There is a camp ground i go to often and there is a city airport with no control tower about 2.5 miles away. I did get hold of the airport manager about 2 weeks before i planed to fly just so i had the right contact info. He told me no problem just call the day i was going to fly. When i did call on a Saturday i got the person who refuels the planes. They said that was the first call he had like that and said go fly and he would post a NOTAM.
Calling the Tower/Airport Owner
- Thread starter slothead
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Until recently I lived with 5 miles of the Danbury Municipal Airport. Prior to flying in the zone, I called the tower and asked if they had any issues with it. I told them when and where and for how long and how high. I gave them by FAA registration #. Never a problem, they were very accommodating. If you plan to fly within 5 miles of any designated airspace, CALL HEAD and get an "no problem". Not doing that will result in backlash against us all.
I live in Lincoln Nebraska and have flown within the 5 mile zone. Every time I've called they have asked for my registration number, when, where, and for how long and at what altitude I was going to fly. I then call the tower and they want to know same info. I've never had an issue with them. They have been polite and professional.
Good info Ron, but I have one question: You mentioned making two calls, one to someone "they have asked..." and then called the tower. Who was the first call to?
Thanks,
I live ~3.5 miles from Islip airport (ISP). Once I actually got a live person and they were VERY grateful for me calling and were very professional about the whole call. They took my FAA Reg #, max ceiling, start time and duration, and general location I was flying.
All times I have called since then have reached an answering machine, where I leave the very same information.
All times I have called since then have reached an answering machine, where I leave the very same information.
We have a quarry next an airport, we use our drone to take areal shots of the site. I call the control tower to ask if it's ok to fly, they just ask me not to fly above 400ft, the drone must weigh under 7kg and to inform them of the flight time then call them when we have finished flying. Obviously the geofencing won't let me fly close to the airport, which can be a bit frustrating because we can't capture all the site, but rules are rules and safety comes first!
I want to thank all the contributors, and I'm pleased with the answers. I would suggest that for those who only get answering machines when they try to call the airport operators and control towers, that you leave your FAA number, the maximum altitude you plan to fly (and keep it no higher than 400'), the general location of where and how far you are flying, the time you plan on starting and the duration of your flight on the recording. That's about the best you can do.
For those of you who may have found conflicts with FAA regulations or recommendations. This is very common among federal agencies. I'm a government contractor and there is no end of conflicts that drive suppliers and contractors crazy. All we can do is the best we can and be as safe as we can.
So good luck to all of you.
For those of you who may have found conflicts with FAA regulations or recommendations. This is very common among federal agencies. I'm a government contractor and there is no end of conflicts that drive suppliers and contractors crazy. All we can do is the best we can and be as safe as we can.
So good luck to all of you.
Called the tower at our Class D airport 3 times, They wanted to know name, phone, max altitude, distance/bearing to the airport, number of UAS and operators and asked to call back when finished.
One of my friend who lives on the other side of the airport in our small town also calls eve very time he flies and got the same communication. Our guys are pretty cool as long as you don't disrupt/take risks with airplanes tradfix.
Let's remember for 1 second that the day a small GA airplane or an airliner gets hit by one of our drone, we will lose a ton of freedom.
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One of my friend who lives on the other side of the airport in our small town also calls eve very time he flies and got the same communication. Our guys are pretty cool as long as you don't disrupt/take risks with airplanes tradfix.
Let's remember for 1 second that the day a small GA airplane or an airliner gets hit by one of our drone, we will lose a ton of freedom.
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I was in Las Vegas a week ago. I was still aboard the aircraft when the Aircraft Fueler arrived and started to set up the connection fuel hose. Every connection was in the wrong sequence. I called the F A A tower and No one Picked up he phone after waiting on my phone for over 15 minute's.I did not get any calls back.This was on an American Airline Flight # AAL 658
eeer what?! I don't understand: u are sitting on a passenger airplane, you see the fuel truck guy come and you think he is putting
the connections in the wrong order? what do you mean? it's a one-point refueling system, what order are you talking about?
and then you try to call the control tower (that has. itching to do with that, it's an operations matter and operations is who the crew would have called, or they would have just walked out of the aircraft)
and why didn't you inform the crew?
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I notified the Lead Gate agent in the terminal;The Fueler should have connected the grounding Wire to the Aircraft 1st before he connected the fuel hoses to the ground and then to the Aircraft.But then I haven't worked on the ground crew for over 10 years, pulled a lot of fuel hose then.Maybe ground the truck to the underground fuel dispenser, then connect the big fuel hose, then ground the aircraft and then connect the smaller fuel hose to the wing.Other wise he hooked the fuel hose to the aircraft and then went and got the ground wire to the aircraft.
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My back yard is exactly 5.1 miles south from a regional airport. I called them to confirm I can fly and they said I'm good to fly anytime with no call unless I fly north, and were very nice. I won't fly north because I have about 45 acres of open fields south that I can fly to from my patio (lucky me).
The other day a small single seat WW2 looking prop plane flew over my neighbors yard way way way low, like 250 feet high. I was flying my drone about 300 feet away left of it and literally a couple of minutes beforehand I was higher than this small plane at 400ft taking a pano. That thing appeared out of nowhere it was so low. Scared the crap out of me but it's my understanding he was in the wrong and should have been over 400' until he was 3 miles from the airport. Still scary though, I don't want to hit a plane.
The other day a small single seat WW2 looking prop plane flew over my neighbors yard way way way low, like 250 feet high. I was flying my drone about 300 feet away left of it and literally a couple of minutes beforehand I was higher than this small plane at 400ft taking a pano. That thing appeared out of nowhere it was so low. Scared the crap out of me but it's my understanding he was in the wrong and should have been over 400' until he was 3 miles from the airport. Still scary though, I don't want to hit a plane.
now i understand. Yes you're absolutely correct, the grounding wire should have been connected before the fuel hose, to bad you couldn't tell the flight deck crew.
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Thanks for the Reply's , Maybe the FAA will read this Post. Also the Gate agent might have contacted the Ground Operations Department.
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I fly RC planes on Martha's Vineyard (island in MA), and unfortunately, the only club on the island is about 1 mile away from the airport 
We always have to call the tower before flying, and usually, they just say, "okay, thanks for calling"
Usually. the planes don't come in over our field, but occasionally we have to bring our planes to the other side of the field while the real ones are making their final approach to land!
We always have to call the tower before flying, and usually, they just say, "okay, thanks for calling"
Usually. the planes don't come in over our field, but occasionally we have to bring our planes to the other side of the field while the real ones are making their final approach to land!
I fly RC planes on Martha's Vineyard (island in MA), and unfortunately, the only club on the island is about 1 mile away from the airport
We always have to call the tower before flying, and usually, they just say, "okay, thanks for calling"
Usually. the planes don't come in over our field, but occasionally we have to bring our planes to the other side of the field while the real ones are making their final approach to land!
especially avoid those Cape Air Cessna 402's lol.
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