Figuring out the place you possibly can safely and legally fly your drone is surprisingly troublesome.
Certain, to procure your first (or fifth) drone, obtained your TRUST certificates, or possibly even your Half 107 certificates, however after flying in your yard for hours, you might be keen to seek out new areas close to you to apply flying. Or possibly you might be touring to a brand new metropolis. So what do you do?
In fact, you begin with a Google search: “The place can I fly my drone close to me?” Then, you examine B4UFly for uncontrolled airspace. However even then, you continue to should examine state and native laws.
Do you know that within the US, you possibly can’t fly in a Nationwide Park? The airspace will look clear on most airspace apps, however you might nonetheless get in hassle with a park ranger!
Some states, reminiscent of Missouri, permit drone flights of their state parks, whereas others, like Hawaii, ban them.
Most different states have vital restrictions on drone flights in state parks, however they permit them beneath sure situations or require an utility upfront.
The issue is all this info isn’t centralized, not at all times correct, and, most significantly, not topic to suggestions from pilots.
Enter FPV Trails. FPVTrails is a free database of particular areas the place you possibly can fly, generated by precise pilots. Anybody can add, fee, overview, and focus on locations to fly.
The user-generated knowledge is overlaid with airspace info reminiscent of FAA UAS facility maps and FRIAs to show spots that aren’t simply pleasant to fly — however are additionally protected and authorized to fly in.
Nevertheless, simply you should definitely cross-reference websites with the FAA’s official B4UFly service suppliers, as knowledge can rapidly change (particularly if there’s a Short-term Flight Restriction in place).
FPV Trails has added many distinctive map layers, together with nationwide and state parks, stadiums, and worldwide airports, and is within the technique of aggregating college UAS applications and metropolis and state legal guidelines concerning drone flight.
In addition they provide climate layers and are continually including new areas, together with over 250 within the US alone. These areas are freely downloadable in JSON format.
FPV Trails intends to be a free and open platform and will ultimately add premium companies to cowl internet hosting prices.
