreement between me, the airport, and the ATC. I apologize for not making that clear

 

[gabe_air2s]

LAANC is an automated system to get authorization for controlled airspace up to pre-determined heights. It's not yet implemented around all airports. Dronezone allows you to put in requests for airspace not yet covered by LAANC or where you want to exceed the pre-determined LAANC heights, or for other kinds of waivers.

Thanks

 

[sar104]

Sorry man, I didn’t make what I said very clear. I had to get clearance from the university to operate on their property. And the letter I got from the airport manager was a letter of agreement between me, the airport, and the ATC. I apologize for not making that clear

It's still not clear. The airport manager is not authorized to make any kind of agreement between you, him and ATC. In fact the FAA expressly forbids that kind of arrangement. That's not how it works.

 

[gabe_air2s]

Hey guys, I’m going to re-ask my question. After reading back over it I realized that what I wrote was not all that clear.

So I have operated in class d airspace a few times before without any issues. But where I will be flying for this university, I am required to submit a waiver when unlocking the area where I will be flying (in DJI FlySafe). I will attach a couple of pictures below to help describe what I am talking about. Originally, I thought that the letter that I got from the airport was what I was supposed to provide, but I am unsure of that now. What is confusing me is that I have operated in this airspace before without going through LAANC. Or is the DJI FlySafe geo zone unlocking connected with LAANC?

I appreciate all of the responses and I hope that this clears it up.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

Hey guys, I’m going to re-ask my question. After reading back over it I realized that what I wrote was not all that clear.

So I have operated in class d airspace a few times before without any issues. But where I will be flying for this university, I am required to submit a waiver when unlocking the area where I will be flying (in DJI FlySafe). I will attach a couple of pictures below to help describe what I am talking about. Originally, I thought that the letter that I got from the airport was what I was supposed to provide, but I am unsure of that now. What is confusing me is that I have operated in this airspace before without going through LAANC. Or is the DJI FlySafe geo zone unlocking connected with LAANC?

I appreciate all of the responses and I hope that this clears it up.

I just answered this question here: Mavic Air 2s question
I assume you used DJI FlySafe zone unlocking to fly previously. That's the technology side. You are still required to get clearance through LAANC to be legal.

I'm guessing that now you are operating closer to the airport, and are probably, per DJI terminology, in a restricted zone rather than an authorization zone. If that is the case, you need legal clearance through the FAA DroneZone, and then you need to upload that clearance to request a custom unlock from DJI. Neither process is automatic, so allow extra time for both the clearance and the unlock.

 

[gabe_air2s]

Hey guys, I’m going to re-ask my question. After reading back over it I realized that what I wrote was not all that clear.

So I have operated in class d airspace a few times before without any issues. But where I will be flying for this university, I am required to submit a waiver when unlocking the area where I will be flying (in DJI FlySafe). I will attach a couple of pictures below to help describe what I am talking about. Originally, I thought that the letter that I got from the airport was what I was supposed to provide, but I am unsure of that now. What is confusing me is that I have operated in this airspace before without going through LAANC. Or is the DJI FlySafe geo zone unlocking connected with LAANC?

I appreciate all of the responses and I hope that this clears it up.

Here are the photos. If you read the highlights, you’ll see where I thought I needed an airport document

 

[sar104]

Hey guys, I’m going to re-ask my question. After reading back over it I realized that what I wrote was not all that clear.

So I have operated in class d airspace a few times before without any issues. But where I will be flying for this university, I am required to submit a waiver when unlocking the area where I will be flying (in DJI FlySafe). I will attach a couple of pictures below to help describe what I am talking about. Originally, I thought that the letter that I got from the airport was what I was supposed to provide, but I am unsure of that now. What is confusing me is that I have operated in this airspace before without going through LAANC. Or is the DJI FlySafe geo zone unlocking connected with LAANC?

I appreciate all of the responses and I hope that this clears it up.

The DJI Geo system has no regulatory authority, does not correlate exactly with controlled airspace (which always requires LAANC or other FAA authorization), and does not know anything about LAANC approvals. Most Geo unlocks can be done by self-unlocking, with the exception of restricted zones (red) which require a custom unlock and some supporting documentation. Notification of an LAANC approval would be adequate for that purpose.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

That's the problem. You need to use DroneZone to get the clearance in that area, and then request a custom unlock from DJI.

If you were in the adjacent blue/green area then you could use zone unlock and LAANC. But in the red restricted area you need DroneZone for legal clearance and custom unlock to let your drone fly.

 

[gabe_air2s]

I just answered this question here: Mavic Air 2s question
I assume you used DJI FlySafe zone unlocking to fly previously. That's the technology side. You are still required to get clearance through LAANC to be legal.

I'm guessing that now you are operating closer to the airport, and are probably, per DJI terminology, in a restricted zone rather than an authorization zone. If that is the case, you need legal clearance through the FAA DroneZone, and then you need to upload that clearance to request a custom unlock from DJI. Neither process is automatic, so allow extra time for both the clearance and the unlock.

Thank you sir. That’s what I needed. So just to make sure I’m understanding correctly, in DJI FlySafe geo zone unlocking, the file that it is asking me to upload is the one sent to me by LAANC, is that correct?

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

The DJI Geo system has no regulatory authority, does not correlate exactly with controlled airspace (which always requires LAANC or other FAA authorization), and does not know anything about LAANC approvals. Most Geo unlocks can be done by self-unlocking, with the exception of restricted zones (red) which require a custom unlock and some supporting documentation. Notification of an LAANC approval would be adequate for that purpose.

If LAANC worked in that area, then yes. I learned something from @sar104; I thought restricted zones always corresponded with areas there LAANC clearance didn't work. But apparently DJI is more restrictive with their GeoFencing, so if you received LAANC approval for flight inside the restricted area you should be able to upload that as documentation in your custom unlock request.

 

[gabe_air2s]

If LAANC worked in that area, then yes. I learned something from @sar104; I thought restricted zones always corresponded with areas there LAANC clearance didn't work. But apparently DJI is more restrictive with their GeoFencing, so if you received LAANC approval for flight inside the restricted area you should be able to upload that as documentation in your custom unlock request.

Thank you guys. Your responses have really helped. I am about to submit through LAANC now. I appreciate your help