4.4 Submitting a Flight Request

An individual Flight Request comprises of one or more drone flights on a single day. Each Flight Request is reviewed individually, typically to address local issues such as campus safety, scheduling or privacy concerns.

Example Individual Flight Requests

  • Any site that the field manager requires prior approval for scheduling or wildlife considerations
  • Athletic or recreational fields that require scheduling
  • On-campus public areas without additional mitigation protocols or safety hazard analysis.
  • Special operations – flying at night, flying above 400 ft AGL, etc

4.4.1 Flight Request Form

The Flight Request form is nearly identical to the Project Request Form, except for 1 key difference. Whereas the Project Request form asks for a date range, frequency of occurrence and expected range of time, the Flight Request form requests a specific date and time.

When answering the specific date and time, be as specific as necessary. If the location is time sensitive, such as a field reservation, or in between a busy time on campus, please specify the exact time. But if the location does not have any time-related variation in safety, an approximate or estimate time is acceptable.

UC Drones Flight Request

Figure 4.6: UC Drones Flight Request

4.4.2 Non-Project vs Project Flight

Both Projects and Non-Projects use the same Flight Request Form. A Flight Request for a Project must be selected from the Project Page - either the Manage Projects Page and select ‘Add Flight’ (Figure 4.7) or from the individual Project page and select ‘Add Flight’ under the header (4.5).

UC Drones Manage Projects

Figure 4.7: UC Drones Manage Projects

Differences

  • A Flight Request for a Project is automatically approved upon submission
  • A Flight Request for a Project is autofilled with the Project information
    • Only a handful of fields may be changed or completed