Permission to fly?
0Out on the island (Long Island), there are many airports. I'm outside of the 5mile range of an airport, but there are a bunch of helipads/ports around, hospitals mainly. So, I'm supposed to call them and let them know that I'm going to fly, or at least ask for permission (which I think is ridiculous). Ok, but that's life now. Have any of you called to ask for permission from these towers yet? If so, what do you say?
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haven't yet needed to make that call. I will when I go up to PA though as there's a private airport close enough and I'd like to stay on his good side so that I might fly out there and photograph his planes.
On Permission to fly: We had a train derailment here in Fremont, CA. My buddy called the police department and asked if he can fly near the scene. They told him they may take it out, but he went there anyways. He asked me to meet him there so I did, but I had to walk two miles along the railroad tracks and with a baby stroller (had my daughter with me), I turned back after 1/2 mile and just told him I'm outta here. He later told me he got a trespassing ticket, but he was able to fly his drone before the cops questioned him.
@garyhgaryh Wow, you narrowly avoided getting your daughter her first ticket!
There was a police bomb squad incident very near my home this Saturday afternoon. I really wanted to put a drone in the air and sniff around, but I was fairly certain the police would give me grief and possibly charge me with "interfering with a police investigation" or some such. The police are strange about pics/video anyway, add to that the vilification of drones and I didn't know what to expect, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't end well for me.
@ruouttaurmind Yeah I wouldn't fly a drone near anything that has to do with a public and/or fed emergency service entities like police, fire, fbi, cia, etc.
Do you have your FAA ID yet? Have you added your ID on your toys? I have yet to do that (I have the ID, but haven't added it on my drones).
I live about a mile from the end of the fight line at a major air force base. I'd say a quarter mile east of the usual flight path. I don't fly much at home (or at all, recently). I have a neighbor that flies maybe a CX-20 or something over my backyard. Based on how he flies I'm pretty sure he doesn't ask permission, but I've never met him.
I have another neighbor at the front of our neighborhood (at least 1/2 mile off the flight path) who does professional aerial photography (check out SkyPixelLA.com or I believe Sky Pixel on YouTube) and works by the book as far as faa regs go. I asked him about flying in the neighborhood as I've seen him up several times. He said he calls the tower and gives them an area he will be flying in and when he plans on doing it and they give the OK. He made it seem like not a big deal at all. He's done a lot of footage of recent floods and a majority of that area is within a 5 mile radius of the air force base and/or another airport to the north of us.