Hover vs B4UFly

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I was looking at the 2 apps and comparing maps. Well I have noticed the B4UFly app shows there is very little places to fly legaly. How many of you still fly even tho you can be with in 5 miles of a very very small 1 runway airport. Have any if you actually tried to contact the tower and get permission?


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I have found some similar results with b4ufly. In this case, sea planes on a lake. There's no airport, no control tower. Just some seaplanes that are registered to land on the lake.
 
312c24759c38c849d22409d6fdaee19b.jpg


One is a hospital (heli) the other is a 1 runway airport and the ones to the right I have no idea what they are. I am in the country so might be for planes that crop dust? what's the pink mean?

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I was looking at the 2 apps and comparing maps. Well I have noticed the B4UFly app shows there is very little places to fly legaly. How many of you still fly even tho you can be with in 5 miles of a very very small 1 runway airport. Have any if you actually tried to contact the tower and get permission?

I did a rough estimate a while back and found that a 5 mile radius around every airport covers roughly 47% of the entire land mass of the US. And most of the areas not covered are generally wilderness... which makes sense, airports are more likely going to be in populated areas.

So while some people (not necessarily here) will preach that you should follow the rules to the T, it's more likely than not that everyone flies within the 5 mile zone on occasion, if not often. There's going to have to be a reevaluation of these rules at some point, as more people start flying these and try to do the right thing, it'll become obvious how ridiculous the rules are. And airports are just not equipped to handle all the calls they'll end up getting.

It should be noted the rules technically state that if you're within 5 miles, you simply need to alert the airport of your plan NOT get their permission, so basically all they can say is "ummm, ok, just stay under 400 feet". Unless you're directly off the runway, you won't be getting in an airplane's way... or at least one that itself is following the rules. I believe minimum altitudes for airplanes is 800 feet, and you're not below that much beyond 1/4 mile from the end of the runway.

It's all a bit of a mess, made worse by the sensationalization in the media and the knee-jerk reaction from the government it compelled. And of course by the idiots flying drones into buildings/stadiums/people/air traffic/etc.
 
I did a rough estimate a while back and found that a 5 mile radius around every airport covers roughly 47% of the entire land mass of the US. And most of the areas not covered are generally wilderness... which makes sense, airports are more likely going to be in populated areas.

So while some people (not necessarily here) will preach that you should follow the rules to the T, it's more likely than not that everyone flies within the 5 mile zone on occasion, if not often. There's going to have to be a reevaluation of these rules at some point, as more people start flying these and try to do the right thing, it'll become obvious how ridiculous the rules are. And airports are just not equipped to handle all the calls they'll end up getting.

It should be noted the rules technically state that if you're within 5 miles, you simply need to alert the airport of your plan NOT get their permission, so basically all they can say is "ummm, ok, just stay under 400 feet". Unless you're directly off the runway, you won't be getting in an airplane's way... or at least one that itself is following the rules. I believe minimum altitudes for airplanes is 800 feet, and you're not below that much beyond 1/4 mile from the end of the runway.

It's all a bit of a mess, made worse by the sensationalization in the media and the knee-jerk reaction from the government it compelled. And of course by the idiots flying drones into buildings/stadiums/people/air traffic/etc.
Agree with your opinion completely. But in the US, I believe it is 1000' above the highest obstacle when over congested areas, and 500' to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure in rural. The 400' for model aircraft is to allow for 100' of separation.
 
Agree with your opinion completely. But in the US, I believe it is 1000' above the highest obstacle when over congested areas, and 500' to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure in rural. The 400' for model aircraft is to allow for 100' of separation.

I just checked and you're right, it's 500/1000 minimums. My father had a small Cessna but he sold about 10 years ago, so I'm a bit rusty on the rules.

My only hope in all this mess is that this summer comes and goes without any major increase in incidents. Given that this was supposed to be the holiday season were some 3.7 billion drones were projected to be sold, having no net increase of incidents would hopefully reduce the alarmism around the topic.
 
The 1000/500 foot rules are correct. You also have to factor in most aircraft are descending on a three degree glideslope to the runway and it's not always straight in. So a mile from the airport they'll be at around 300 feet and two miles 600 feet. Traffic patterns are typically at 1000 feet but aren't always followed. Of course the FAA is going to throw a little buffer in there, so I think the 5 mile radius is fair. I've personally taken a large bird through the windshield of a Cessna and I've seen photos from a coworker of what a Canadian goose will do to the front end of a jet. Hopefully we never find out what happens when a drone hits one. Fly safe out there.
 

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