Recreational users who only fly their drone for fun, now have an improved app – B4UFLY – to help show where they can and cannot fly with interactive maps.
The FAA has partnered with Kittyhawk to redevelop the FAA's first mobile application, to improve the user experience so that recreational flyers know whether it is safe to fly their drone. The app provides situational awareness to recreational flyers and other drone users. It does not allow users to obtain airspace authorizations to fly in controlled airspace, which are only available through the FAA's Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC).
The B4UFLY app is available to download for free at the App Store for iOS and Google Play storefor Android.
Key features include:
- A clear "status" indicator that informs the operator whether it is safe to fly or not. (For example, it shows flying in the Special Flight Rules Area around Washington, D.C. is prohibited.)
- Informative, interactive maps with filtering options.
- Information about controlled airspace, special use airspace, critical infrastructure, airports, national parks, military training routes and temporary flight restrictions.
- The ability to check whether it is safe to fly in different locations by searching for a location or moving the location pin.
- Links to other FAA drone resources and regulatory information.
B4UFLY is also available on the web for preflight planning and research:
https://b4ufly.kittyhawk.io/?lat=36.0646&long=-75.7057.
There are two other apps that Sky Drones uses, one of which is created by Kittyhawk as well to create flight plans, SD uses the PC to create all the inventory, flight plans, maintenance checks, etc. and then all that info transfers over to the app so that upon arriving to the destination, the PIC (Pilot In Command) will have less time going through the paperwork and get on with the procedures.
Below is a sample of a pre-flight check that Sky Drones did for a Hermosa Beach Project:
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