- Joined
- Jul 16, 2015
- Messages
- 663
- Reaction score
- 300
I'm looking to do some filming of a large local bridge that is about 5 miles from a major airport, so I called the tower this morning. I assume the 5 miles is from the end of the runway, which puts much of the bridge within that limit.
After being referred to a supervisor, he said he believed that I would need a waiver from the local FDSO to fly in Class B airspace, but would call and confirm. He called back about 5 minutes later and said that he had confirmed it. Luckily, the southern half of the bridge is out of Class B and normal rules would apply. FYI, air traffic control (ATC) has control over Class B space from 0 to 7000 ft altitude. Class B space is essentially the area around major airports that have aircraft flying using instruments only (IFR). FDSO stands for Flight Standards District Office.
The supervisor was very appreciative of the call and admitted that everybody was new to this and everybody was still learning. At the end of the call, he was kind enough to give me the predicted winds and weather for the day, as he would any pilot. He then asked what drone I was flying and how easy it was to fly.
I am not an expert on the regs, so I don't know with certainty whether this was the correct call. I do appreciate, however, the effort he put into finding out. I urge everyone to approach this with a professional attitude and we can get it ironed out without getting a target painted on our backs.
After being referred to a supervisor, he said he believed that I would need a waiver from the local FDSO to fly in Class B airspace, but would call and confirm. He called back about 5 minutes later and said that he had confirmed it. Luckily, the southern half of the bridge is out of Class B and normal rules would apply. FYI, air traffic control (ATC) has control over Class B space from 0 to 7000 ft altitude. Class B space is essentially the area around major airports that have aircraft flying using instruments only (IFR). FDSO stands for Flight Standards District Office.
The supervisor was very appreciative of the call and admitted that everybody was new to this and everybody was still learning. At the end of the call, he was kind enough to give me the predicted winds and weather for the day, as he would any pilot. He then asked what drone I was flying and how easy it was to fly.
I am not an expert on the regs, so I don't know with certainty whether this was the correct call. I do appreciate, however, the effort he put into finding out. I urge everyone to approach this with a professional attitude and we can get it ironed out without getting a target painted on our backs.