Your sectional is your friend. If you have a commercial license under 107, you can fly in Class G airspace without being required to notify or request authorization from anyone. Most E surface or more restrictive airspaces don't stretch as far as five miles from the airport.
Question regarding Airports/Helipads
- Thread starter rkpeagle
- Start date
There are no Commercial " Licenses" in the US. There are only Commercial Certificates!
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It's funny, in my case, the Class E sfc area is outside the 5 mile ring. So I can literally fly between the airport and the Class E airspace, but not in it!
when notifying airport of a flight's location, is an address specific enough or do they need coordinates? I would like to fly at a beach, is telling them the name of the beach specific enough?
To fly in an area that has no address you will need to give the coordinates yes
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I would say it depends on who you're talking to. The controller is likely familiar with the area around the airport. In my case, I just told him the road I was flying over, and that's all he needed. If he had asked for coordinates, I would have provided them. But it's easier and quicker to say
"I'm flying over Gregg Rd."
then it is to say
"I'm flying at Thirty two, Fifty two point zero eight six. Ninety six, fifty one point zero eight seven"
"I'm flying over Gregg Rd."
then it is to say
"I'm flying at Thirty two, Fifty two point zero eight six. Ninety six, fifty one point zero eight seven"
thanks guys. Can someone explain which air spaces I can fly in and which I cannot? the 'know before you fly/b4ufly' maps do not show an airspace restriction (though do show a 5 mi from airport radius) for the location I wish to fly, however the airmap map shows class E. Can I fly here or not (with contact to airport)?
Class E is controlled airspace you cannot fly there without authorization. As a hobby flier, you still need to call and notify them. For commercial ops, you need to request authorization through he webpage.
Is getting authorization (as a hobbyist) a different process than contacting the airport to notify of flight?
And doesn't apply to the heliports nor the seaplane bases that are in my AO. My hobbyist responsibility extends only to "not interfere with operations and traffic patterns at any airport, heliport or seaplane base". Notification not required.
I'd caution anyone who considers using a Hospital Helipad as a place to takeoff or land a Drone. I'm a Drone Pilot and I'm a Paramedic and former Flight Paramedic on a helicopter. The flights into any hospital is an unscheduled flight 99.9% of the time. Most hospitals have Security personnel who will be called to secure a pad prior to any arrivals but some smaller hospitals do not. So you would have no idea of when to expect a helicopter. If your flying a Drone and your flight has moved your Drone out quite a distance, a helicopter could possibly start coming in prior to flying back to your landing point. Contacting a hospital for permission is mostly useless because all of the Helipads are controlled by the hospital Emergency Rooms thru radio communication and contacting them will result in chatting with a Nurse or a Charge Nurse who will not know the FAR's. The Hospital CEO will not know under normal circumstances either what the FAR's are and will probably refer you to their legal department. I currently work in an Emergency Room and we have a roof top pad so we aren't a possible place to use as a pad for Drones but please be careful. Medical Helicopters can come in "hot" with a very critical patient at a moments notice and you'd have no prior warning when it happens. Their approach is usually "direct" with no flyby sometimes.
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Class E airspace is any airspace that is not Class A, B, C, or D. Basically you do not need authorization to fly there unless it is within 5 miles and then no authorization but only notify them. Controlled airspace is a different definition than you are thinking and there is almost no uncontrolled airspace within the United States.
I'll take part of that back. G is below 1200 ft as a general rule and there is really a lot of that. I fly non drones and my mindset is along that line and rarely consider 1200ft and less. There is some that goes up to 14000 ft but very rare.
I've read through all the comments and read through the FAA guidelines and I'm still extremely confused. Let's take an example. I'm in Quincy, MA which depending on where in the city I'm anywhere from 3.5 to 8.5 miles from southern most point of Logan International Airport in Boston, MA (BOS). The B4UFly app has a 10 mile ring (not 5 mile). Can I fly in Quincy, and what am I required to do as a hobbyist? If I fly below a certain height, can I? And do I need to call the airport every single time? Also, in the B4UFly app, it has a way to submit flight information. Should I use that to notify them, or call?
You have to be more specific than that since the rule is 5 miles for hobbyists. Whether you want to measure your mileage from the center of the airport or from the edge of the airport is another question... I would say the center since all these circles we see on the air maps are from the center.
