Oldmaninwva
First Officer
Flight distance : 9750253 ft
United States
Offline
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My first opportunity to actually HAVE to call the tower of an airport near my hometown... Here's what went down...
First off, I live and fly in the U.S. so the U.S. FAA rules are what this email os about.
Called the tower, advised the person answering that I would be flying my drone within the 5 mile radius and gave him the location. My takeoff was actually over 2.5 miles away from airport center and positioned over 300 ft BELOW the runway altitude. (airport sits on a hilltop). My target photo intrests and personal boundaries of my flight would keep me over 2.25 miles away from the airport and less than 300ft above takeoff point. No TFR's in affect for the area I was in.
The tower rep stated that I needed to get a waiver to be able to fly and to go to the FAA website to do that... I told him that I was using the FAA app B4UFly and all it states was that I just needed to advise him of my flight. Even mentioned that I was a recreational flyer (but I did have myself registered with the FAA under section 336). And once again told him that all the FAA guidlines told me to do was notify, which is what I was doing. He asked how long and how high, to which I replied, less than an hour and well under 400ft agl.
His response was then "heck you wont be interferring with anything we're doing so have fun but keep an eye out for local med choppers" Roger That... (even attempted to notify the local hospital but no answer)
Now I get back to my vehicle and see that I had a voicemail from the same guy I talked to from the tower stating that his boss told him thatower guys t I DID need a waiver and that I was not authorized to fly within the 5 mile radius. Uhhhhh.. Too late....
My question for those in the know.... From what I can see on the FAA site, the requirement for the waiver for Class C only applies to Part 107 flyers... I am thinking that the tower guys are confusing the two and going with the requirement for Part 107.... Going to the FAADRroneZone site and logging in under the section 336 portal where I am registered has no waiver links that I can see.
Am I right or wrong here?
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