NFZ Questions

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I recently purchased a DJI Phantom 3 4k. I read all the FAA guidelines for flight and watched a lot of the tutorials on YouTube. I have taken 2-3 flights around my back yard about 200-300 feet up max. I live around 7 miles from the nearest "airport" which is far enough by law to fly, however I recently downloaded the FAA app with all the NFZ locations. I was unaware that hospital helipads were also considered full time airports. Technically I was in a NFZ all the times I took my drone up because of this.

I was under the impression that the DJI Go App + the Phantoms firmware would not allow me to take off and fly in a NFZ. Is this correct or incorrect? Could it just be inconsistencies with DJI's NFZ and the FAA NFZ? I hate that I am unsure if I am even allowed to practice the different flight modes and options in my own backyard.

I know there are 1000 things to consider when looking at some of these laws and regulations, like if a copter is stored at the helipad or just flies in, but just a general answer about the app/software is what I am looking for.
 
I don't think with in 5 miles of a helipad is considered a NFZ. Think you are just supposed to contact the "tower" to let them know that you are flying in the area. Also Certain airports are classified certain ways. try fling inside of the 5 mile radius of an airport like LAX and you drone will not take off. So in the future, just make an attempt to contact he helipad operator to let them know you are flying in the area
 
Ok. So there is a difference between an actual NFZ, and being within 5 miles of a airport/helipad if its classified a certain way. I will have to look up the information for the helipad to be able to contact them. It is at a hospital, can they "deny" me the right to fly?
 
On this map (http://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-system/map) only the restricted areas in red are true NFZs. You can fly everywhere else, although the app may ask whether you've gotten authorization in an "authorization" zone.

I am 15 blocks outside of the green zone that it puts on the actual airport here, but nothing for any of the helipads or small private owned air strips in fields.
 
I am 15 blocks outside of the green zone that it puts on the actual airport here, but nothing for any of the helipads or small private owned air strips in fields.
So how close r u to the helipads? Kinda surprised there not on the map
 
I would be within a 5 mile radius. According to the B4U Fly App, recommended by the FAA, there is the airport/2 helipads/and countless small privately owned airstrips that basically all touch, and you can't fly anywhere around Joplin for like 40 miles lol.
 
I would be within a 5 mile radius. According to the B4U Fly App, recommended by the FAA, there is the airport/2 helipads/and countless small privately owned airstrips that basically all touch, and you can't fly anywhere around Joplin for like 40 miles lol.
I'm kinda afraid to say anything about hospital helipads seeing the amount of traffic they have. l suppose I would contact the hospital an hopefully they can get u in touch w/ lifeflight.
 
I think the acronym NFZ is misused and abused on this site. DJI has NFZs but the FAA does not. FAA has Flight Restricted Zones such as the DC FRZ, and it has Temporary Flight Restrictions or TFRs which will sometimes pop up. There are also Special Flight Rules Areas such as the DC SFRA.

UAS flights are restricted within five miles of an airport - everybody knows that. But that's not a "no fly zone" since all we have to do is notify the airport to fly.

There is a lot of room for confusion. For example, the DC FRZ is by definition a flight restricted zone, and yet flights do fly within it - as they have to be able to access Reagan National Airport. But UASs may not fly in it. So UAS flight is not just restricted, it's forbidden. And yet, we can fly in other restricted areas if we follow certain procedures.

Personally, I think NDZ (no drone zone) is a better acronym for places where UASs are forbidden because that removes any confusion from the equation. And that's been used before but it's not very popular.

We do have AC 91-57A and if we are hobbyists as defined in the document and if we follow the rules in that document, we should be okay. But some of the language is open to interpretation, such has how we should deal with heliports, since "heliports" and "helipads" are nowhere to be found in the document.

You might say to yourself "Well, they probably meant to include heliports when they talk about airports", but if you research this and look at Public Law 112-95, which is what AC 91-57A was taken from, heliport IS used in that document. So you have to ask yourself why isn't it used in AC 91-57A? And if you look deeper, it appears it was purposely excluded - as it is used in certain areas of the PL document but not used in other areas of the PL document.

The heliport issue seems to be ambiguous, but we have to remember this is an evolving situation as the introduction of UAS flights into the National Airspace System is still relatively new.

So, as far as I'm concerned, it seems reasonable to me to follow to the best of my ability the documentation in the AC document - and then to use my best judgment on how to deal with heliports.

https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-57A.pdf
 
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Just sell your drone uf you are going to worry that much about it.

You must be in the wrong forum???

This is the P3 discussion forum in a thread about NFZs.

Feel free to 'pass' if you are unsure of what you are doing here.
 

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