I live just outside the Washington National Airport "Special Area." Can anyone tell me what that means? Just want to make sure I don't fly into this area if I'm not supposed to. Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/YoXAMRQoIAA

Category A No Fly Zone

Raybro Posted at 2015-4-23 00:42
http://www.youtube.com/embed/YoXAMRQoIAA

Category A No Fly Zone

Great, thanks for the prompt response.

b10lm@icloud.co Posted at 2015-4-23 01:19
Great, thanks for the prompt response.

What I don't understand is, why the 3rd designation of Special area and no explanations  of each on that page.   The special area is clearly an A as this page indicates:
http://www.dji.com/fly-safe/category-mc


However this page is awesome and explains how the special area works.  Im guessing there are zones within the area that are allowable to fly and the inner most parts are restricted as you get closer to the center.  Let me know what you guys think:


http://wiki.dji.com/en/index.php ... on%2B_Flight_Limits

sasalito Posted at 2015-8-5 11:54
What I don't understand is, why the 3rd designation of Special area and no explanations  of each on  ...

I agree with you. My home falls into a temporary special designation area and according to the FAA information, it covers all the airspace from the ground up. I used to be able to fly at home but now, with my new Phantom 3 and firmware, I can't fly at all. I have to go as far as maybe 50 miles north to be off this area. So why the restriction to the ground. I should be able to fly under this restricted area. After all no aircraft will be flying lower than the roof of my house...
Specifically talking about: FDC 0/8326 Temporary flight restrictions for Special Security Reasons. The "temporary" label is questionable because it expires on 2025...

b10lm@icloud.co Posted at 2015-9-1 09:35
I agree with you. My home falls into a temporary special designation area and according to the FAA  ...

It's kinda an all or nothing situation. Everything is measured AGL(above ground level) you're house might be find but then someone else's house might be 200' higher than yours, either way it sucks but you can thank the drunk idiot who flew his phantom onto the whitehouse lawn for this. If that didn't happen dji might not have made all the flight restrictions.

Gabe R Posted at 2015-9-1 21:57
It's kinda an all or nothing situation. Everything is measured AGL(above ground level) you're hous ...

That's true. I've witnessed lots of people doing really stupid stuff with their quads. There is a lot of GA and commercial air traffic over our house but not below 500 ft AGL... I guess that's the price we pay for living near DC. Next weekend I am going to try and go outside the restriction are and see how my new Phantom performs near the edge of the restriction area.

b10lm@icloud.co Posted at 2015-9-1 22:09
That's true. I've witnessed lots of people doing really stupid stuff with their quads. There is a  ...

Well I live just north of baltimore city, haven't found too much interesting scenery to shoot since this area is flooded with NFZ...... DC, BWI, Aberdeen, andrews.

Gabe R Posted at 2015-9-2 16:27
Well I live just north of baltimore city, haven't found too much interesting scenery to shoot sinc ...

Yeah, I feel your pain too. I find my self scouring the web and maps of interesting places. I am looking up towards Frederick. I will post what I find here...

Gabe R Posted at 2015-9-2 16:27
Well I live just north of baltimore city, haven't found too much interesting scenery to shoot sinc ...

Yeah, I feel your pain too. I find my self scouring the web and maps of interesting places. I am looking up towards Frederick. Hopefully I will come across one or two Quad-Friendly places to shoot...

b10lm@icloud.co Posted at 2015-9-3 19:32
Yeah, I feel your pain too. I find my self scouring the web and maps of interesting places. I am l ...

Mostly Ive just found local parks and such. Maybe need to hook up some time and fly together.

So today I decided to dig deeper into this issue and found that the size of the airspace restriction on DJI's website (flysafe.dji.com) and the DJI Go App doesn't match. The app is showing a larger radius of about 5-6 miles. In other words either the website or the firmware are wrong.  I sent an email to DJI support. Let's see what they say. This makes sense because I was able to fly at home with my Phantom 2 Vision + without a problem.

So today I decided to dig deeper into this issue and found that the size of the airspace restriction on DJI's website (flysafe.dji.com) and the DJI Go App doesn't match. The app is showing a larger radius of about 5-6 miles. In other words either the website or the firmware are wrong.  I sent an email to DJI support. Let's see what they say. This makes sense because I was able to fly at home with my Phantom 2 Vision + without a problem.

Yes!

There is an Internal FAA Memorandum that I stumbled across dated 2011.

I managed to locate it by accident when checking FAA No Fly Zones.

I'm directly under the South Approach to Dulles.

I downloaded the FAA Memorandum.

Here is how to get it:

Operators can find this notice on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Web site at http://fsims.faa.gov. This notice is available to the public at http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/orders_notices

There you can read the Exemption Policy and requirements.

So being in a No Fly Zone isn't the kiss of death for this hobby.

Follow the stated Exemption Policy and you  will be fine.

Just be SMART! Use common sense, yes it IS rare!  

Enjoy Flying!