Trouble reaching a private airport tower

[masterbeatty]

Today i tried to inform a small private airport of my presence 3 miles away so i could film a waterfall. No answer from the control tower. The managers phone number listed was not in service and the owners number said it was not receiving any calls at this time. I decided to not fly since people are trying to find any reason to not let us fly as hobbyists.

My question to everyone is has this happened to you and what should i do without having a chance of getting a fine or loosing my multi rotor?

 

[Old Man]

Create a log of the dates and times you made attempts to contact the airport operator. Maintain phone carrier billing records showing the number you attempted to call. Make one attempt to personally visit the airport in search of the operator. Purchase something at a nearby store that will provide a receipt to indicate you had been in the area on that date. If you ever do make contact, provide a very broad range of dates and times you intend to fly. Keep a copy.

IMO, you will have established you made reasonable efforts to comply, however, private airfields are not afforded protected airspace so there's is a lot of legal wiggle room in that area. Full scale has no legal requirement to make any notification or contact with a private airport.

 

[John Doecliff]

Sounds like good advice. What was your intended altitude to film the waterfall? If I was staying low and close to it I would have gone ahead and flown. If its common to see a lot of air traffic in the area then maybe I would rethink it.

 

[masterbeatty]

Thanks for the advise, I appreciate it.

I was planning on flying maybe 100-150 ft as the waterfall is only about 80 high. I am gong to call again today and see if I can get through to them on a facebook message.

 

[Old Man]

Under the rules aircraft have to maintain a distance of at least 500' from any person or structure in unpopulated airspace. If only you are around a pilot has to remain at least 500' from you whether he is aware of you or not. In densely populated airspace that separation increases to 1000'. With the exception of helicopters, no pilot will fly at an altitude lower than would permit a safe landing in the event a power unit fails. Point there is it had better be damn flat and clear of obstructions for anyone flying lower than 500'. Unless they are in the process of taking off or landing, where those altitude limitations are waived.

 

[ProfEngr]

And now I'm confused (don't need you to clarify in a followup). What a mess of regs for such a short paragraph.

 

[Old Man]

What to get really confused? Start thumbing through the FAR's.

 

[masterbeatty]

So something else i found out while traveling around to my favorite areas to take still photos, The FAA app," before you fly", about half of the listed private airports were not in service anymore. I drove by 2 and one was a field with a run down shack, the second was a condo development. the app is handy but i think cluttered with an out of date database.