so ive been trying to fly near a small regional airport, not like right next to it but maybe 3-4 miles out. the sectional chart shows im in class E airspace which from what i read doesnt require authorization below 400ft... but i put in a LAANC request through aloft and it just got denied instantly. no explanation, just denied.

i double checked the FAA drone zone map and the area doesnt show any red or orange, its all blue or whatever the lower restriction color is. am i misunderstanding how class E works? or is there something else going on that im not seeing on the maps. been flying for about a year and thought i had this figured out but clearly not lol

Class E to the surface is different from class E that starts at 700ft or 1200ft ? thats probably whats tripping you up. if theres class E to the surface around that airport (which smaller regional ones sometimes have, especially for instrument approaches) you do need authorization even though it might not look super obvious on the standard maps. check the sectional more carefully for the magenta dashed lines vs the solid magenta lines, one of those means surface class E. its confusing as hell and honestly the FAA could do a way better job making this clear for drone pilots.

also sometimes LAANC just denies stuff automatically if theres a TFR active that isnt showing up clearly on whatever app youre using. i had the same thing happen and turns out there was a temporary restriction for some local event i had no idea about. worth checking notams directly on the FAA site not just through a third party app