Know Before You Fly is an education campaign founded by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), and the Small UAV Coalition in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to educate prospective users about the safe and responsible operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

As excitement and enthusiasm continues to grow around UAS, and the regulatory framework continues to take shape, more consumers are looking to buy UAS for personal use and more businesses are looking to use UAS too. These prospective operators want to fly, and fly safely, but many don’t realize that, just because you can buy a UAS, doesn’t mean you can fly it anywhere, or for any purpose. Know Before You Fly provides prospective users with the information and guidance they need to fly safely and responsibly.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is committed to providing the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world. The agency is executing a plan for safe and staged integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System. For more information visit www.faa.gov/uas.

 

The B4UFLY app provides model aircraft users with situational awareness and considers the user’s current or planned location in relation to operational restrictions to derive a specific status indicator. The color and shape coded status indicators inform the user if model aircraft operation is prohibited, requires the user to take certain actions, or if there are no FAA operating restrictions other than flying safely. All model aircraft operations must always yield the right-of-way to manned aircraft.

Key features include:
- Heads-Up Status View for quick “at-a-glance” review of current status
- Map Interface to plot nearby flight restrictions
- Planner Mode - an advanced user feature to “plan” for different flight locations and times
- More Info - helpful links for using the B4UFLY app and additional FAA resources

 

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) is the premier community-based organization in the United States for model aviation enthusiasts. With 175,000 members, the AMA is dedicated to the advancement and safeguarding of modeling activities. The Academy provides leadership, organization, competition, protection, representation, education and scientific/technical development to the model aviation community. For more information, visit www.modelaircraft.org.