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Airspace Authorization Delays

I have waivers out for over a year. I emailed them last fall and complained and was told to do a wide area authorization it would go faster. So I did a number of them to equal up on the waivers I asked for. This was last Sept. I just got the first auth back which will now expire this Sept. Although I don't nec need it for this airspace because I can use instant airspace with Laanc (or whatever its called) which I have used and its been great.
So I am waiting on the other Auths because they were sent same day, still been a week since getting the first one. I think it will all go electronically 100% and drop the whole waiver/auth deal because its a nightmare. Also did anyone know that lots of this is done by civilian contractors? You would think it would go faster because of this but if you think about this it will never really speed up because the civ contractor wants to drag its feet to keep making that $$ in the gov. contract. Is what it is I guess, I have been dealing with the FAA for years nothing has changed just gotta cross all your Ts and just wait it out.
 
I submitted two authorization requests, about 2 weeks apart, last August. My first one took 133 days to get approved. I was granted 6 months, on that one, starting with the date it was approved. Actually 6 months, starting on the first of the month following date of approval.

The second one that was approved, and took 145 days, was strange. It gave me blanket approval to fly within the airspace of our local Class C airport, at or below altitudes in accordance with the UAS facility map. No specific location or radius is in the authorization certificate, nor was there any map attached. So, in essence, it covered the area I asked for on my first authorization request. The only problem with it, is that I did not get the full 6 months, and it expires on the end date that was in my authorization request. I'll now file another request, starting at the expiration of the current one, and hopefully get the same blanket approval.
 
I called last week to find out the status on 2 airspace authorizations submitted through DroneZone and they said they are taking about 5 months for approval.
 
I submitted an application on about August 1, and never received a response except for their notification email. It was for a job in early October, so I thought there was a good chance I was too late, and maybe they threw out the application once it got past the requested date, but it would have been nice to get some sort of response from them.
 
Ron34238 said:
Wow! And I thought the DroneZone was intended to speed up the process.
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It's just a new coat of paint on the same process. The same people doing the same thing but with a more organized and refined front end. The good part about DroneZone is they have a lot of information easily available on one clean location.
 
jjkowals said:
Just posted to the other thread re: FAA Airspace Authorization. But wanted to share some advice here. I had a few requests go into the 100+ days. So I got on the phone and started calling anyone who would listen. A class D airspace ATC manager connected me with the FAA UAS manager. A few phone calls with him and he was able to speed up a few of my requests. Seems like they got stuck in the old portal when their trying to start up the new portal.

Anyway, giving a call might help get you flying those jobs.
https://directory.faa.gov/appsPub/N...nt&5/AOA-001/AJO-0/AJV-0/AJV-1/AJV-115&ZV=I11
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Thanks Jjkowals!
 
B_Dawson said:
I called last week to find out the status on 2 airspace authorizations submitted through DroneZone and they said they are taking about 5 months for approval.
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UPDATE: Ok, I finally got through to one of the Air Traffic Control Specialists:p. First the good news. One of my NAS was approved of today, and will be sent to me via e-mail. YEAH!!!:D, the other 5 should be in the next few days she told me. In far as the DroneZone portal, she told me that only requests made From January 1, 2018 on, will show up in DroneZone. Any request made prior to Jan 1, 2018, will be delivered via e-mail. She also confirmed that LAANC will be up and running by September of 2018. Regardless, if you filed an request prior to Jan 2018, it won't show up in DroneZone. So now the question is from what date is the NAS good for? I will let you know. But on average she says about 4 months is the lead time right now. Start planning now.
 
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Mike Nevins said:
But on average she says about 4 months is the lead time right now. Start planning now.
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Thanks, Mike, for this information. As it pertains to me, after 145 days from time of submission, I got authorization last week for a wide area in Class C airspace, submitted last August, to do real estate photography. However, the expiration date is the original requested expiration date which happens to be mid April. I immediately filed for another six months, with the start date being when the current authorization ends.

Sounds like I'll have a two month gap. Oh well, it is what it is.


Ron
 
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Ron34238 said:
Thanks, Mike, for this information. As it pertains to me, after 145 days from time of submission, I got authorization last week for a wide area in Class C airspace, submitted last August, to do real estate photography. However, the expiration date is the original requested expiration date which happens to be mid April. I immediately filed for another six months, with the start date being when the current authorization ends.

Sounds like I'll have a two month gap. Oh well, it is what it is.


Ron
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You would think that they would make from the date they get the authorization to us, rather than we we submitted it. I will wait till I get them in my hand, but I too will file as soon as I get them. I don't trust them to get LAANC up by September.
 
UPDATE: Just received my first of 6 NAS Authorizations! :D I had requested 6 months which was the most the FAA state you could get. Mine (Just Read) stated it is good from January 30th, 2018 through September 30th, 2018! If the rest of them come through like that, maybe this will be the last time I have to go through this misery if the LAANC is up and operational by September. Question is, will it? Do I take chance and not file or what?
 
Looks like most of you may have a bureaucratic problem here. They tell you to use the new Drone website and then they tell you not to if you applied under the old website. Sounds like you are hung up in midair, no pun intended.
 
Seems to me authorizations are taking much longer these days than a year ago. A year ago, I would usually get authorization in about 5 weeks after requesting. Now it's been over three months for three different requests, and nothing; with the exception of one rep who called me offer me a wide-area-authorization instead for Houston Hobby. I explained that although that would be useful, I really needed to be able to fly at least as high as the 380' tall hotel I planned to film for a promotional video, and the grid for that area limited me to 100 feet. It's been a couple months since that last conversation. I wish now I had simply accepted his wide area authorization, and re-applied for the specific location like I did initially; but was afraid (at the time) I would simply delay my specific request even longer by accepting the wide area proposal for an area 4 hours drive from home.

I see I'm not alone here--makes me wonder if the FAA folks have thrown up their hands and figured why bother when LAANC will be out nationwide by the end of the year--us silly toy pilots can wait. :p
 
Has anyone decided to go for airspace waivers instead of the authorizations? Waivers last longer, but require more details in the application process. I know my night flying waiver didn’t take too long. Wondering if it would make a difference
 

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