USA Expediting approval of an FAA airspace authorization request?

[InterMurph]

I was hired by a film production to fly my drone in Nahant, MA on July 28th. According to the FAA sectional charts, that location is in Class B airspace at the surface, due to its proximity to Logan Airport.

I filed an airspace authorization request with the FAA, but it says that such requests can take up to 90 days to approve. That, of course, would bring us well past the shooting date.

Has anybody had any success in expediting approval of an airspace authorization request? If so, how did you do it? And when, relative to the shooting date, did you do it?

Thanks.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

There is no expidition process. I have heard of people calling FAA to help expidite but not sure it will help since all of us filing for waiver are usually filing for a reason.

When I filed I had a job lined up and lost it by the time the waiver came through. Only other option is to see if the LAANC process is available for Logan.

 

[InterMurph]

Logan is not in LAANC yet.

Thanks.

 

[Presman]

I know that there are supposed to be some 3rd party applications out to make this process faster but unfortunately I haven't had to use one yet so I cannot tell you from experience. But look into Skyward. I am pretty sure you can get instant authorization.

 

[Presman]

I know this does not apply to everyone and not all airports participate but for pilots out there looking for a way to skip the insane 90 day process you should look into this. I hope this helps.

 

[licensed pilot]

I know that there are supposed to be some 3rd party applications out to make this process faster but unfortunately I haven't had to use one yet so I cannot tell you from experience. But look into Skyward. I am pretty sure you can get instant authorization.

Only if your airport is participating in LAANC.

 

[licensed pilot]

I was hired by a film production to fly my drone in Nahant, MA on July 28th. According to the FAA sectional charts, that location is in Class B airspace at the surface, due to its proximity to Logan Airport.

I filed an airspace authorization request with the FAA, but it says that such requests can take up to 90 days to approve. That, of course, would bring us well past the shooting date.

Has anybody had any success in expediting approval of an airspace authorization request? If so, how did you do it? And when, relative to the shooting date, did you do it?

Thanks.

"expediting approval of an airspace authorization request?" Can't be done, sorry.

 

[InterMurph]

The skyward.io home page promises it can "Get near-instant FAA authorization to fly in controlled airspace". But the Learn more link leads to a page that doesn't mention airspace authorizations.

A lot of the other pages on that site refer to LAANC, which is not yet available in the northeast.

Do you think they can help get authorizations in areas where LAANC is not yet active?

Thanks.

 

[licensed pilot]

The skyward.io home page promises it can "Get near-instant FAA authorization to fly in controlled airspace". But the Learn more link leads to a page that doesn't mention airspace authorizations.

A lot of the other pages on that site refer to LAANC, which is not yet available in the northeast.

Do you think they can help get authorizations in areas where LAANC is not yet active?

Thanks.

Skyward can only help with LAANC airports. All we can do is wait for future developments. Check out this time table:
What Drone Operators Need to Know About the Expansion of LAANC - Commercial UAV News

 

[LevitatedMedia]

This right here cost me a good paying job recently... was told they're backlogged 8+ months.

 

[ed.matthews4]

You could try calling the tower and asking the controller.
I have seen where a drone operator called and was given permission for a local flight.

 

[ed.matthews4]

Here's someone that did it in Florida and made a vid showing how he went about it. I've had to call a tower a couple times in my previous profession, and it can take some time to get thru. At some smaller airports, you can drive up to the tower and there is an intercom phone that will put you thru.

 

[licensed pilot]

This right here cost me a good paying job recently... was told they're backlogged 8+ months.

LOL. I've been losing jobs since 2015, my friend. LAANC has helped but it will take time to get all areas on board.

 

[InterMurph]

It looks like you are correct; Skyward is using the LAANC program.

Fortunately for me, LAANC is scheduled to roll out to my area on August 16th, and our shooting date has been moved back to August 28th.

So there is a chance that this might work out. I will update this thread if it does.

Thanks.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

For those calling the tower, that's unfortunately only applicable if you're hobby flying. If you do commercial shoot near an airport you need a waiver to be legal. Just getting an ok from control tower doesn't make it legal.

Once you have a waiver you STILL need an ok from the tower.

 

[CSpenceFLY]

Here's someone that did it in Florida and made a vid showing how he went about it. I've had to call a tower a couple times in my previous profession, and it can take some time to get thru. At some smaller airports, you can drive up to the tower and there is an intercom phone that will put you thru.

what in an unbelievably inefficient procedure

 

[CSpenceFLY]

I was hired by a film production to fly my drone in Nahant, MA on July 28th. According to the FAA sectional charts, that location is in Class B airspace at the surface, due to its proximity to Logan Airport.

I filed an airspace authorization request with the FAA, but it says that such requests can take up to 90 days to approve. That, of course, would bring us well past the shooting date.

Has anybody had any success in expediting approval of an airspace authorization request? If so, how did you do it? And when, relative to the shooting date, did you do it?

Thanks.

your best your best bet would have been to find someone in the area that already has an authorization and fly under theirs.

 

[skybandit]

As others have already pointed out you're SOL. Just chiming in because I was in a very similar situation earlier this year. Had a client wanting to film in Quincy which appears to be roughly the same distance from BOS as Nahant. I'm 107 and it was two weeks before the shoot so all I could do was call upon a colleague of mine who has his 333. Turned over the piloting and drone rental to him and I operated the camera.

That being said, we were so far from the airport (close to 10 SM out), over private property, and did not exceed 100 ft AGL that I would have felt perfectly comfortable piloting, technically in violation of the regulations. I'm not condoning breaking the rules, I just remember feeling how frustrated I would have been giving up this job for a situation that pretty much could not have been a safer scenario - like a "are you serious?" kind of feeling. And all hobbyists have to do is call the tower???

If faced with a similar situation, specifically flying for a paying production, I would aim to follow the rules because there's a lot of legal overhead at stake but...

Consequently, I filed for the waiver anyway knowing there was no way in hell I was going to get it in time. I emailed the production 3 months later, "Guess what? We just got our clearance to fly!".

 

[Doc1500]

When LAANC IS rolled out in the Northeast can authorization be obtained through air Maps?
Where it is already rolled out what are you guys using?

 

[InterMurph]

LAANC is apparently live now for my region. What is the simplest way to get LAANC authorization? I have been looking at SkyWard, but it seems they are selling a far more comprehensive solution than just LAANC access.