Understanding the no-fly zone map

Drone Buddy’s no-fly zone map is four layers, not one red blob: airports, U.S. Class B/C/D airspace, national parks, and live TFRs. Each layer comes from a different source and means a different thing before takeoff.

This post walks through those components, how we draw them (including why U.S. Class B, C, and D are real FAA polygons instead of round airport discs), when you still need authorization, and how to use the map without treating a bubble as the law. Confirm current rules on faa.gov/uas before you fly. Source links and the September 2026 update live on the no-fly zone map page.

What’s on the map

• Airports (worldwide) — a pin and an optional caution radius from OurAirports. Heliports stay off unless you turn them on.
• Class B, C, and D (U.S.) — FAA surface polygons from the NASR 28-day cycle. Not the whole wedding cake; only airspace that starts at the ground.
• National parks — U.S., U.K., and Canada park boundaries as published by those agencies.
• TFRs / UAS restrictions — live polygons fetched when you open the map.

The map is a planning overlay. It is not a clearance, not LAANC, and not a park permit.

Airports: points, not airspace

Global airport lists (we use OurAirports) are points: a name, a lat/lon, a type. A point cannot be a runway FRZ or a Class B shelf. The honest overlay for that dataset is a caution radius — useful in another country where you do not have FAA polygons, misleading in the Bay Area if you pretend the radius is the airspace.

Heliports make it worse. A hospital pad is not Class B. If you turn every heliport into a yellow circle, downtown looks illegal even when the nearest controlled airport is miles away. In Drone Buddy, heliport circles stay off unless you turn them on.

Class B, C, and D

The FAA publishes class airspace as GIS — not as “5 NM from the beacon.”

• Class B — busiest terminals (SFO, JFK, LAX). A surface core over the airport, then rings that step up. Boston, for example, has a surface core plus outer areas that may start at 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,000 ft MSL. That is the cake. Drawing the whole cake as one disc tells a 400 ft drone it cannot fly in places where the shelf is still thousands of feet above it.
• Class C — busy but not B. Usually a surface area plus a shelf. Smaller than B, still not a perfect circle, still not “the whole metro.”
• Class D — typically a towered airport’s surface area, often roughly circular in the chart but still a surveyed outline. Smaller, lower, and the one hobby pilots hit most often because it sits over towns that look flyable on a satellite photo.

Drone Buddy now draws those surface B/C/D polygons from the FAA NASR 28-day cycle (current map build: 3 September 2026): 40 Class B, 122 Class C, 562 Class D. Method and source links are on the no-fly zone map page.

Why we only draw the surface

If you import every Class B polygon, you refill the cake — including shelves a drone never reaches. The filter is mechanical: keep features where the floor is the surface (LOWER_CODE = SFC). Outer shelves with a floor of 2,000 ft+ stay off the drone map so we do not paint legal low-level air as a no-fly zone.

That does not mean “fly anywhere the polygon is missing.” You can still be in a TFR, a national park, a stadium restriction, or the surface core you did not notice because you zoomed out too far.

When you must request authorization

In the U.S., recreational TRUST and Part 107 both live under the same airspace facts:

• Uncontrolled airspace (typical Class G near the ground, away from airports): stay at or below 400 ft AGL, visual line of sight, Remote ID as required, no careless operation. You still need a legal place to stand.
• Controlled airspace (Class B, C, D, and some surface Class E): you need FAA authorization before you fly in that airspace. Recreational pilots use the same LAANC / DroneZone path as Part 107 for that grid. Hobby TRUST is not a waiver.
• TFRs, national parks, military, national security, stadiums: often zero — you do not take off. Authorization apps will not fix a park that bans drones.

If the surface Class D covers the field you wanted, you do not “sneak under it.” You either get authorization for that grid and altitude or you pick another field. The where-to-fly map is for finding a public launch that other pilots already use — still not a permit.

LAANC vs an awareness map

Three different jobs get mashed into “the drone map”:

1. Show the map — where are B/C/D, parks, TFRs? Open FAA GIS. Anyone can draw this. That is what Drone Buddy does.
2. Brief the pin — green / yellow / red at this coordinate. B4UFLY-style apps, or you infer it from the same open data.
3. Get permission — “approve me to 200 ft in this grid.” Only an FAA LAANC UAS Service Supplier, or FAA DroneZone where LAANC is not offered. There is no public “authorization API” you paste into a weather app.

DJI FlySafe is a fourth job: the aircraft may refuse to arm. That geofence is not the FAA polygon and is not LAANC. Cross-check if the app and the aircraft disagree.

Drone Buddy will not submit a LAANC request. If the surface overlay covers your pin, open an FAA-listed authorization app (see the current list on faa.gov LAANC) and fly only what they approve.

How to fly near airports without guessing

1. Check wind and TFRs the morning of the flight — not last weekend’s screenshot.
2. Look at surface Class B/C/D, not a round halo around every pin. If you are inside the surface outline, you need authorization or a different site.
3. Treat airport circles as “there is an aerodrome here,” especially outside the U.S. where we still only have points.
4. National parks and many city parks are a takeoff ban even when Class G looks empty. Read the sign.
5. Stay at or below 400 ft AGL unless authorization says otherwise. Keep the aircraft in sight. Leave battery for a headwind home.
6. Do not fly over people, moving vehicles, or a stadium TFR to “get the shot.”

More on altitude in how high and how far a drone can fly, and a first-flight checklist in how to fly a drone.

FAQ

Why isn’t Class B a circle around the airport?

Because the FAA did not publish it that way. It is stacked shelves. The surface core is the part a 400 ft drone actually hits. Outer rings often begin thousands of feet up.

Do I need authorization to fly a drone near an airport?

If you will be in controlled airspace, yes — before takeoff. Use LAANC or DroneZone. Standing five miles away in Class G with a legal field is different from sitting inside Class D over the mall parking lot.

Can I fly under Class B shelves without LAANC?

You can be under an outer shelf and still not be in that shelf. You cannot be in the surface area without authorization. Check the surface polygon, TFRs, and parks.

Is Drone Buddy a LAANC app?

No. It is an awareness and weather app. Authorization is a separate FAA system.

This is a planning guide, not legal advice and not an FAA product. Rules and TFRs change. You are responsible for the flight.