Let other pilots know where you’re gonna be in the air up there.
By Chris Clarke
U.S. pilots are lucky enough to have free access to an abundance of flight information via Flight Service Stations since the 1920s. This service is generally used to check weather along a desired route and to file and close flight plans. Now with the proliferation of drones flying in the same airspace as regular airplanes, the service is integrating information on unmanned flights as well, and you can participate.
For the majority of its existence, Flight Service for pilots was accessed by a phone call to your local station. You’d be connected with a local briefer who would have intimate knowledge of local weather patterns and airport procedures, and could inform you of any closed runways or inoperative approach lights. After you were satisfied that you’d received enough information pertaining to your flight, you could then file a flight plan while you were still on the line. It was very common to call hours before your flight to get an outlook briefing and then again right before departure to check if any major changes might have popped up.
In more recent years, this job has been handed over to Lockheed Martin, who has been hard at work consolidating information into a nationwide system to more quickly and automatically disseminate information to pilots. To accomplish this, Lockheed Martin has implemented an Adverse Conditions Alerting Service to automatically send pilots alerts for things like newly forecasted severe weather, newly restricted airspace due to government or military activity, or things like a high density of aerial firefighting activity. In the wake of rising reports by pilots of drone sightings, Lockheed Martin has added Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS or drones) flight areas to this alerting service as well.
If you happen to be one of the roughly 1,200 commercial drone operators to receive an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly in the national airspace system, then you are required by law to declare your intended flight by filing a plan with Flight Service. The “hobbyist” and fly-by-night drone operators are also encouraged to participate in the system too, hopefully limiting the chances of a mid-air collision.
U.S. pilots are lucky enough to have free access to an abundance of flight information via Flight Service Stations since the 1920s. This service is generally used to check weather along a desired route and to file and close flight plans. Now with the proliferation of drones flying in the same airspace as regular airplanes, the service is integrating information on unmanned flights as well, and you can participate.
For the majority of its existence, Flight Service for pilots was accessed by a phone call to your local station. You’d be connected with a local briefer who would have intimate knowledge of local weather patterns and airport procedures, and could inform you of any closed runways or inoperative approach lights. After you were satisfied that you’d received enough information pertaining to your flight, you could then file a flight plan while you were still on the line. It was very common to call hours before your flight to get an outlook briefing and then again right before departure to check if any major changes might have popped up.
In more recent years, this job has been handed over to Lockheed Martin, who has been hard at work consolidating information into a nationwide system to more quickly and automatically disseminate information to pilots. To accomplish this, Lockheed Martin has implemented an Adverse Conditions Alerting Service to automatically send pilots alerts for things like newly forecasted severe weather, newly restricted airspace due to government or military activity, or things like a high density of aerial firefighting activity. In the wake of rising reports by pilots of drone sightings, Lockheed Martin has added Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS or drones) flight areas to this alerting service as well.
If you happen to be one of the roughly 1,200 commercial drone operators to receive an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly in the national airspace system, then you are required by law to declare your intended flight by filing a plan with Flight Service. The “hobbyist” and fly-by-night drone operators are also encouraged to participate in the system too, hopefully limiting the chances of a mid-air collision.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/a16987/how-to-officially-report-your-drone-flight-plant-to-nearby-pilots/