We all know how annoying it is to put in a request for that waiver to fly in a specific airspace. The process can take a few days all the way up to a month with the number of requests the FAA receives. LAANC is here to help and here's why.
If you're wondering what LAANC is, it stands for Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability. In September 2018, over 300 air traffic control facilities and 500-plus airports will be working with this new system where drone operators can put in real time requests to fly in a certain airspace. Currently, the FAA struggles to keep up with such a high volume of requests from commercial drone operators waiting to receive waivers to fly their drones under Part 107 controlled airspace, beyond line-of-sight, and at night or over crowds. The current process just doesn't seem to be reasonable and sometimes the requests even get denied.
As a commercial drone operator myself, this would be very beneficial. I shoot a lot of real estate and sometimes book jobs a day before I go shoot them. This leaves me absolutely no time to get a waiver if I need one, so if I was going to be flying in a place I couldn't, I would have to turn down the job or reschedule. For the past year or so that I have been doing this, I always wondered why there wasn't some way you can just put in a request to fly in a certain location to notify the FAA. If I am flying near an airport or even away from one to shoot a home, I honestly don't need to fly any higher than 200 feet or any further than 1,500 feet. One thing I always joked about was how if a drone is at that height, it's all of a sudden a big issue, yet if a commercial airliner, plane, or helicopter was flying at 200 feet, I think we'd have far more problems than a drone crashing. Either way, I get it, and I am very happy to see that the FAA is rolling out this new system.
With the technology of drones growing at such a rapid pace and the number of hobbyists and professionals flying, the FAA has been taken by surprise. Instead of shutting down drones, the FAA reached out to its partners and experts to develop a solution in order to help set a standard for safe and efficient unmanned traffic management system. Developing the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management System (UTM) is a really important step but we will also have to see what the FAA does about notifying pilots about other drones. Maybe this is a step that companies like DJI will take so that we are aware of any other UAVs around us.
The rollout of LAANC is a big step forward for safe integration of drones in national airspace. So how does LAANC work? It uses airspace data provided through temporary flight restrictions, NOTAMS, and UAS facility maps that show the maximum altitude ceiling around airports where the FAA may authorize operations under Part 107. With an efficient system like this, the life of applying for waivers just got so much easier.
Currently, LAANC is made available to drone operators through companies such as Skyward and Airmap.
For more information on LAANC, check out the FAA's website.
It's about time the government did something right. Wasting so many man hours on reviewing and approving airspace requests from commercial operators who are trying to play by the rules.