Drone restrictions at military bases

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, RANDOLPH - Texas – The FAA, at the request of the Pentagon, has expanded airspace restricts July 30 based on national security concerns over all Air Force Air Education and Training Command (AETC) installations. The restrictions prohibit operating unmanned aircraft up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries of designated military installations without permission. AETC operated more than 417,000 total flight hours at its installations in 2016. Flying unmanned aircraft in that airspace puts, pilots, aircraft and on-ground personnel in danger. (Source: Air Education and Training Command 08/08/17) Gulf Coast Note: Regional facilities include Keesler and Columbus AFBs, and NAS Meridian in Mississippi; NAS Pensacola and Whiting Field and all of its NOLFs, Hurlburt Field, and Tyndall AFB in Florida; NAS/JRB New Orleans; and the Army’s Fort Rucker and adjacent airfields in Alabama. UPDATED NOTE: Earlier this summer, the Air Combat Command (ACC) tracked two incidents in which small drones disturbed operations at the ACC, including one in which a drone nearly collided with an F-22 Raptor. Although the incident’s location was not specifically noted, Tyndall AFB, Fla., is home to the largest contingent of F-22 sin the Air Force. How officials are poised to shoot down commercial drones is not clear.