NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
UAS pilot reported flying into an active TFR due to misunderstanding of LAANC authorization.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
This morning, I hoped to fly my DJI Mavic 3 and check on some houses [in a] development. I used the Aloft app to check for TFR's and NOTAM's and noticed the restriction due to the fire. I was a bit confused by the wording in the Operating Restriction and Requirements section where it stated, "except as described". The app allowed me to apply for LAANC authorization which was granted. My drone will not fly without approval, and it was not until permission was granted that my drone would even take off. I came back to my office and asked a colleague about the incident and he educated me that even though the app granted me permission it was inadequate in providing a waiver of the TFR.
Analyst callback
ASRS analysts occasionally follow up with reporters by phone. These are the paraphrased additional notes from those conversations.
UAS pilot indicated the ALOFT LAANC app provided approval to fly in an area within the TFR. After further review there was small fine print towards the bottom of the approval which indicated a need to confirm and not fly in TFRs.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Airspace Violation
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Chart Or Publication · Human Factors · Software and Automation · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Ambiguous
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.