UAV - Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle
Flight Crew Sport / Recreational
Communication Breakdown
Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Airport; Human Factors
I was at ZZZ operating an sUAV taking photos of a newly constructed building at the airport. I was operating with the airport manager's permission and she was aware of the date and time I would be flying. No NOTAM was published for this flight. As a Part 107 and a Part 61 pilot based at ZZZ; I am familiar with airport operations; layout; and traffic patterns and was careful to avoid all safety conflicts and not violate 107.37 or 107.43. Runway XX was the runway currently in use and left traffic for that runway was well away from where I was flying; with the exception for one helicopter in the pattern flying right traffic; which overflies the building I was photographing.The helicopter traffic is at 500 feet AGL in that pattern; and I was doing my drone operation generally under 100 feet AGL; and at the absolute maximum I was at 180 feet AGL roughly. The company hangar is in front of the building I was photographing and while flying I heard their helicopter spooling up; and not knowing which way they may turn when they took off from their hangar; I landed the drone and waited until after they departed before flying again. Once I was back in the air; a company employee on the ground called the helicopter in the pattern to tell them 'some guy is flying a drone' over the building. I was operating with lights on my truck from inside the airport perimeter fence and at no point did the company employee approach me to ask who I was. After their exchange I got on the radio to clarify my operations and eliminate any concern to the helicopter pilots. Once I was done with my flight I made a radio call that I was on the ground and that drone operations were completed. I was later informed that company had been sending around a photo of me to airport tenants trying to figure out who I was.After the helicopter landed I called the pilot to apologize if it had caused any concern and he assured me that no safety concern was present to him at any time. I then called the airport manager (who was offsite) to mention what had happened so that she would be aware in case anything came up. She spoke to company and informed me that the miscommunication was all squared away; and that in retrospect; a NOTAM should be filed next time. Later in the day; two company employees drove over to where I was on the airport to express their concern and frustration. I assured them that given their proximity to where I was flying; I made sure to be on the ground when they were departing and that I was never in the air anywhere close to their aircraft. Regardless they informed me that despite the pilot of the helicopter in the pattern and a nearby FAA safety representative seeing no concern; they had filed a safety report to the FSDO. Given this knowledge; despite no FAR violations to my knowledge; I chose to file this report as a precaution; and in the hope that gaps in communication such as this can be avoided in the future.
UAS pilot reported that while operating a drone to photograph an airport building; a helicopter company at the airport had concerns about safety of operations.