NARRATOR: Let's face it
Flying a drone is fun, and
it can be important for your
business, but it's also a
big deal when you're flying
in certain areas like
controlled airspace near
airports.
Recognizing the need for a
safe and efficient approval
process to fly drones in
these situations, the FAA
developed the Low Altitude
Authorization and
Notification Capability,
called LAANC for short.
We developed LAANC to
automate authorizations into
controlled airspace.
So we worked with closely
industry partners and based
it all on data-sharing
principles.
LAANC is a major step toward
creating a true
operationalized, unmanned
airspace traffic-management
ecosystem.
LAANC is a collaboration
between the FAA and industry
that allows drone pilots to
request access to controlled
airspace and receive a
response just about
instantly.
Through LAANC, the FAA
provides several streams of
data for our industry
partners to leverage in
their applications.
Those data streams include
UAS Facility Maps, temporary
flight restrictions, notices
to airmen, and special-use
airspace.
Access to LAANC is provided
by FAA-approved companies
called UAS Service Supplies,
or USS.
These suppliers have
developed desktop and mobile
applications that allow
drone pilots to connect to
LAANC and receive an
FAA-approved authorization
in near real time.
A key advantage of LAANC is
that it offers drone
operators more flexibility
and reduces the time it
takes to receive airspace
authorizations to mere
seconds.
instead of the weeks that it
used to take through the
manual process.
A further benefit is that
LAANC allows Air Traffic
Managers to see where
planned drone operations
will take place.
The LAANC experience for the
drone operator is an
easy-to-use app.
Step 1, The FAA provides
airspace data to the USS
through the FAA's UAS Data
Exchange.
Step 2, The USS create
interactive planning tools
of controlled airspace up to
400 feet based on that FAA
data.
Step 3, Drone pilots request
airspace authorizations
through the apps on their
smartphones or desktop
computers.
Step 4, The USS sends
applicants' authorization
information to the FAA.
Once the FAA provides an
electronic acknowledgement
of receipt, the USS
transmits FAA authorizations
to the drone pilot.
This all happens in a matter
of seconds.
On April 30th, 2018, the FAA
began a nation-wide beta
test, deploying LAANC at
nearly 300 federal
air-traffic facilities
covering almost 500
airports.
The final wave of
nation-wide deployment was
completed in September 2018.
Safety is our top priority,
but it's also everyone's
shared responsibility.
That's what LAANC is all
about as we collaborate to
safely and fully integrate
drones into the national
airspace system.