so i've been trying to get authorization to fly near a small regional airport, nothing crazy, just want to get some shots of the countryside nearby. i went through the LAANC system on aloft (used to use kittyhawk but whatever) and it just flat out denied me with no real explanation. the thing is when i look at the sectional chart it looks like im in class D airspace but the grid shows 0 feet authorization available, not just limited, like zero.

is that normal? i thought LAANC was supposed to handle class D automatically. do i have to go through the full part 107 waiver process for this or is there something else going on. genuinely confused because ive flown in class D before without issues using LAANC and this is the first time its just said no

yeah this happens more than people realize. some class D airports have what they call a LAANC-unavailable designation, usually because the facility agreement with the FAA hasnt been set up or the airport specifically opted out or something. zero feet doesnt mean the airspace is MORE restricted, it just means LAANC cant process it there at all. you'd have to go the manual waiver route through DroneZone which is the FAA's actual portal. can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the facility. kind of annoying but thats the process.

also worth double checking if theres a TFR sitting on top of that area, sometimes those pop up and arent super obvious especially around smaller regional airports that do flight training. i got caught out by one once near a spot i fly all the time, turned out there was some temporary restriction i hadnt seen. FAA's TFR page is the easiest way to check, or B4UFLY shows them too i think