Dan
 lvl.2
Flight distance : 408054 ft
United States
Offline
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Ok. There was a thread recently complaining about the hoops to jump through in San Francisco in order to be able to fly. I thought I would share my experience in what it really takes to follow the rules. Generally I try to avoid areas where there are restrictions, but the Bay area is one of my favorite places in the world and I decided I would take the drone and give it a shot. I really try hard to follow the rules and am a licensed pilot, so I have a good appreciation for the safety aspects.
I decided to fly from Crissy Field near the Golden Gate Bridge:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Crissy+Field/@37.8039069,-122.4640618,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x5b15912201aa3600
The FAA app says there are six heliports within the 5 mile radius. The app doesn't give you contact information. Fortunately, I am able to look up the FAA information for each facility. I also give the exact location based on the flight navigation aids so that I can make it very easy for them to communicate to air traffic control or pilots if they need to.
One of the heliports appears to be privately owned and the phone number is disconnected. I have no way of knowing whether the facility is still open. (Many private facilities are taken down and it takes eyars before the FAA actually knows this.) In the end, I document the information and a record that I had tried to call the last known number. (Just for fun, I try to Google the person's name to see if there is an alternate phone number, but I don't find anything.)
One of the facilities is listed as Alcatraz Island and I have to contact the Park Ranger there. I get a voice mail, but a bit later I get a call from him. Very pleasant fellow. His only issue is that there are restrictions over flying over the seabird colonies and they need a specific height (which is more than 400'). I think he knows that makes the fly-over even harder from a regulatory perspective, but he is very polite and not the least bit discouraging. I explain that I am not flying anywhere near the island and he is happy and wishes me well.
Two of the facilities are owned by the police. I though these were going to be the hardest ones. As it turns out, in one case the one facility just laughed and said they would take a note and put it in the master call log. That has nothing to do with the actual heliport and I gathered I may have been the first call. The second one just let me leave a message, but it was also unclear whether anyone associated with the actual heliport would actually be contacted.
The other two were medical facilities. One said they had never heard of this and they didn't know what to do. I asksed for someone associated with the heliport and they didn't know. Mind you, I had called the FAA-provided number, so I gave them the location, the time, and the height range I would be flying and ased her to take a note. Once again I documented that I had mad the call just in case there were future problems.
The last one was the hardest. It was an active facility for transporting patients. I did manage to find someone associated with the heliport and they took my information and said they would call back. She understood exactly what quadcopters were. A bit later they did call back and they said I needed to contact the FAA. I gently explained that I had already done all the proper FAA contacts and that I was required, according to the rules, to notify them that I woud be operating within 5 miles of their facility. She decided to get the actual air director involved. He called close to the time I had told the facilities that I would be flying. The air director said he understood that I was calling to get their permission to fly. At this point this was the first real aviation guy I was talking to and I wanted to make sure that I presented the drone community in a positive light, especially since this appeared to be their first interaction and their helicopters flew at exactly the heights I intended to operate. I very politly but firmly said that I wasn't actually calling for their permission, merely to notify them per the FAA regulations. That being said, I explained, that if there was absolutely anything he wanted I would absolutely accommodate him because I wanted this to be a positive experience. He explained that they flew at a particular location. Not only was that location not in the area I had described, it wasn't even within range. I decided the best thing to do was put a positive spin on it and tell him emphatically that I would ensure that I would stay well away from that area in order to avoid any problems. He looked up the flight schedule and gave me the times when to expect aircraft (which was irrelevant since I wasn't in the area, but I took the information anyways.)
So here was the bottom line: the FAA rules are basically useless. Regardless of whether they have the Congressional authority, they don't provide a way to contact the facilties they want us to contact. Second, their heavy-handed approach has facilities believing that drone pilots need permission, which they do not (except in ATC situations such as near major airports). Only the Park Ranger seemed familiar with drones (and since they have had pre-FAA incidents that makes sense). No one else knew what to do. Either drone pilots aren't following the rules and calling or there just haven't been enough contacts for the facility providers to have processes. I suspected that was the case which is why I went through such detailed lengths to documents contacts, times, phone calls, etc. I don't need any legal headaches and we, as a community, need to be seen as responsible and making the attempt to be good citizens of the airspace.
At the end of the day it was pretty foggy, but at least I got a few pictures. The photography turned out to be a secondary experience to following the rules, but I was glad for both opportunities.
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Golden Gate Bridge
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lvl.1
lvl.3
Second Officer
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