LAANC Readiness Status on FAA Facility Grid

[wradar]

I noticed today that there are areas in which the FAA Facility Grid indicates a LAANC altitude, but are not available to be authorized for LAANC. For instance, Fairbanks, AK has several areas in which the FAA Facility Grid indicates an altitude (200 feet in the attached photo, for instance) but the grid is still highlighted in red. This red indicates that the area is not able to be approved via LAANC. (If you dig into the ESRI metadata for the grid, the red shading is because the grid has a "LAANC Readiness Status" for at least one of its airport areas of "0".)

In the attached example, the grid areas are in Class D, but are not part of a Prohibited Area, National Security UAS Flight Restricted area, or any other obvious thing that make it unique from the other LAANC-approved grid squares in the vicinity.

Does anyone have any guesses on why these grid squares would have a LAANC altitude assigned, but are simultaneously tagged as not being available for LAANC approval?

 

[MapMaker53]

It seems some LAANC grids are a work in progress. Probably takes a lot of meetings and input from a number of parties for each grid cell to be approved for activation. For example, McArthur Airport on Long Island had all of it's green cells as being zero altitude until far enough out where cells were designated as 400'. It took over a year to finally see that grid change to a more realistic 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 allowance based on distance from airport and flight patterns. Those inactive Fairbanks LAANC cells shouldn't dissuade you, You can always apply for an Airspace Authorization via the FAA Drone Zone website. In your case, a message will pop up stating that you should use the LAANC system as soon as you enter the closest airport code, but you can ignore that and keep filling out the application. Just explain at the end of your notes that you are applying for this airspace authorization because that particular LANNC cell is not active and you are therefore unable to use the LAANC system. I have received airspace authorization in as few as 3 days even in a high traffic area like metro NYC.

One extra tip if you have never applied for an airspace authorization. Your proposed operation should be very detailed and describe your pre-launch safety check, what fail safe measures your drone has, what your return home altitude will be set at, that you will have a pre-planned emergency landing area, you will keep the drone in VLOS, mention if you will be using a VO, what type of lighting system the drone has, any extra strobe added, etc., and that you will follow all FAA Part 107 regulations. Basically make them feel comfortable in granting you access to the airspace and convince them that you will be prepared to operate in a safe and professional manner.

Good luck.

 

[wradar]

Great, and thanks for the tips on approval. I had presumed it was more benign, like DJI’s zone unlocking (“reason: commercial flight”). I made sure to bolster my narrative quite a bit. Thanks, again!

 

[Recoveryone]

Bill's explanation is on track, but let me add this bit of info, This new "RED" area will mainly consist of "0" grid areas near airports and also grid areas that are in line with the bowtie (take off/approach) zones (normally in blue). These areas will need FAADroneZone direct approval, so plan accordingly.

 

[Dave Pitman]

Does anyone have any guesses on why these grid squares would have a LAANC altitude assigned, but are simultaneously tagged as not being available for LAANC approval?

No guess needed.

Those particular cells in your example are in airspace where the approach control is military, Ladd Army Airfield in this case. You can request authorization for operation in those cells through DroneZone, and they will by default usually authorize ops up to the particular cell's stated height.

Red in this case simply indicates that authorization is not currently available through automated LAANC. But the heights are nervertheless used in decision making by the FAA.