NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Part 107 UAS pilot reported flying in airspace with UAS restrictions near a Class B airport.
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.
On Day 0, at approximately XA:00, I was operating a small UAS as a contractor performing utility inspection work in Hillside, Illinois. Prior to flight, I checked airspace resources and did not see an active TFR in the area. The flight was conducted under the assumption that LAANC authorization and normal controlled airspace procedures were sufficient. After the flight, I became aware that there was a broader federal restriction in effect for the Chicago area airspace, which was not immediately visible in the pre-flight airspace tools I reviewed. Chain of Events: Problem arose due to reliance on standard airspace check tools that did not clearly display the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) restriction. Discovered only after reviewing updated notices post-flight. Corrective actions: I will add additional cross-checks of FAA TFR listings and DHS/NOTAM announcements in addition to LAANC and app-based airspace maps before any future operations. Human Performance Considerations: Contributing factor: misinterpretation/assumption that absence of TFR in the app equaled no restrictions. Judgment/perception issue: relying on a single tool without confirming through FAA's official TFR database. Corrective action: expanded preflight checklist to include direct FAA TFR website review to prevent recurrence.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Airspace Violation
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Airspace Structure · Chart Or Publication · Human Factors
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
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 ↗.