Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals
by Retric on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @02:24PM
(#18178501)
It's not 'Airports' it's class B airspace which is a very short list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Class_B_airports_in_th... Only ~1/2 of states even have one, and most of those have just the 1.
Being limited to ~99.99% of the US is hardly a major issue for drone operators. Further, people are very poor at judging altitude consistently, and it's much easier to enforce 'don't' than try and enforce only up to 100 feet or something.
Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals
by Dylan16807 on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @03:44PM
(#18179216)
Class C and D airspace have the same inner zone. It's easier to get permission but you're still having to get permission[1] to fly.
[1] The rules are confusing here but it looks like any airport can tell you not to fly if they want to.
Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals
by Retric on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @03:59PM
(#18179344)
Class D is generally though not always 4 nautical miles not 5, which is a 20% smaller area.
Now, if you want more permissive rules around class D airspace that's IMO very reasonable. But, talking about class B as any airport is extremely misleading.
PS: Class C is again not that long a list, and still represents high traffic areas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Class_C_airports_in_th....
But realize that this is not only a rule at 400 feet. It's a rule at 100 feet, at 40 feet, at 10 feet, at 4 feet.
Surely you can agree that there is a certain height where it's safe to fly drones when there is an airport less than 5 miles but more than line of sight away. And surely you can agree that such a height is not zero feet.