How We Operate

Safety & Airspace

At Arbor Green Design, safety is our top priority. Therefore, we continuously monitor and abide by all current FAA regulations. This includes airspace restrictions, code of federal regulations, and other safety advisories. Under no circumstances will we allow our drones to enter restricted airspace or fail to follow any other safety regulations. Our goal is to ensure that our drones are operated safely and responsibly at all times.

Local airspace restrictions.

In the greater Fort Hood area, several airspace areas restrict our ability to fly drones. These areas are typically near military bases, airports, or other sensitive locations. We constantly check for restricted airspace before flying and will not fly in these areas.

The following is a list of some of the restricted airspace areas in the Fort Hood area on a persistent basis-

While the areas listed above continuously restrict drone activity, other sites may be restricted temporarily due to special events or other activities. We constantly check for any temporary restrictions before flying and will not fly in these areas.

Local Airspace Restriction Map near Fort Hood TX
This map shows airspace restrictions around Killeen, Temple, and the greater Fort Hood area. While Fort Hood is off limits, we do have authorization for some areas within the airspace of local airports.

Waivers are currently in place.

We currently have three Wide Area Authorizations in place from the FAA, which allow us to fly in some restricted airspace. These included Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport, Skylark Field, and Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport. There are altitude restrictions associated with these authorizations, but they allow us to operate in areas that would otherwise be off-limits.

These waivers allow us to conduct flights for commercial purposes in areas that would otherwise be off-limits to drones. We take advantage of these waivers when necessary to conduct flights for our clients but always do so safely and responsibly.

Operating procedures.

Experienced and certified pilots operate our drones. We have strict operating procedures in place to ensure that our drones are flown safely and responsibly at all times. These procedures include maintaining a visual line of sight of the aircraft, avoiding populated areas, and staying clear of airports and other sensitive locations.

In addition to our standard operating procedures, we also have specific policies for flying in restricted airspace. These procedures include obtaining proper authorization from the FAA (if outside of our current wide area authorizations), not flying near manned aircraft, and following all altitude restrictions.

We will not deviate from federal regulations.

Under no circumstances will we operate our drones in a manner that is not in compliance with all federal regulations. This includes airspace restrictions, code of federal regulations, and other safety advisories. We take these regulations very seriously and will not put our drones or the public at risk by flying in a restricted area or failing to follow any other safety regulations.

Safe operation in our drones is at the discretion of the operating pilot, and all flight decisions are made with safety as the top priority. We will not hesitate to ground our drones if we feel that it is not safe to continue flying.

Requesting Arbor Green Design to deviate from these procedures could result in immediate termination/cancellation of services without refund.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.