so ive been flying my mini 3 for about 4 months now and theres this really nice field maybe 3 miles from a small regional airport, not like a major one just a little prop plane airport that probably gets like 10 flights a day if that. my app shows it in yellow but i honestly dont know what that means in practice. do i need authorization or do i just not fly there at all? ive read about LAANC but i got confused trying to figure out if the airport even participates in that. some articles say certain airports dont have LAANC coverage and then you have to do something else but i couldnt figure out what that something else is. anyway i just want to know if theres a path to legally flying there or if i should just forget about it and find somewhere else

yellow in most apps means controlled airspace, usually class D or E surface, which does require authorization before you fly. whether you can get it through LAANC depends on the specific facility ? not every small airport has it set up. you can check on the FAA's LAANC UAS facility map, just google that and it'll show you a map of which airports have automated authorization available. if your airport isnt on there you'd have to submit a manual waiver through DroneZone which can take weeks and theres no guarantee of approval. honestly for most people flying recreationally near a small airport that isnt LAANC enabled, it's just not worth the hassle unless you really need that specific spot.

yeah same thing happened to me when i moved last year, there's a little municipal strip like 4 miles out and i just assumed i was fine because it seemed so small. turns out class D airspace extends pretty far out and altitude doesnt matter as much as people think, like you can still need auth even if youre only going up 50 feet. i ended up just driving an extra 20 minutes to fly somewhere completely clear. probably not the answer you want but some spots just arent worth figuring out