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LAANC not going to be available at civilian contract towers?

Tom Gilmore

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In watching one of the latest LAANC FAA joint webinars I was alarmed to see that contract control tower airports were not going to be issued a LAANC authorization. I live next to one and it is still blue and not green, so I figure that is the reason. I had a waiver COA that has expired and was told that it would not be extended because of the LAANC system being implemented. Anyone have any informed information on this?
 
Unless the DroneZone support team, or your local FISDO office, can give you a specific near-term date for the LAANC expansion, my recommendation would be to submit the paperwork for the WAAA COA. Otherwise you find yourself in the same boat as recreational fliers - unable to fly in controlled airspace, with no idea when LAANC will be updated/expanded.
 
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I agree with the above. It has been my understanding that LAANC has never been intended for all civil airports.
 
I agree with the above. It has been my understanding that LAANC has never been intended for all civil airports.

And when the HOBBY masses get wind of this "limitation" they are going to go BALLISTIC for those areas that won't be served with LAANC.
 
I really don’t have any sympathy for them as their negative actions have been contributory to the creation of LAANC.

They certainly weren’t the entire reason but had they refrained from activity that provided the press the means to fall back on public safety and fear of drones whenever they had nothing else to write about there would have been little impetus to come up with the system.

It only takes one verifiable incident of drones mixing it up with full scale around airports, yet many have made YouTube. Israel, Turkey, Australia, Nevada and running into a helicopter in New York was all the justification anyone could ask for.
 
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I really don’t have any sympathy for them as their negative actions have been contributory to the creation of LAANC.

They certainly weren’t the entire reason but had they refrained from activity that provided the press the means to fall back on public safety and fear of drones whenever they had nothing else to write about their would have been little impetus to come up with the system.

It only takes one verifiable incident of drones mixing it up with full scale around airports, yet many have made YouTube. Israel, Turkey, Australia, Nevada and running into a helicopter in New York was all the justification anyone could ask for.

I whole heartedly agree with you.
 
In watching one of the latest LAANC FAA joint webinars I was alarmed to see that contract control tower airports were not going to be issued a LAANC authorization. I live next to one and it is still blue and not green, so I figure that is the reason. I had a waiver COA that has expired and was told that it would not be extended because of the LAANC system being implemented. Anyone have any informed information on this?
The FAA just sent a list (which I deleted after discovering that none of the FCTs in my area were affected) that LAANC was expanding. I am still out of the LAANC umbrella and I don't mind. The WAAA COA serves me well and I don't have to ask for permission every flight I take. Just make sure the COA never expires by applying in advance before it is due to lapse.
 
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In retrospect, I sent the email today to extend my current WAAA COA. To renew an existing COA, you need to email:
[email protected]

Attach a copy of your current COA to the email
In the body of the email give them the expiration date, who the responsible party for the COA will be (pilot of record), the airspace location (ICAO identifier) and the length of time you want the authorization (one year extension).
It goes a lot faster than slugging your way through DroneZone.

The above is only for unexpired COA renewals. If anything on your existing COA changes, you need to file for a new COA through DroneZone.
 
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In retrospect, I sent the email today to extend my current WAAA COA. To renew and existing COA, you need to email:
[email protected]

Attach a copy of your current COA to the email
In the body of the email give them the expiration date, who the responsible party for the COA will be (pilot of record), the airspace location (ICAO identifier) and the length of time you want the authorization (one year extension).
It goes a lot faster than slugging your way through DroneZone.

The above is only for unexpired COA renewals. If anything on your existing COA changes, you need to file for a new COA through DroneZone.
Al,

can you put this on a sticky so everyone has access to it in the future?
 
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As far as COAs go, I filed like I had before and the FAA rep informed me that I should be going through the DroneZone portal now FAADroneZone

Long story short, I applied to renew my Wide Area COA on the 22nd and had a new COA on the 25th of July. The lead time has definitely improved.
 
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