FAA Regulations and Airports

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I know the regulations say to stay away from airports unless you notify the tower. I would never do this because it is just ridiculous, but say you actually did notify the tower. Could I just say I am requesting clearance for a drone? Then could you fly over the airport? Or could you notify a tower of a max height test? Just curious.
 
I know the regulations say to stay away from airports unless you notify the tower. I would never do this because it is just ridiculous, but say you actually did notify the tower. Could I just say I am requesting clearance for a drone? Then could you fly over the airport? Or could you notify a tower of a max height test? Just curious.

I would imagine it is up to the tower... certainly commercial airports would probably tell you to take a hike... private airports might too. I guess my opinion is, there are so many places to fly.... why not just stay away from airports and the possibility of putting any aircraft in harms way.

A friend of mine is a flight nurse and she says that they have had several close encounters with Drones - now the difference there is... you don't always know where a life flight is going to fly. But when I told her I always stay under 400 ft... she said that was good because they tried to go no lower than 800 ft (unless of course they are landing).
 
I would imagine it is up to the tower... certainly commercial airports would probably tell you to take a hike... private airports might too. I guess my opinion is, there are so many places to fly.... why not just stay away from airports and the possibility of putting any aircraft in harms way.

A friend of mine is a flight nurse and she says that they have had several close encounters with Drones - now the difference there is... you don't always know where a life flight is going to fly. But when I told her I always stay under 400 ft... she said that was good because they tried to go no lower than 800 ft (unless of course they are landing).

That is good to know that they try to stay at 800 feet. The last thing I want is to cause any kind of trouble with a medical flight. Interesting that she has had experience with drones. I hope people get a little more education on why the height limit is what it is. I never fly above 400 feet but I never thought about the medical helicopters until reading your reply honestly.
 
That is good to know that they try to stay at 800 feet. The last thing I want is to cause any kind of trouble with a medical flight. Interesting that she has had experience with drones. I hope people get a little more education on why the height limit is what it is. I never fly above 400 feet but I never thought about the medical helicopters until reading your reply honestly.

I'll have to ask her more about it... I wonder if it's people who come upon an accident and decide to fly a drone to become instant reporters or something... or it could be people flying around the hospital not thinking about the fact that they have a life flight there.

In general the second I hear a helicopter I tend to drop altitude until I can get a visual on it anyway... I have seen some military heli's flying pretty close to the ground before.
 
Call the tower and chat on the phone first. Many small airports have private (non FAA) controllers. They may get a kick out of the UAS. They can tell you slow days at the airport and approach patterns etc. Just be nice to them, the are usually good guys who love airplanes.
A shoot at an airport should have com with the tower. (If there is a tower) The shoot should be known to pilots prior to the shoot and should be published on the ATIS. (If there is one) small airports are better for this.
 
I don't think any airport will let you fly over the airport even if you are less than 400 ft. I would not want to see a drone when doing pattern work.
Agreed, it's unlikely that any towered airport would be ok with some guy flying around for fun but depending on who's flying and why I could see sUA at real airports. Construction surveying is a big thing for UASs and my airport just had a few million in runway upgrades.
I hear about sky divers, cattle, Hawks, even a film crew was mentioned on the AITS a while back, a UAS with a description of the area of operation seemes likely in the future.
 

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