Recreational... Commercial... I really hope the FAA addresses this soon... Or, am I off base?

Richard R · May 26, 2017

Joe Glenn said:
You are NOT off base. The answer to Every Bullet Point Per the FAA is NO you CANNOT fly in any Class D airspace of God forbid Class C or B without a COW Certificate of Waiver. The FAA suggests you request this COW 90 days in advance. It's a clear as a bell, in a clear blue sky, that's the legal answer. ( BTW I'm not a lawyer I'm a private Pilot since 1987 learned at PHX Sky Harbor, and now studying for my part 107 exam. NOW does that make sense???? NOOOOOOO What is happening in reality is guys are calling the tower and letting them know hi my name is John Doe, flying sUAS N686US at 3,8 miles DME from your airport on a 128 degree bearing from 2-3 pm local at 300" and below in a 1 NM Radius, doing roof inspections etc or just hobby flying. I heard a call just like that and the controller said thanks and have fun! NOW the FAA is not stupid they know people are doing this, and they are working hard and fast on all of this BUT Legally your bullet points are right on. The Heliport thing drives me crazy. I did live in SW Houston and in the B4Ufly app they had a heliport listed that was torn down about 5 years ago. It was an urgent care and the building is not gone. I drove by it myself and asked a Local Police Officer who is a Phantom 4 owner if the Heliport still existed and he said it's been gone forever. In the end it's your call, just remember as PIC the buck stops with you. If ANYTHING happens they'll come looking for you. I know this as a private Pilot. Don't get me wrong they are really generally nice folks and really try an help new Pilots, but just know the law. Also Make sure you have a 3 ring binder with all your docuention in it whenever you go fly in case you get ramp checked. Best of luck! BTW Google Earth is a great tool to measure distances from and bearing from any airport. That's how I determine my best ares to fly and also what I use to report to the tower if I'm going to be inside the 5 mile ring.

Calling the tower as you described (since you heard it, I assume it was over the radio) is violating FCC rules since the sUAS is unlikely to have the required license for any radio he is using.

Crack The Sky · May 26, 2017

That is not a test question, sir. That was a post from another moron that passed his Part 107.

sar104 · May 26, 2017

Joe Glenn said:
Why don't the R/C people need a License then???

They don't need a license because it's never been a requirement. And I suspect that it has been a small enough level of activity conducted by people flying for the fun of flying, mostly in organized locations, rather than flying in order to get cool photo and video, that it has never raised much public awareness or official concern. The proliferation of sUAS operations has changed that completely, of course.

Joe Glenn · Jun 5, 2017

Richard R said:
Calling the tower as you described (since you heard it, I assume it was over the radio) is violating FCC rules since the sUAS is unlikely to have the required license for any radio he is using.

Calling the tower on the Phone is what meant. I've seen this done several times and it is NOT proper Protocol, but what's happening in the field is different than proper Protocol. The FAA knows it and is addressing it.

BigAl07 · Jun 5, 2017

Joe Glenn said:
Calling the tower on the Phone is what meant. I've seen this done several times and it is NOT proper Protocol, but what's happening in the field is different than proper Protocol. The FAA knows it and is addressing it.

The requirement (in the FAR) states "Get authorization". Until the regs are re-written to state "Do not contact the tower for any UAS authorizations" the FAA can write memos and make mandates all they want but the FARs still allow for making the phone call until written otherwise.

Do I think it's wise for every commercial UAS operator to try and contact the tower? NO! Talk about bottle neck and creating a nightmare for the towers (who really don't WANT to hear from most of us). But at the same time some of us have an excellent relationship with tower personnel and until it's "Codified" otherwise picking up the phone is still an allowable option to get Airspace Authorization for controlled airspace.