Curious about Rc planes and helicopers
- Thread starter bullerman1946
- Start date
They are classified as the same thing and yes they (we) follow the same rules. Actually many of us fly with much stricter rules because we are part of an organized club and have to abide by those rules as well as FAA.
Just curious. We have two model airplane clubs here. The oldest club is on the other side of the river and the newest us on the side where I live. I used to fly planes and have belonged to both of them over the years. I was a member of the newest club last. Had to be a member of AMA. I have let that lapse. My comment is both clubs are within 4 heli pads. One national guard, three hospital, one major airport and one municipal airport. The newest club is 3000 feet from the national guard airport helipad. We never contacted anyone. Has the law changed since drones? Just wondering.
Our local flying club is a stone's throw (as the crow flies) from a heliport. Many years ago the club met with the appropriate personnel and we worked out an agreement both could live by (literally). We would not fly any closer than X# of feet in that direction and would maintain an altitude of 500' or less. We did this formally with a LOA(Letter of Agreement) and our flying club was listed on local maps (not sectionals) as a Model Flying Club. This allowed the MediVac helo to know where we "might" be and no calls to the operations dept to notify of our flights.
The above process is how we have Model Aircraft Flying Fields close to airports across the country.
Can I do the same thing with the municipal airport. I am 4.6 miles from it. I called the other day when I was going to fly here in my yard. I asked to talk to the airport manager. He was out flying. I told the girl who answered the phone i was calling to get authorization to fly my drone. She didn't know what i was talking about. I am going to go talk to the manager. I talked to one of the guys there it week buy I don't know if he was the manager or not. I hope I can get some kind of ok to fly here close to the house without calling everytime I want to fly. I never knew of any kind of agreement between the rc clubs and the airports or helipads. Could have done that before I joined. Just wondering.
It's worth a try. Here's my suggestions:
A) Keep in mind as a hobbyist you're simply "Notifying" the facility. You're not asking for permission because they can't and wont give it. They can DENY the flight but only if it hampers Air Safety. If they deny it's up to you what you do but I wouldn't suggest doing it as if there is an incident it won't fair well for you.
B) If you fly for Part 107 you request authorization either through the LAANC system or the Online Portal (Depending on where you want to fly and how complex the request is). As Part 107 you do have to get authorization if it's Controlled Airspace but you don't take distance into account. You fly per the airspace depicted on the FAA Sectional.
