Sorry to be somewhat abrupt, but I said what I said due to very recent personal experience.
There is a TFR (temporary flight restriction) that's been in place since the Ariana Grande debacle that covers most of the tourist-sensitive areas of the middle of downtown Los Angeles.
Owners of the Airmap app can easily see it - it's this big black circle that's just sitting there - and when you click on the TFR details, it says "Dept. of Homeland Security - never-fly zone", with a permanent status on the TFR. i.e. this temporary flight restriction isn't temporary at all.
Obviously, nobody wants anything like an IED-carrying aircraft anywhere near that area, and I agree.
So a few days ago I was around a mile south of that zone, well outside it, in fact, and conducting 107 flight operations in class G airspace over a downtown factory building for the client.
I launched from a hill on the other side of a road in front of the factory, flying a Mavic Pro. Not a special flight, just " a couple of shots ", the usual.
I kid thee not about what happened next - within 10 seconds of launch, a cop chopper that was over the never-fly downtown area turned and flew directly (and I mean absolutely straight, not so much as a twitch in course deviation) at me. Within a minute it had covered the couple of miles or so (maybe more, because I didn't see it when I launched) to me, and it stopped not 20 feet in front of me, hovering at my eye level and pointing directly at me.
I landed immediately and waved.
The chopper sat for a bit, then left, returning to its patrol route.
Obviously the chopper had radio detection hardware. Obviously very advanced and accurate hardware.
Also, between the time I took off and the time they hovered in front of me, hardly a minute or so had gone by, and I'm sure that they had my ID, my 107 license number, the registration on the Mavic, everything up on their screen before they even got halfway to me.
Why did I land? Because it was obvious that I was making them very nervous. They didn't light me up, or turn on their speaker, but extended me a courtesy to allow me the time to get out of their way. Don't forget that under 107 a) their aircraft had right-of-way and b) they are the local authorities, so had they said 'vacate', I'd had to comply. So why would they have to bother to say that if they bothered to hover in front of me and point me out? Obviously that was what it was, so obviously, I got out of their way, to come back and fly another day, even though legally I would have had a case, being in class Golf airspace and all. But why bother with that? We both live and work in the same airspace, we're both doing our jobs. Mine was dealing with a $50-a-shot merchant (and yes, I got the shot) but theirs was dealing with a potential life-and-death situation. So, as remote PIC, that was a no-brainer. Land, get out of the way. Come back another day if the shot is so important.
So that is why I say again, and with much conviction, there's no such thing as an "it's-a-short-flight-so-it's-okay" flight, not any more in Los Angeles, anyway.
There is zero grey area to exploit or to take advantage of, get away with, beg forgiveness after for, etc.. I don't think anybody has time or tolerance for that kind of thing any more.
You are either authorized, or not authorized. So it's either online application or FSDO time, and, speaking as a private pilot since 2001, in either case it's not a heinous procedure, it's free, and everybody is usually helpful, especially if you do go the extra mile yourself, and extend them the professional courtesy that I believe they richly deserve.
HTH
JM2c
YMMV
etc
