Have you received permission to fly in a zero cell?

aerialimagery · Feb 28, 2018

I suppose most who have filed for airspace authorization are familiar with the facility maps and their cells and posted maximum height above ground level. Has anyone here received permission to fly in a cell with a "zero"? If so, do/did you need to maintain radio contact during the flight?

AH-1G · Mar 1, 2018

aerialimagery said:
I suppose most who have filed for airspace authorization are familiar with the facility maps and their cells and posted maximum height above ground level. Has anyone here received permission to fly in a cell with a "zero"? If so, do/did you need to maintain radio contact during the flight?

No, Sanford International Airport in Florida.
Once I had the waiver all I had to do is call ATC (they gave me a specific # to call) and explain my intentions.They told me to maintain maximum height of 75' and stay within certain boundaries. You can see the ATC in background picture 020 and picture 021 passenger jet up up and away. This project was for Seminole County Sports Complex. It's not a super busy airport.

skyeboysteve · Mar 2, 2018

I have. I just had to call Love Field tower 48 hours ahead of time during a weekday and then call again 30 minutes before operations and then immediately after I was done flying for the day. I gave them my cell number and got authorization to fly each time I called in.

aerialimagery · Mar 2, 2018

skyeboysteve said:
I have. I just had to call Love Field tower 48 hours ahead of time during a weekday and then call again 30 minutes before operations and then immediately after I was done flying for the day. I gave them my cell number and got authorization to fly each time I called in.

How high were you allowed to go?

skyeboysteve · Mar 2, 2018

aerialimagery said:
How high were you allowed to go?

Only 150 feet AGL with a 0.2nm Radius; which kind of sucked as the hospital I was filming was 390 feet tall.

Ric · Mar 3, 2018

skyeboysteve said:
Only 150 feet AGL with a 0.2nm Radius; which kind of sucked as the hospital I was filming was 390 feet tall.

Just curious. Wouldn’t the 150 feet AGL apply from the top of the structure as long as you were within a 400 foot radius of the structure? Or was it specifically stated 150 feet under any circumstances?

skyeboysteve · Mar 3, 2018

Ric said:
Just curious. Wouldn’t the 150 feet AGL apply from the top of the structure as long as you were within a 400 foot radius of the structure? Or was it specifically stated 150 feet under any circumstances?

Yes the authorization stated 150 feet AGL, however it was one of the UAS coordinators at the tower that I’d call at least 1 business day before operations, who told me that this altitude was absolute from “street level” regardless of my proximity to the building. He told me that I was the first person they’ve granted to fly in a zero altitude cell. My authorizations were from 6am to noon on a specific weekend. The last time I called the tower coordinator (who was in charge with coming up with the grid for DAL) he told me I was welcome to fly any day of the week and any time of day as long as I gave 48 hour notice. I thanked him but after that third weekend I was finally done filming.

I think had I taken him up on the offer I would have asked for an updated authorization saying so, just to have it in writing; though perhaps phone calls to the tower are recorded—after all the tower has final authority anyway (also specifically stated in the authorizations I got).

Boefinator · Mar 3, 2018

Ric said:
Just curious. Wouldn’t the 150 feet AGL apply from the top of the structure as long as you were within a 400 foot radius of the structure? Or was it specifically stated 150 feet under any circumstances?

Every authorization I have received has been absolute value, not allowed to add to structures.

teamdirtydrone · Mar 3, 2018

I got direct authorization to fly at a golf course by calling ATC directly - The golf course is very close to the Carlsbad Airport, which is Class D. I spoke to the airport manager first, who was upset that I called him at all, but his number was listed. Then he gave me the number to ATC, and they said as long as I stayed under 200 FT AGL (same deal though as what I'm seeing above - no "taking off of a tall hill" 200 FT AGL) and flew only at the golf course and called him when my flight operations were over, I would be good.

Then I had to enter that authorization information into my account at DJI, which then sent me a code, which I had to enter into my app to fly. This was early fall 2017, so not sure the update since then, that's the last time. I was glad they were tracking LAANC authorizations so that if some dummy did something stupid they'd know who it was, as my ability to take off was completely locked up until I entered that code.

I stayed under 150 FT AGL just to be safe, all went well, etc.

daddioJP · Mar 4, 2018

skyeboysteve said:
Yes the authorization stated 150 feet AGL, however it was one of the UAS coordinators at the tower that I’d call at least 1 business day before operations, who told me that this altitude was absolute from “street level” regardless of my proximity to the building. He told me that I was the first person they’ve granted to fly in a zero altitude cell. My authorizations were from 6am to noon on a specific weekend. The last time I called the tower coordinator (who was in charge with coming up with the grid for DAL) he told me I was welcome to fly any day of the week and any time of day as long as I gave 48 hour notice. I thanked him but after that third weekend I was finally done filming.

I think had I taken him up on the offer I would have asked for an updated authorization saying so, just to have it in writing; though perhaps phone calls to the tower are recorded—after all the tower has final authority anyway (also specifically stated in the authorizations I got).

Steve - I'm in the Love Field area too. Can you share how long it took you to get the authorization, when you applied, and was it a wide area DAL authorization? I'm still waiting on mine.