On the same day, one friend posted video captured by his personal drone over downtown Boston, 3.2 statute miles from the center of Logan Airport, while another posted a video captured by his personal drone (from Costco!) over his backyard, about 2 miles from the center of Hanscom Field. The downtown Boston pilot said that he relied on his DJI software to warn him about restricted airspace. The DJI map shows that the protected zones around KBOS and KBED are essentially the airport perimeter fence. I.e., they don’t incorporate any knowledge about charted FAA airspace (see skyvector.com for a full selection of VFR charts). A towered (Class D) airport typically owns a ring of about 5 statute miles around the airport, from the surface up to 2500′ above the ground. A Class B airport such as Boston Logan owns a ring of about 9 miles down to the surface.
[One area that DJI does seem to have blocked out very conservatively is the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, essentially all of which is now a no-fly zone.]
Plainly one can toss a soccer ball up into the air from one’s backyard, even if it falls within the surface area of a Class D or Class B airport. And perhaps one could fly a radio-controlled toy helicopter 20′ above the ground? When is approval from an FAA control tower required? My efforts to figure this out were unsuccessful. My contacts at our local FAA FSDO weren’t immediately sure of the answer. A friend who is a NASA expert on UAVs in controlled airspace gave an answer that was so long-winded and complex as to be unactionable. The clearest FAA web site on the subject seems to be http://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/ and it says “strongly encouraged.”
There seems to be widespread confusion about what is necessary in situations like these. Apparently the Washington Nationals were told by the FAA to stop using drones in 2014. Money quote: “No, we didn’t get it cleared, but we don’t get our pop flies cleared either and those go higher than this thing did.”
There currently is no requirement for approval for sUAV operation within the 5 mile rings of controlled airspace, however it is encourage. The current stance of the FAA recently was released on September 2, 2015 in AC91-57A: https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/1028086
“When flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the model aircraft provides the airport operator or the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport) with prior notice of the operation. Model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutually agreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport).”
This is a change of the long-standing guidelines (AC 91-57 (June 9, 1981) https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentid/22425) that the above circular supersedes, which stated:
“Do not fly model aircraft higher than 400 feet above the surface.
When flying aircraft within 3 miles of an airport, notify the airport operator, or when an air traffic facility is located at the airport, notify the control tower, or flight service station.”
Just to clarify the above: The Academy of Model Aeronautics does not believe that there is a requirement for notification for the control tower, but sUAV operators are strongly encouraged to do so, based on two factors:
1. Historical precedence based on AC 91-57
2. Congress has exempted hobby operations from FAA approval, but the FAA has put AC 91-57A despite the current law not allowing the FAA to address hobby operations.
All in all, it’s a mess that needs to be cleaned up soon.