USA Power Plants, Elec Sub-Stations and Flights

[dougcjohn]

I have a construction site survey in a downtown city block that fronts up to the river on East side. The next block North... is a small electrical sub-station that sits on the Northern 1/2 of the physical block... with the remaining segment being a small City Park. The Park is between the construction block and the sub-station.

The DJI app shows an area for sub-station without any warnings, KittyHawk app doesn't even show the sub-station, the AirMap App shows it as a small zoned circle but when using LAANC to register a construction survey, it lists the sub-station in the same manor as multiple Medical Heli Pads, Local Jail, Federal Site and Airports in that it's not indicating a NFZ, TFR, or restricted section... just under the Notices it lists it as: "Electrical Power Station".
The City\Fed Jail, interestingly presents a Popup Acknowledgement Pre-Flight Notice that must be acknowledged to take-off... indicating that PIC is aware of being within a zone for a Jail, Not allowed to fly over Jail and PIC is acknowledging will not fly over the Jail.

My flight path for the construction survey does not go over the Sub-Station, but it does enter the zoned circle of the sub-station. Per my understanding, if flying over a Power Station it's not prohibited as a NFZ, but you're suppose notify and obtain permission from the Power Company.

My question, if it's a sub-station, not a power plant... and if it's restricted, shouldn't the AirMap app (or other Apps) show it's restricted, not provide PIC authorization for flight as not allowed? Does one need to obtain permission to fly in same block as the circle zone of Electrical Station if not going over the sub-station?

I've been flying the construction site for 3 months on a weekly schedule (weekend) with no issues. Police have been working the construction site driveway for dirt trucks, and Sub-Station crews have been present every weekend. This weekend, 2 Gents came over and said I wasn't allowed to fly over the sub-station and needed to cease. I mentioned I wasn't over the sub-station, offer to show my flight path and indicated I had received FAA flight approval for the flight. They did mention in the conversation, that their Boss said the area had a "NFZ" circle around it, I showed them multiple maps that indicated different. They were "Sent" over by their Boss so they didn't really care... we all chatted for a bit and they returned to work with a satisfied opinion I wasn't a concern.

I'm not wanting to be outside legal standing, but I don't want to encourage a possible refusal and then have the construction survey limited.

Am I in the wrong?

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

Did one of the maps include a Sectional? Sectionals are the tru NFZ authority, so you may want to check that. If there’s no NFZ on Sectional, and no NOTAMS, then you’re good.

 

[dougcjohn]

Did one of the maps include a Sectional? Sectionals are the tru NFZ authority, so you may want to check that. If there’s no NFZ on Sectional, and no NOTAMS, then you’re good.

Appreciate the response.
I did "after the fact" pull up a sectional and it was zip for that area. Usual Heli marked, Full Power Plant, Antennas, etc.

Although, weren't power plants recently granted a restricted status due to sensitivity to infrastructure? If so, would that require permission to fly in the zone? Then the part I was not sure of were sub-stations and their restrictions... they follow same restrictions?

Or am I totally off the mark in understanding?
I was under the impression if LAANC permissions were authorized for the zone you drew, it examined the sectional restrictions within or around that zone not just air space class.

 

[RMartin]

Appreciate the response.
I did "after the fact" pull up a sectional and it was zip for that area. Usual Heli marked, Full Power Plant, Antennas, etc.

Although, weren't power plants recently granted a restricted status due to sensitivity to infrastructure? If so, would that require permission to fly in the zone? Then the part I was not sure of were sub-stations and their restrictions... they follow same restrictions?

Or am I totally off the mark in understanding?
I was under the impression if LAANC permissions were authorized for the zone you drew, it examined the sectional restrictions within or around that zone not just air space class.

"Critical infrastructure" is supposed to be on the list and includes power plants but not sure about substations. I do know it has been included in the state laws here but state agencies are waived as long as they are performing state business. To check, I pulled up the FAA UAS Facilities map and checked the local nuc plant and it is not flagged as a no-fly zone although a few of the area prisons are. Maybe it is just getting too granular to flag every critical location on the map. I would suggest you cruise your local and state laws.

 

[Dave Crago]

I would check here ArcGIS Web Application as this has all the up to date flight restrctions and LAANC

 

[dougcjohn]

I would check here ArcGIS Web Application as this has all the up to date flight restrctions and LAANC

Dave, that’s a great visual too! Great resource, I missed that one looking around the site for sectionals, NFZ, TFR, etc.

Has nice detail. Although will need to look at via my notebook. It seems to crash easy on my iPad Pro when zooming or moving location around the city.

But, that all said... as with everything else examined. Haven’t found any restricted indication on anything other than AirMap presenting a zone around it. KittyHawk, DJI, and FAA material all zip for the Sub-Station.

I was going to use that screen to capture the section for view, looks like it has a draw tool and print section... but crashes if zoomed in a bit, or slightly move map. May need the notebook to function cleaner.

Thanks, great looking tool

 

[RMartin]

I would check here ArcGIS Web Application as this has all the up to date flight restrctions and LAANC

That covers everything Federal. It does not have any state sites listed though. Again, you need to be knowledgeable about your own state laws as well.