Helicopters Over the Resort

Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
Tons of misinformation in this thread being spread all over the place. The official FAA No-Fly zone DOES NOT cover the entirety of the Walt Disney World Property. The shaded segment of the image below is the actual official No-Fly zone. The geographic center of the zone is just south of Contemporary resort and spans out 3 nautical miles from that point as shown below. That is why you see helicopters flying over the southern side of Epcot and over DHS and DAK. All of those areas are outside the official FAA No-Fly zone.

View attachment 577329

The exact center of the 3NM radius area is at the location of the red pin on the island to the south of the Contemporary Resort.
View attachment 577333

There are also lots of temporary ones that pop up for sporting events and the like as well. If you go to the FAA website that lists them all right now you can see the one off the eastern coast of Cape Canaveral for the planned rocket launch.

The details of the Walt Disney World one originally enacted as a Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR and made permanent in 2014 can be found at:

The point, I think, is that there have been helicopters *inside that circle*.
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
The point, I think, is that there have been helicopters *inside that circle*.

The op mentioned SSR which is outside the circle...

1628125518482.png
 

FoodRockz

Well-Known Member
At Uni this past weekend and noticed numerous helicopters over head throughout the stay. Those companies must be selling seats well right now.
 

nickys

Premium Member
Your first paragraph is 100% incorrect.

Your second paragraph is mostly incorrect.

The only true thing you said is that Disney cannot lease airspace.
You literally said in a few posts before this that all four parks were covered by the no fly zone. Now you’re agreeing that only MK and part of Epcot is covered. Which do you mean? Others seem to be giving a similarly confused message. 🤷‍♀️

DHS certainly isn’t covered, or wasn’t up to a couple of years ago, otherwise BioReconstruct couldn’t have given us all those shots of GE being built. There have also been reports of them flying over the Boardwalk and World Showcase this year.
 

CAV

Well-Known Member
Pilots are expensive, independent and think they are God with a few improvements. They would not make good CM's Disney may have tried but the pilot is the ultimate arbiter of whether a aircraft leaves the ground so if the pilot is unhappy with his equipment its grounded until pilot is happy. So no matter how loud a manager yells the pilot has the final say and the FAA backs the pilot in these cases. The manager can fire the pilot but they cant make them fly if they feel aircraft or conditions unsafe.
That is among the silliest things I ever read. It would apply to any business that employs pilots. Thus, no business should employ pilots, including airlines, cargo companies, tour companies, search and rescue, police departments, Google, arial survey companies, et . And no, I am not a pilot.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
As has been noted, the MK resort area is restricted below 3000 feet. This also spills across most of Epcot (the park)

There are also various other recommended/ controlled routes outside of property when night time shows are active. The AmAd Argon / Krypton laser in particular was notorious for being switched off mid show (mistaken for being broken) when a plane north of the MK flew into the protected area. Each pavilion laser has a human spotter for this very reason who can temporarily disable their laser should an aircraft be where it shouldn’t during showtime. Before RoE went solid state and had laser bounce mirrors it was quite chaotic sometimes. Humongous will have the same potential issue.
 

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
If one looks up at the sky by World Showcase , some guests rent helicopters to fly overhead off to the side of the Lagoon to view the nightly Epcot fireworks.
 

Jiminy76

New Member
There are helicopters flying over the Riviera resort every 10 minutes. Given the 3 mile radius seems to end right at World Showcase the helicopters fly directly over Riviera so they can see Epcot and out to HS and circle the park from Tower of Terror around Galaxy's Edge.
I was there in late June at the Riviera and it was very irritating as they fly pretty low and so often that it really kills the relaxing vibe if out at the pools and such.

As an owner at the resort I am not happy that the resort is directly in the helicopter tours flight path as it is very irritating given the frequency. It really is a nuisance at this point and many of the Riviera members seem to be upset and are voicing concerns about the helicopters, but not sure what Disney can actually do.
 

skypilot2922

Well-Known Member
The point, I think, is that there have been helicopters *inside that circle*.

Waivers for entering TFR's can and do exist, At it's most basic is aircraft are excluded from the TFR without specific permission to be there. Airshows create TFR's yet the planes in the airshow are allowed to fly in the TFR because they are specifically authorized to be there.
 

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
Waivers for entering TFR's can and do exist, At it's most basic is aircraft are excluded from the TFR without specific permission to be there. Airshows create TFR's yet the planes in the airshow are allowed to fly in the TFR because they are specifically authorized to be there.
Yeah but aren't air shows usually Navy and USAF pilots flying Navy and USAF planes? Would "Random Orlando Tourist Company" be able to easily acquire waivers like that?
 

zann285

Active Member
Yeah but aren't air shows usually Navy and USAF pilots flying Navy and USAF planes? Would "Random Orlando Tourist Company" be able to easily acquire waivers like that?

There was a TimTracker video a few years ago where he was in a helicopter or plane over WDW on the Fourth of July. If I remember right, they were fine going over World Showcase (outside the flight restriction) and they had a special permit to fly through the MK restriction at a particular time and altitude. I think bio gets permits occasionally as well, but the MK restriction makes it such that his photos from MK area are more infrequent. From other posts elsewhere, I’ve always gotten the impression the FAA isn’t too thrilled with Disney having these restrictions, and don’t have many issues with giving waivers as long as the paperwork is in order.
 

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