$10,000 Slap on the hand

[bnsa]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but how do we avoid being slapped on the hand with a $10,000 fine? (Yes, I know of the basics - no flying near airports, stadiums, crowds of people, national parks/forrests?, etc.) but I live in the Portland, Oregon / Vancouver, Washington areas and for the life of me, I can't find the "this is okay to film here, this isn't" anywhere. Even with Hover, AirMap, B4UFly, etc. I see a lot of small airports that have the "Recreational Rules" (Whatever that means?) - Can you guys help me out. I'm wanting to obey the laws, get good enough to become a professional drone operator - but for the life of me - I'm not even sure where I can go up for fear of being slapped with the FAA's $10,000 fine. How am I supposed to film people's houses, real estate, construction sites, etc, if there's all these recreational rules around me? Also, on some Youtube videos, they say we can no longer contact the airports directly - that we have to use some portal with a 90 day waiting period, etc. - I'm so confused, please help!

Thanks,
Steven W.

 

[kirk2579]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but how do we avoid being slapped on the hand with a $10,000 fine? (Yes, I know of the basics - no flying near airports, stadiums, crowds of people, national parks/forrests?, etc.) but I live in the Portland, Oregon / Vancouver, Washington areas and for the life of me, I can't find the "this is okay to film here, this isn't" anywhere. Even with Hover, AirMap, B4UFly, etc. I see a lot of small airports that have the "Recreational Rules" (Whatever that means?) - Can you guys help me out. I'm wanting to obey the laws, get good enough to become a professional drone operator - but for the life of me - I'm not even sure where I can go up for fear of being slapped with the FAA's $10,000 fine. How am I supposed to film people's houses, real estate, construction sites, etc, if there's all these recreational rules around me? Also, on some Youtube videos, they say we can no longer contact the airports directly - that we have to use some portal with a 90 day waiting period, etc. - I'm so confused, please help!

Thanks,
Steven W.

relax,
stay away from airports that actually are in use.

I step out my garage door , go 20 feet down drive and let it fly
or just about anywhere I see interesting and have never had an issue

learn to fly in open area so you can get the feel for the RC

you are a still little away from shooting real estate commercially.
you will acquire the knowledge as you progress.

haven't seen anyone get that fine btw....especially rec flying!

good luck and have fun flying!

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

I just use common sense and fly around Portland.

 

[ecolumbia999]

I'm in St Helens, OR. There are lots of airports around the Portland area. The answer to your question is to obtain a vfr aeronautical map. I find paper to be easier to use than the digital products. You want to make sure you do not fly within a control airspace. The various tools, B4ufly, helps out with this but it is good to be able to read an aeronautical map. For the small airports, the ones you are referring to - class g - give the airport manager a call and tell them where and when you want to fly when you are within 5 miles of the airport. A brief conversation goes a long way.

For very small airports - private and grass fields - I try to call them and simply make a record of that. Sometimes you cannot get ahold of private field owners.

For the large airports, such as pdx - just don't fly within 5 miles of that airport. The restriction of calling an airport is to protect control towers at busy airports, Vancouver, Portland, Troutdale, and Hillsboro - is so airport towers do not have to deal with lots of folks calling them. Instead there is an online portal that handles flying close to busy airports.

Also - I fly at a rc field near Goble - not too close to Vancouver but you are welcome there. Also there is a dedicated park in Portland, I think next to the Sandy river, that is used to fly rc aircraft.

 

[DanMan32]

When you register a flight with Airmap, it is supposed to be digitally recorded that many airports will accept. Airman often tells you when an airport does not accept digital notification.

Sent from my HTC 10 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Richard R]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but how do we avoid being slapped on the hand with a $10,000 fine? (Yes, I know of the basics - no flying near airports, stadiums, crowds of people, national parks/forrests?, etc.) but I live in the Portland, Oregon / Vancouver, Washington areas and for the life of me, I can't find the "this is okay to film here, this isn't" anywhere. Even with Hover, AirMap, B4UFly, etc. I see a lot of small airports that have the "Recreational Rules" (Whatever that means?) - Can you guys help me out. I'm wanting to obey the laws, get good enough to become a professional drone operator - but for the life of me - I'm not even sure where I can go up for fear of being slapped with the FAA's $10,000 fine. How am I supposed to film people's houses, real estate, construction sites, etc, if there's all these recreational rules around me? Also, on some Youtube videos, they say we can no longer contact the airports directly - that we have to use some portal with a 90 day waiting period, etc. - I'm so confused, please help!

Thanks,
Steven W.

First, relax and take a deep breath! B4UFly is targeted for hobby flyers, and airmap has a recreational mode, hence the 'recreational rules'. You need to understand the rules. They are spelled out in the material that you get from the FAA when you register with them. As a hobby flier, you are xpected to contact any airport manager and tower (if the airport has one) to let them know if you are flying within 5 miles of the airport. Simple enough. Once you get the Part 107 ticket required to do commercial work with your Phantom, you will be under a whole different set of rules. But you'll learn those as you study for the test. The 90 day period only applies to requests for special authorizations or waivers. Again something that will come up in your studying.