B4UFLY Drone Airspace Safety Reviews

by PhillyDude01

I was contemplating purchasing a drone but live less than 1 mile away from a moderately busy small airport. While scouring the FAA website and other official resources for any safety information I could find, the FAA site recommended installing and using B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety. It seemed like exactly what I wanted until I tried it. Regardless of where I drop a pin, it says it’s safe to fly. I was initially happy it said it was safe to fly in my backyard but felt it may have been inaccurate because I can almost see the runway of the airport from my backyard. So I dropped a pin directly in the airport and B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety said it was “good to go”. Dropped a pin directly on the airport runway. Same thing, “good to go”. Dropped a pin on the runway of Philadelphia International Airport. Yep, it said “good to go”. The only way I could get B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety to finally say “prohibited from flying” was to drop a pin directly on the White House. Now I have to hope the Secret Service doesn’t come kicking down my door thanks to a stupid experiment with an app. This is a pretty useless app if trying to find areas to safely fly anywhere outside of Washington DC. And DC is likely only accurate because everyone knows you can’t fly over DC. Do not trust B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety, especially if you live near an airport.

by Stevedots

Nice app but the data is out of date! Map shows local airport that I should be aware of before flying. Trouble is it has been closed (and torn down) for MORE THAN 25 YEARS!!!!! Same for MULTIPLE Helipads.

Doesn’t really matter, within 5 years of this posting the model aviation hobby will be completely gutted by over government control. It’s not liberal vs conservative it is deeper than that and much simpler to understand. Basically the Government, Local, State and Federal do not want private individuals to have certain capabilities like all the new “tech” in our hobby provides. Those capabilities are only for “THOSE IN POWER”! That is the real reason behind the FAA’s airspace grab. Safety is just the buzz word used to limit your rights.

by Adaino

Why is B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety still available? User issues and reviews from years ago are still not fixed. We need to know where is it safe to fly. I don’t like bringing my drone on trips just to find out B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety lied to me and I can’t fly in certain places.

Why not retain the data from previous users’ location or search; during B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety ’s time of use and have it available for anyone who is neither local or familiar with the area restrictions.

Do better plz

by ThetrutHurts83

I downloaded B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety and I live within 5 miles of an airport. B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety said it was safe to fly. Huh? So I moved the selection cursor 0.41 miles from the airport and it still said safe to fly.

However, I went to the next airport over on the map that actually showed the big circle around it on the map app and it had an advisory on it....stating that the original airport (the one close to me) was within 5 miles of that location I selected as well as the other airport and it had an advisory.

Aka, B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety WILL get you in trouble if you aren’t careful.

by DMorrisPE

I spent a couple of 2-hour sessions trying to add our club’s flying field, as it would not come up in the search no matter if Caps are used for part of it, or spaces saved between letters/words. I finally got the site located using the aerial imagery, then filled out the information sheet. That didn’t work either, as pressing the Submit link locked up B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety . No error messages, just the Working spinner.
I could write an app using Google Map APIs in a half hour, getting it through B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety stores would take a couple weeks. Aloft is taking your (actually our) money to make an awkward app, with little or no features (. info pages don’t count).

by Daniel.mcq

I recently got myself a drone so I have been trying to educate myself as much as possible on the safe operation of a UAV. The FAA website directed me to download B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety. As a novice, I don't have complaints about the capabilities of B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety. What I do notice immediately is the clunkiness of B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety . Working in software myself, B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety has strong vibes of being made by people not familiar with mobile app development. The map constantly gets stuck, then starts to stutter, and eventually I have to force quit B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety . I'm sure I'll get used to its quirks, but I do have higher expectations of apps.

by Fuhtfx

I clicked on a different part of the map to see the conditions, then I was unable to click a button to bring me back to my present location. I read a previous commentWhere are you explain there is a button to bring you back to your present location. I am on an iPhone and there is no button to click that brings me back to my present location. There's only a blue dot showing my location. I can only click around that blue dot to get The black teardrop marker close to my present location. There is no button to bring me back to my present location.

by JSmaui

Two things… First thank you for making gps optional again.😀 Second, please bring back custom locations list. A couple versions prior, you could have a handy custom list of locations (just below the search bar on the main screen) that you frequently checked. The previous version update erased my list. Also, can you please add the apps ability to display the name of the area along side of the lat,long on the main page. Thanks

by Gobbycoot

B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety is almost amazing but needs a lot more work before we can say it is excellent. For example I used it today to check my location, ran the checklist (excellent), and then hit “notify”. The notify doesn’t allow to to adjust the parameters so I had to notify a 1 hour 400’ flight when it was going to be 15 mins at max 50’, so I tried to cancel the notification. I couldn’t cancel out of it because the X button on the notify window wouldn’t respond. So I had to put in a way more impactful notification than was needed.

