Last time I gave you a prep course on drones. Today, I want to give some of the laws when flying when flying as a hobbyist. But, lets start with the definition of hobbyist.
What is a Hobbyist?
A hobbyist is referred to as a recreational flyer, while someone who makes money with a drone is known as a commercial flyer (and as I said before, commercial flyers must have a Part 107 license). According to the FAA a recreational flyer is anyone who is NOT flying in furtherance of a business.
Now, what does that mean. Well, the obvious is flying a drone to film a movie, or take photos as a professional photographer. However, there are many other things that you may not think of as being in furtherance of a business.
For example, taking drone video of your house in order to sell said home is considered in furtherance of a business because you are doing it to promote your house in order to make money off of it. So, you real estate agents better have a Part 107 or know someone who does if you want to have drone footage of a property.
Another example that might be less apparent would be a farmer who wants to monitor his crops. Now, while the farmer is not using the drone to promote anything and the footage in and of itself is not going to make him money, it is still in furtherance of a business. Monitoring crops is part of the business of being a farmer and anything used to do this task is in furtherance of said farming business.
The Laws You Need To Know Before Flying
To start out I want to note that I’m only going to talk about the laws from the FAA, because state, county and city laws may very. Please consult your local government for their laws.
Lets start with where you can fly.
There are many types of restricted airspace. National parks, wild life preserves, military bases, etc. You are strictly prohibited from flying in these areas. Rarely will you ever get permission for these areas and if you do then it will usually be because you are working with these type of places.
A side note for sports fans: Don’t fly near a stadium when a game is going on. You are prohibited from flight within 3 miles of the venture from one hour before the event to one hour after.
Now, there are some airspaces that have restrictions, that you may be able to fly in. These are the airspaces around airports which can be B, C, or D. You can find many apps that will show you where you can fly and if you are in one of these airspaces. I enjoy Airmap. Airmap utilizes the LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) system. By signing up, you can get permissions to fly in other airspaces. I will go more into the LAANC system when I get to flying under Part 107 as it only recently was approved for recreational flyers.
Now that we’ve gone through where you can fly, lets get up in the air.
How to Fly Under the FAA as a Hobbyist
Now you are ready to get in the air, but what are you allowed to do once you get up there? Well, lets get flying.
The maximum height you can fly is 400 feet AGL( AGL means Above Ground Level, which I assume is self explanatory). Now, I want to note that if you are near something that is over 400 feet, you may fly high to avoid said object. I want to note that this is in class G airspace (Class G is general airspace). If you are in one of the other airspaces, please consult the rules for those airspaces, as they may prevent you from flying at a certain height.
Now, while you are in the air, you must maintain visual line of sight (from here on out I will refer to this as VLOS). This means you must be able to see your drone without visual aides, such as binoculars (Glasses and contacts are fine, in fact, if you need corrective lens to see then you better be wearing them while flying). This also means that you can not rely on the FPV (first person view) on your HUD to navigate.
If you lose VLOS then don’t freak out. It happens and panicking will only increase your chance of an accident. The FAA states that if VLOS is lost then it must be regained as quick as possible while retaining safe practices. Use your senses to regain control. Listen to the drone as it will help you discern where it is located. Also, utilize the HUD, it will tell you how far you are in the air. You can also use your FPV to look at your surroundings to help locate your drone. What ever you do, do not make any sudden movements if you are unsure of what is around the drone. If clear, slowly lowering the drone can help, especially if you are high up in the air. The best practice, however, is to avoid losing VLOS to begin with.
Now for some quick flight rules. Do not fly at night. The FAA states that you are allowed to fly from and up to civil twilight, which is considered 30 minutes after official sunrise and 30 minutes before official sunset (there are exceptions for Part 107 users with waivers, but we will discuss that when we get to Part 107). Also, do not fly over people (Once again there are exceptions for Part 107).
Have Fun Flying
Hobby droning can be very fun. It is the best way to get used to the controls. Once you think you’ve got it down, you may want to start making money. Next time, I will start with a primer of the Part 107 that you will need to start raking in that cold hard cash.
Til next time.
Cheers,
Shane H. Wilder