No LAANC in My Area and FAA is Struggling To Keep Approvals Below 45 Days

[MRomine]

Are there any other options for Part 107 pilots to get class D airspace approval when there is no local LAANC available and DoneZone waivers are at 45 days or more due to high volume recreational flyers?

 

[rangemaster728]

Nope...and the towers don’t take calls from sUAS operators anymore.

 

[dawgpilot]

Have you actually applied for a DroneZone airspace authorization yet? In my experience approvals have come much faster than 45 days. You can also get a blanket airspace authorization for your nearby Class D for periods as long as 2 years at a time, depending on what you are asking for.

 

[MRomine]

Have you actually applied for a DroneZone airspace authorization yet? In my experience approvals have come much faster than 45 days. You can also get a blanket airspace authorization for your nearby Class D for periods as long as 2 years at a time, depending on what you are asking for.

My previous experience was a turn around of just a few days and I had a blanket authorization of six months for my local area. I applied back on 9/12 for an authorization that was expiring on 9/30. So since I had not heard anything through the DroneZone site, yesterday I sent a kind message to them asking what the status of my request was and here is their response: "The FAA received your airspace authorization request on 12 Sep. Because of the recent significant increase in volume as a result of recreational flyer having access to DroneZone authorizations, processing times for request are running in excess of 45 days. The FAA appreciates your patience."

 

[dawgpilot]

My previous experience was a turn around of just a few days and I had a blanket authorization of six months for my local area. I applied back on 9/12 for an authorization that was expiring on 9/30. So since I had not heard anything through the DroneZone site, yesterday I sent a kind message to them asking what the status of my request was and here is their response: "The FAA received your airspace authorization request on 12 Sep. Because of the recent significant increase in volume as a result of recreational flyer having access to DroneZone authorizations, processing times for request are running in excess of 45 days. The FAA appreciates your patience."

Ouch. Thanks for the update there.

It seems like it would be more fair for the FAA to prioritize Part 107 airspace applications since many of those flights are for time sensitive business flights that have a need for a specific location.

 

[MRomine]

Ouch. Thanks for the update there.

It seems like it would be more fair for the FAA to prioritize Part 107 airspace applications since many of those flights are for time sensitive business flights that have a need for a specific location.

I asked them about that very thing this afternoon via e-mail and I'm awaiting a reply.

 

[BigAl07]

The recent influx of "requests" has been greater than anticipated. They are literally a flood with requests.

I'm sure Part 107 do get some degree of priority (the reply should be interesting) but the sheer #'s of requests total is mind boggling.

 

[MRomine]

Ouch. Thanks for the update there.

It seems like it would be more fair for the FAA to prioritize Part 107 airspace applications since many of those flights are for time sensitive business flights that have a need for a specific location.

Just got a response to my request to give priority to Part 107 pilots requests, here is their reply: "The analysts who process the authorization requests are bound by federal law to process all requests on an as-received basis. The FAA is currently considering splitting 107 and recreational authorizations."

 

[BigAl07]

Just got a response to my request to give priority to Part 107 pilots requests, here is their reply: "The analysts who process the authorization requests are bound by federal law to process all requests on an as-received basis. The FAA is currently considering splitting 107 and recreational authorizations."

They should have never been lumped together to begin with but when you have finite resources you do what you can. This isn't going to be pretty . . .

 

[AMann]

Nope...and the towers don’t take calls from sUAS operators anymore.

Not necessarily true- some of the smaller ones don't know or follow that rule yet. The one in our town that has an air tanker base still takes written notices, and a smaller airport near Palm Springs tells me to just call them the morning before I go up.

 

[JAW]

With 878,000 registered drone pilots and 122,000 part 107 pilots (* as of Jan 2018), the FAA shouldn't be surprised at the sudden increase in authorization requests. I do agree 107 jocks should get some sort of priority.
*FAA Drone Registry Tops One Million

 

[MRomine]

Not necessarily true- some of the smaller ones don't know or follow that rule yet. The one in our town that has an air tanker base still takes written notices, and a smaller airport near Palm Springs tells me to just call them the morning before I go up.

Curious, are you a Part 107 pilot? So when you call these local small town towers do they just give you a verbal approval over the phone or do they e-mail/text you the approval? If they just give you a verbal only approval how do ypu get DJI to unlock your bird? How do they verify who you say you are?

 

[DanMan32]

Would small airports have their own controlled airspace?

 

[BigAl07]

Would small airports have their own controlled airspace?

It depends.... on how small... .sometimes if they are near a larger Towered airport the larger airport "controls" the airspace as well.... there is no hard answer one way or the other except... It depends

 

[AMann]

It depends.... on how small... .sometimes if they are near a larger Towered airport the larger airport "controls" the airspace as well.... there is no hard answer one way or the other except... It depends

It also depends on their tower hours- our class D reverts to an E when the tankers are not flying because their ATC tower shuts down. I always used to put in the caveat in my written notice to them that I wouldn’t fly near there when the tower was open or fire traffic was active.

 

[DanMan32]

I asked because unlike before where we needed to contact airports/towers that we're within 5 miles, now we only need to get clearance in controlled airspace.

 

[Thomas B]

FWIW.... you can get long term waver to fly. My solution for my practice area, which is 4 square miles and encompasses a large area of class D airspace, was an application for clearance through the FAA’s DroneZone site. It took about 3 weeks to get a long term waiver. My clearance is valid through August 31, 2021.

 

[MRomine]

FWIW.... you can get long term waver to fly. My solution for my practice area, which is 4 square miles and encompasses a large area of class D airspace, was an application for clearance through the FAA’s DroneZone site. It took about 3 weeks to get a long term waiver. My clearance is valid through August 31, 2021.

That is what I got the first time I applied for a wavier and I got my reply in under a week. So this time when I requested my wavier I thought that by requesting 18 days before I needed it would be plenty of buffer, wrong. As I mentioned above that wait time is 45 days or more. I am now almost 30 days since my request. In the mean time I can't fly and I can't cover my assignments.

 

[MRomine]

For those who are following this thread, I got my wavier this morning from the FAA. It took 33 days.

Now I am having terrible issues with the DJI Custom GEO Unlocking website so I will see how many more days it takes dealing with DJI.