Private airports without towers?

[3wood]

Would these private airports pose a problem for drone flying. These are for private plane owners to land at their homes. Must be nice to be able to put down 3000 ft of asphalt to land your plane...lol unfortunately I’m located right in the middle of the 3. Also not listed is a Careflight helipad stationed 2 miles from me. Not listed on the FAA site but much more of a concern. Thanks for any tips.

 

[David Boulanger]

Do these private airports have managers? The one appears to be in the middle of a lake. I have done some flying works 3/4 of a mile from a private one and I simply checked in with them and told them what I was doing. Gave them my max altitude and a time frame.

 

[pyrate]

that is what you want to do, is make a good faith effort to contact the owner/manager and just make them aware

 

[David Boulanger]

An aircraft scanner/radio receiver would be handy also if there is a manager. The airport I worked around gave me the radio frequency pilots used to call the manager.

 

[3wood]

Thank you guys will make contact Monday with all of them including the Careflight helipad. Dig out my old handheld scanner and get local frequencies and keep on my hip while up.

 

[pyrate]

Skyvector.com is good for this sort of thing
SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts

I am going to be flying on St George Island, just right click and it will give you what you need

 

[EZL]

Skyvector.com is good for this sort of thing
SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts

I am going to be flying on St George Island, just right click and it will give you what you need
View attachment 8154 View attachment 8155

That's handy and some of the farmers in this area have planes but seldom are they in the air.
Thanks for the site.

 

[CAMXPOSURE]

I'm getting complaints of flying drones over houses while people are showering.... Uh what??? Outside??? I think I'll ask them before I fly so I don't have to see that... 55-80 yr old people... Not!!!

 

[pyrate]

I stopped flying in my neighborhood, if it bothers them I don't want to stoke the anti drone sentiment
If I have a shoot in a neighborhood I have handouts that I attempt to distribute. Also there is a really cool app called next door. If you join that and just make a nice announcement that you are flying in the area and why, it helps dial down the angst

 

[Dave Folts]

I monitor/talk to pilots on the CTAF frequency used at the untowered airports near where I fly sUAS. works fine but you need to constantly be stating location since they can't see my Solos or big fixed wing UAS...

 

[Dave Folts]

obviously you need the air band radio to do that...Sportys has Good prices on these. And you'll need to follow protocols etc..

 

[jeffbanke]

I have a pilots license with several ratings, and Dave is right many airfields are non towered, no manager on site, in other words no-one to talk to, besides it is the pilots in the air that need to know where you might have your drone. If you look and see which way the wind is blowing it will give you an idea as to where an incoming pilot might be in the airspace. Good idea is to study landing patterns, we frequently fly across the field, midfield to get a gander at the windsock ourselves so we know which way the wind is blowing, but then fly a standard pattern entering on the downwind leg, turning to the base leg then to final leg.
Since the airfield is non-towered we are required to notify any other aircraft in the area where we are, so on the radio you will here N9141Yankee entering downwind leg mid field, 9141Y turning base, 9141y turning on final, etc. This if you study airspace will give you an idea where the aircraft is. The reason I mentioned the wind direction, is because while an airfield has a normal wind direction, occasionally the wind is from the other direction, and this changes the direction that the aircraft is going to be coming from and land. Generally, it is prohibited to talk to aircraft from a handheld radio on the ground, however, it is permissible in emergency or as a preventative measure to avoid incidents. The field pattern I was talking about, not only dictates to the pilot which side of the field to fly (depending on the wind direction), but also the height that the pilot should be at any given point. Armed with all this information regarding the airfields near you the safest place to fly your drone will always be on the side of the airfield that is NOT the downwind leg. Flying at either end you are in the path of either ascending or descending aircraft, who will be below the 400ft AGL that you are allowed to fly. Here is typical info you can get for a non-towered airfield

 

[pyrate]

understanding approach and landing patterns was very interesting. I think folks not even intending to take the final test and become 107 would find the materials good information to just know

 

[jeffbanke]

Pyrate, that is why I posted the info, so that folks who are trapped in areas with a lot of airfields near them can stay out of trouble ;-) What I failed to mention is that it is going to take some research, to know what the patterns are for the airfields in one's area. There may be other hazards in the area such as those noted on the airfield below.
A very good resource is to obtain the Sectional Aviation Chart for your area, these are updated every 6 months and pilots are required to dispose of the old ones as they are required to have the most current with them. They do not change substantially and if you know a pilot you can get an old one for free, but if you want to be more current, go to any flight training school, they will have them and they are around $8-10. Here is a typical non-towered airfield info

 

[Dave Folts]

I'm also a private pilot, and the use of a handheld air-band radio to monitor the CTAF near non-towered airports is something I've commonly heard while in my plane (hearing other UAV operators), and I use mine anytime I'm near enough the pattern at a city airport near me when I'm UAV'n. The need to specify your location is important, as you mentioned, as well, it assists pilots who are busy with flying safely. I've contacted the KEFD tower on one occasion, and they appreciated I let them know where I was (just outside their 5 mile radius in degrees magnetic from the field etc), because their pattern altitude for GA aircraft is 600' AGL, and I was @ 300' over an old tank farm.