Welcome, Commercial Drone Pilots!
Join our growing community today!
Sign up

My First COA approved!

MavicMapper

Active Member
DSAR Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
39
Reaction score
19
Age
34
I’m excited to announce that my first airspace authorization was approved! I must give kudos to the FAA because they processed my request in 3 business days. I may have “nudged” then by calling a couple times, but they came through for me in a short timeframe.

It was just a simple Class D authorization with the lowest grid altitude being 50ft. No LAANC available at this facility. They also gave me authorization for the entire Class D and not just my AOI.

Not sure what your experience has been, but I am pleased with the expediency of the process, at least for this simple authorization.
 
Congrats!! The first couple I did for Class D took about 1 week or so. They gave me 2 year time frames. After that, it only took a few days also. I guess the more they see your name pop up and you have no incidents reported, they feel you are conducting safe ops and expedite things for you maybe.
 
Congrats! That's a big step and now that you've got one "under your belt" so to speak, the next ones should be cake.

I've got one in now that went to "Under Review" today. It's a tricky one for Surface Class E in Killeen, Texas, with a couple AAF's and Fort Hood's Restricted space adjacent to it. <Fingers Crossed!>
 
I’m excited to announce that my first airspace authorization was approved! I must give kudos to the FAA because they processed my request in 3 business days. I may have “nudged” then by calling a couple times, but they came through for me in a short timeframe.

It was just a simple Class D authorization with the lowest grid altitude being 50ft. No LAANC available at this facility. They also gave me authorization for the entire Class D and not just my AOI.

Not sure what your experience has been, but I am pleased with the expediency of the process, at least for this simple authorization.
Bucket List complete?? Lol.
Did they give a long term time frame too? I still remember the day I received my first Wide Area for two years without even asking... ahhhh, memories!

-Dr.Drone
 
Just curious if when you received your authorization if being in radio contact, if requested, with the ATC tower was a requirement ?
 
No, there is no requirement to contact anyone. I can fly at will within the airspace abiding published altitude limits on the grid. Only under Emergency/Contingency Procedures am I required to contact Gray AAF ARAC in the event of lost link or fly away.
 
Yes, they granted my COA for 24 months. Which I won’t need for this particular project, but maybe I’ll have additional projects there in the future.

And no, they did not specify the need to contact ATC or anyone at the airport. Although I typically notify airport operations when I am in close proximity to an airfield anyway.
 
Yes, they granted my COA for 24 months. Which I won’t need for this particular project, but maybe I’ll have additional projects there in the future.

And no, they did not specify the need to contact ATC or anyone at the airport. Although I typically notify airport operations when I am in close proximity to an airfield anyway.

We set up a letter of agreement with my local airpatch. We agreed to a contact routine and they waived the agreement after two years. We file NOTAMs for every flight so they get the notification anyway.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
4,277
Messages
37,605
Members
5,969
Latest member
KC5JIM