zeusdog
 lvl.1
Flight distance : 220899 ft
Offline
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It's not that simple.
As you know, operation of model aircraft within 5 miles of an airport requires prior notification of the airport operator and the control tower (if there is one). Although this flight was not within 5 miles of the several conventional airports in the area, it was within 5 miles of 4 heliports identified in Airmap.io.
Federal Aviation Regulations, Sec. 1.1 includes the following:
- "Airport means an area of land or water that is used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, and includes its buildings and facilities, if any."
- "Aircraft means a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air."
Heliports are obviously used for the landing/takeoff of helicopters, and helicopters are obviously used for flight in the air, thus heliports count as airports. B4UFLY confirms this. Sad, but true.
In my opinion, camran.rahmani's flight was safe, as he could have easily seen and avoided any helicopters in the area, and helicopters would be unlikely to fly as close to the Bay Bridge as his P3 did.
Having said that, compliance with the requirement for notifying airports prior to model aircraft flight would have meant notifying all heliports within 5 miles, which - for practical purposes - is nearly impossible because contact information for many heliports is not generally available. For example, one heliport in airmap.io's database is on Alcatraz island. I have sailed on San Francisco Bay for over 30 years and have never seen any helicopter land or takeoff from Alcatraz, but there is no exemption from the notification requirement for infrequently-used heliports.
The requirement to notify ALL airports within 5 miles effectively makes it very difficult to fly our Phantoms in or near any city, because nearly every hospital, law enforcement agency and TV station has a heliport. In cities such as Los Angeles, many of the tall buildings have heliports on the roof.
In some rural areas, there are many private airports. Some are used for agricultural aviation, and some are on private land for the exclusive use of a landowner/pilot. In the latter case, aircraft operation may be very infrequent or may have ceased many years ago.
Camran.rahmani's statement that his flight was not within a no-fly zone or national park is correct, but it was within 5 miles of several heliports.
So...although Tharg's stated reasons for objecting to camran.rahmani's flight were based on the apparently incorrect assumption that the flight took place in a prohibited area, the flight was still a technical violation unless camran.rahmani notified all of the heliports within 5 miles before flying.
I hope there will eventually be a universal on-line notification system that can satisfy the FAA notification requirements. Airmap is currently working on such a system, but currently only about 75 airports participate. |
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lvl.4
lvl.2
lvl.3
Second Officer
