Quick Take
The Federal Aviation Administration regularly restricts the airspace over areas affected by natural disasters to allow rescue and relief efforts to take place. But this routine activity has sparked misleading posts online that claimed volunteer drone operators were banned from helping in recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene.
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The Federal Aviation Administration is tasked with restricting the use of airspace following natural disasters in order to allow for rescue and recovery efforts to take precedence.
The FAA issues Temporary Flight Restrictions, or TFRs, at the request of local authorities following natural disasters.
This standard practice also occurred during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which hit the Gulf Coast of Florida on Sept. 26 and subsequently caused widespread flooding and destruction in parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.
But some posts on social media have exaggerated or misrepresented the restrictions, claiming that “drones are banned.” Conservative influencer Jack Posobiec told his 2.7 million X followers on Oct. 3 that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg “announces private drones are RESTRICTED from flying over hurricane areas. This prevents civilian volunteers from locating victims in need or showing footage of the disaster.”
Posobiec included a video clip that the Department of Transportation had posted the day before of Buttigieg talking about recovery efforts, but he misrepresented what the secretary was saying.
Buttigieg had said that there were some safety issues to be aware of. “For example, temporary flight restrictions to make sure that the airspace is clear for any flights or drone activity that might be involved in helping to allow those emergency responders to do their job,” he said.
He never said that civilian volunteers would be prevented from assisting emergency workers. The Department of Transportation post did include text that warned drone pilots not to fly near where rescue efforts were taking place and advised them to keep track of restrictions.
But nothing about this is new — this is in line with advice that usually follows natural disasters. For example, while former President Donald Trump was in office, the FAA issued TFRs to allow for relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana due to Hurricane Laura in August 2020.
The Department of Transportation post “was referring to temporary flight restrictions in limited parts of the affected area,” restrictions that had been lifted by the end of the day on Oct. 2, department spokesman Sean Manning told us in an email.
And, he specified, those restrictions — as usual — did not preclude civilian volunteers from working with local authorities.
“The FAA is not restricting access for recovery operations,” the administration said in a statement provided to FactCheck.org. “The FAA is coordinating closely with state and local officials to make sure everyone is operating safely in very crowded and congested airspace.”
The statement went on to explain that the FAA issues TFRs at the request of local authorities who need the airspace clear in order to conduct rescue and recovery efforts, emphasizing that the TFRs “do not ban aircraft, including drones, from providing disaster relief and recovery assistance.” Volunteers can still use the restricted airspace as long as they have coordinated with the agencies conducting relief work, according to the FAA.
So, suggestions that federal agencies hindered relief efforts following Hurricane Helene by temporarily restricting some airspace are based on a misrepresentation of standard procedure.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Title 14. Chapter 1. Temporary flight restrictions in the vicinity of disaster/hazard areas. Accessed 8 Oct 2024.
U.S. Department of Transportation (@USDOT). “Drone pilots: Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground.” X. 2 Oct 2024.
U.S. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. TFR data. Accessed 9 Oct 2024.
The FAA (@FAANews). “Attention general aviation and drone pilots: The FAA has issued temporary flight restrictions to support #HurricaneLaura2020 relief efforts in Louisiana and Texas.” Twitter. 27 Aug 2020.
Manning, Sean. Spokesman, U.S. Department of Transportation. Email to FactCheck.org. 3 Oct 2024.
Federal Aviation Administration. Email to FactCheck.org. 4 Oct 2024.