I’d love to know how manned aircraft get notified of my intentions. 20 mins after I made the notification a small plane routed to my exact position and circled in my overhead at 500’ estimated AGL. Coincidence? Who knows. And why would he do that? Must’ve been a coincidence.

by Phantom 45672

App is alright but many functions are hidden and/ or can’t be accessed due to them being off screen. I am running an IPhone 8 and if I touch my location the notify and fly screen shows up. But if I hit the X to get rid of the screen, the map moves underneath and nothing happens. I have to stop B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety and try again. This happens with multiple screens.

by Mom3.131415

It would be nice to have a cancel flight button, and a way to to listen into ATC and other air radio frequencies and contact people through app if needed. It would also be nice to be able to request flight permission through B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety and be able to fly within seconds and not have to request 72 hours in advanced and what not… that being said it should be controlled and for certain places that it would make sense.

by RYANKENSI

First time drone flyer and I must say this helps a lot where it’s safe to fly but I can’t seem to find a button to update your location. I have to close off B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety in order to update the current location. Unless you know your location and can type in then there’s no way to update the location. If I’m wrong please let me know.

by Bone48

It’s well done but not thoroughly done. Biggest is canceling a flight. I reinstalled this after a few years or so and saw the host of new features but when looking through it I started the flight set up and was left with a part done plan that I couldn’t cancel due to changes. As a recreation flyer it works on a basics.

by AndyW1.2.3.4

I wish B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety would let recreational drone pilots know where they can and can’t fly. I love taking nature pictures with my drone like the leaves changing and stuff but the drone pilots who don’t use B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety would give the rest of us a bad name I’m afraid

by AmplifiedLife

I understand current location is available behind the search icon, and I appreciate notify and fly, but it feels like there should also be a button for current location as quickly and visibly reachable. That would make zipping around the map quicker imho. Anyway, I use B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety daily, so thank you.

by Ka2vuw

B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety is quick and easy to see if you are okay to fly. One problem is when you are in one location and open B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety and see that it is clear to fly. Then when you later move to a different location and check the airspace you could be in restricted airspace and B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety still says you are in the previous location which was good to fly. To solve this there should be a button to update your location. Instead B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety focuses too much on the mission checklist and other tabs that are less important.

by CeeGee55

Only one issue, on the page where you see the map, if the flight choice section is there, you can’t click on the X to close it when you complete your update. It just clicks the map over and over again.

Love B4UFLYDroneAirspaceSafety .

by Kevy70

I feel it’s pretty amazing that a government agency would take the time to put this together. I think it speaks very highly of the FAA. I read a few comments that the maps are not up to date, however, it still shows if it’s safe and allowable to fly in certain locations by a simple push of a button. With so much bad press occurring with drones, I believe this is a great tool that will allow drone users many years of fun, safe and compliant flying. Thank you to the people of the FAA for providing this.

by Sparta We Are..

LAANC is misleading and need to be updated. According to the current FAA guidelines there is not longer a need to notify aiport if one is flying within 5 miles. In LAANC menu when you select frequently asked question link. The question is: Do I have to notify all airports within five miles of where I want to flyrecreationally?
Yes, you must contact any airports (including heliports and sea-based airports) and air traffic control towers within five miles of your proposed area of operations if flying under.

This is incorrect there is no requirement to contact the airports.

In addition in LAANC if you pin your proposed operation in the Yellow area LAANC does not provided what action one must take. It only populates the airport distance. This is not helpful and confusing. LAANC needs to advise the operator what action is needed when proposing to fly in the yellow circles. Thanks.

by Malbiniak

Super helpful for checking advisories in the area as well as creating public "Notify and Fly" alerts for other sUAS pilots to be aware of.

I only wish more folks would make use of those, or a standard developed for public facing alerts (in addition to LAANC).

It would be super helpful if I could get a notification if someone else files an alert while I'm in the air. They should be able to see mine but I'd like to be aware of theirs, too. Bonus points if it can integrate with my DJI account and pop onto my control display.