Hey, I get it, you’re both ready to fly and trying to be a responsible commercial or remote drone pilot. But, the universe seems to be fighting you because you can’t get Aloft Air Control to authorize you’re airspace – and you just keep getting the red box and dreaded “pre-check failed” message, whatever that means.
LAANC is inactive at the airport #
If you were flying drones in the pre-historic (before LAANC) times – then you probably got pretty excited when you first heard about what was around the corner. While government projects and expectations sometimes fall short (kind of like those Instagram fails) LAANC is one project that got it right. I remember the first time I looked at the UAS facility maps – thinking that this system was going to be a game changer or drone operations.
What exactly is LAANC? That’s the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability which automates the process of approving airspace requests for drone flights at participating airports. If you want to know how it works, check out our article on just that. In the meantime, just realize that you don’t run into this as much anymore. As of this writing, there are 731 participating airports in the LAANC network, while there are fewer than 900 airports which require an authorization.
If you happen to be in the airspace of one of those 200 or so non-participating airports, Aloft will show the airspace surrounding the airport, shaded red (below – left). If you swipe up from the bottom (up – not left or right like you’re dating it) then you will see on the UAS facility map that LAANC is inactive (below – middle). If you continue the process for filing an authorization, eventually you will get the “Pre-check failed” message. If this happens, you’ll also see at the bottom of the message that LAANC is inactive for the planned operation area (below – right). This doesn’t mean that you can’t get permission to fly there, you’re just going to have to head over to the Dronze Zone website and file a manual authorization.
You’re in a “0” grid or LAANC is inactive in a portion of the the airpsace #
Even when air airport is active in LAANC, there’s going to be portions of that airspace that are not automated for airspace authorizations and will require someone from ATC to review and manually approve these. These are commonly referred to as “Zero Grids” because they will show on the facility maps as having a permissible altitude of “0” feet. You will find these areas directly overlying the airport itself as well as protecting the approach and departure paths for the airport (below – left).
Sometimes when you have overlapping airspaces for different airports – you will have a smaller portion of that airspace that is LAANC inactive. This will look like a shaded red area within the controlled airspace (below – right).
To fly in a standard “0” grid (that’s not directly overlying the airport – darker red area) you can submit for further coordination through Aloft. If the airspace is not active in LAANC (as with the overlying areas of the airport and the overlapping areas below) then you must submit through FAA Drone Zone for authorizations.
You’re in a standing TFR or MOA #
This one trips a lot of pilots up on Aloft – because, at first glance, it looks like you’re in controlled airspace. The remote pilot pulls up the app, finds the location, and it’s in a shaded area, which, usually, is a pretty indication you’re going to need an authorization. But, when they click through the buttons, and try to submit their request, it fails pre-check and gets kicked back. A lot of times you may just be in an area where there is a standing TFR for something like stadiums or you’re in a Military Operations Area (MOA).
Okay – hold on, we’re not saying those areas can be ignored. Let’s look at the stadium TFR below. It’s always visible on Aloft and it’s up to the remote pilot in command to see if the TFR is active when they’re going to fly. In the screenshot, the shaded yellow area is the 3 nautical mile radius around Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC. In 2023, the Tigers played 7 home games where this TFR would have been active, yet the TFR is visible for the other 358 days a year. If you’re trying to launch and you find yourself confused by this one – just remember to double-check whether the TFR is active.
MOAs, or military operations areas, are another point of confusion for remote pilots. Again, like with the stadium TFR, you’re clearly in a shaded area, which makes some pilots think you’ll need ATC clearance through the app. Unless the MOA also happens to be within controlled airspace, your pre-check will fail because you don’t need any special authorization to fly your drone here, although it’s advisable to avoid doing so in an “active” or “hot” MOA. Many of these areas start as low as 100′ AGL with highspeed maneuvers. As you can see in below-center and below-right, the Beaufort 1 MOA is shown. Aloft gives me the basic information on how many days it’s active, but to see if it’s active before your flight you can check NOTAMS or use this FAA website for special use airspace. Personally, I find the website option a little easier to navigate.
When we receive questions from pilots in the field about the pre-check failed issue, 9 times out of 10, it’s one of the issues we’ve written about above. Hopefully this helps you narrow down any issues you may have run into while piloting.
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