AirMap for iOS Lets Drone Pilots Easily Avoid ... Incidents

With a free new app for iOS and the Apple Watch, AirMap lets drone pilots and airports communicate more easily.
Airmap

For most people, the basics of where, when, and how you can fly a drone are fairly straightforward. First you have to register it. Flying drones near airports, at night, over crowds, above 400 feet, and while drunk are all serious no-nos.

But those are only some of the rules, and they're guidelines for just-for-fun drone pilots. For commercial operators---including professional videographers and building inspectors---there's a different set of rules and an different registration process. An experienced commercial pilot with an FAA Section 333 exemption generally has more leeway when it comes to flying a UAV, just as long as they report their operations responsibly.

A lot of that responsibility comes down to communication and awareness, and because drones are a relatively new phenomenon for both recreational and commercial use, those two things aren't always seamless. A commercial pilot needs to file a notice to airmen (NOTAM) a day or two before a drone flight. That, in turn, requires awareness of temporary flight restrictions and other activity in the skies.

There are various tools for connecting those dots, but they're disparate. A company called AirMap wants to make that drone-related communication and awareness easier with a new app for iOS and Apple Watch.

AirMap gathers real-time aerospace data and provides a communication pipeline between drone pilots, airline pilots, and airports. It already has software integrated into the systems of higher-end drones from 3DR, DJI, and Yuneec, but the company's new app takes care of a crucial part of the communication puzzle. It lets drone operators view aerospace information, report when and where they're going to fly, and feed that information to certain airports to avoid accidents.

Airmap

The reporting features are probably more valuable for commercial drone pilots, but things like real-time maps of temporary restrictions and logging your flights are valuable for casual operators too. The iPhone app is more full-featured, and it begins with creating a pilot profile with your handle, and your drone.

From there, you tap on a map interface to determine whether it's safe or unsafe to fly in certain areas; the app's top frame bar lights up in green, yellow, or red depending on the restrictions. There's also a little time slider at the top of the app that lets you gauge whether it's safe to fly in the next couple of days.

Once you're logged into the app and have determined whether it's safe to fly in a specific area, you create a flight plan by just holding your finger on a spot on the map. You can also make the flight "public," which shares the make and model of your drone, your pilot name, and the time and altitude of your flight. The app logs your flights so you can reminisce fondly while swiping through them.

The app also feeds into another recent AirMap announcement: The ambitious D-NAS system, which is being implemented in airports around the U.S.---LAX, Denver International, and some Air Force bases are already using it---to give their systems timely information about drones flying in the area. In the iOS app, there's a toggle switch in the settings menu to submit your flight notice to D-NAS equipped airports. Those system operators can also send you text messages to tell you HEY JEEZ STOP FLYING YOUR DRONE THERE'S AN AIRPORT HERE, DINGUS.

The Apple Watch app is more limited, but it does support alerts for those incoming texts. You can also view the safety maps and start or stop your flight reporting from the watch.