LAANC vs. DroneZone: How to Get Airspace Authorization (Explained)

You booked a job downtown, checked the map, and there it is: controlled airspace. Now what? Almost every guide answers this with two options, LAANC or the FAA DroneZone. That framing is why the wrong deadline is such an easy one to plan around. There are four doors.

(General information, not legal advice. Verify at faa.gov/uas.)

First: do you even need authorization?

You need prior authorization to fly in controlled airspace: Class B, C, D, and surface E. In Class G (uncontrolled), you don't. So step one is always the same. Check the airspace before you quote the job. (Our Pilot Tools airspace trainer helps you read this fast.)

Why four doors, not two

LAANC is not one request. It is two, with two different clocks and two different review paths, and the second one is the door that costs people jobs, because they meet it the night before. Sorted by what each one costs you in time:

① Class G: nothing to request

Uncontrolled airspace at the altitude you fly. Section 107.41 requires ATC authorization for Class B, C, D and surface-area Class E only, and none of those reaches you. No form, no account, no waiting period.

The rest of Part 107 still applies: the 400 ft AGL limit, visual line of sight, daylight or anti-collision lighting, and the rules on flying over people. Airspace authorization is one question, not all of them.

② LAANC auto-approval: minutes, not weeks

Controlled airspace, at or below the published grid ceiling for that exact spot on the UAS Facility Map, at a facility that accepts LAANC. The FAA describes this as near-real time authorization at pre-approved altitudes. You apply on the day you wish to fly, and approval is typically received in near-real time.

LAANC requests are filed through companies the FAA has approved, called UAS Service Suppliers. The FAA publishes that list on its own LAANC page. We do not recommend one over another and we take nothing from any of them. Two honest caveats about the list: the FAA notes that listing a company is not an endorsement by the FAA, and the page carried a Last updated: December 5, 2024 footer when we last read it. It is the FAA's published list; treat it as that rather than as a guaranteed-current roster.

③ LAANC further coordination: above the ceiling, on a hard deadline

Above the grid ceiling but still under 400 ft AGL, at a LAANC facility. This is still LAANC, but the request is reviewed by an Air Traffic Manager who manages that airspace rather than approved automatically. Three things decide whether you make it:

• Part 107 only. Further coordination is not available under the recreational exception. A recreational flyer at that spot is limited to the auto-approval ceiling.
• At least 72 hours ahead. The FAA's own wording: "Further coordination requests must be submitted at least 72 hours prior to requested start time of the operation." Miss it and the answer is not "later." It is no, for that flight.
• A 0 ft grid is this door, not DroneZone. The FAA states that certificated remote pilots can use LAANC above UASFM grids "including 0' grids by submitting a further coordination request." Sending yourself to the manual route instead costs weeks you did not owe.

A decline here is not a dead end: the FAA notes that facilities can provide additional guidance on denied further coordination requests, so pilots can adjust the operation and resubmit.

④ FAA DroneZone: the manual route

No UAS Facility Map grid over your point, or a facility that does not accept LAANC. These requests are processed manually at FAA Air Traffic Service Centers, and DroneZone does not provide authorizations in near-real time.

The lead time is the whole story: the FAA asks that you "submit requests at least 60 days prior to the proposed operation date", and says requests submitted less than 60 days prior "may result in cancellation or denial." Build that into the schedule and the quote, not into the apology.

The number that is easy to get wrong

LAANC requests may be submitted up to 90 days in advance of your planned flight. That is a filing window: how far ahead you are allowed to ask. It is not a processing time, and it is not a promise about when you hear back.

Read as a response time, it sends you to the wrong door with the wrong plan. The number that governs door ③ is the 72-hour minimum. The number that governs door ④ is the 60-day lead time. The 90 days only tells you the earliest you may file.

Which door am I at?

That depends on two FAA datasets read at your exact coordinates (the airspace class and the UAS Facility Map grid ceiling), plus the altitude you intend to fly. Our permission checker queries both live, names the door, names the deadline attached to it, and says plainly when it could not determine an answer rather than guessing one.

We have deliberately not reproduced its verdicts here. A decision tree copied into a blog post drifts from the tool it was copied from, and this post is the proof: the version you are reading replaced one that knew about two doors.

A waiver is a separate question

Everything above is airspace authorization. If the operation also needs a waiver (over people, beyond visual line of sight, above 400 ft AGL, or any other deviation from Part 107), that is a different application in a different system. Since June 2026, operational waivers are filed in the FAA's Aviation Safety Hub, while the FAA states the airspace authorization process "will remain in the FAADroneZone system until further notice." A waivered flight in controlled airspace needs both.

Airspace is one of the heaviest-weighted topics on the Part 107 exam, and one of the most useful on the job. Our Part 107 course teaches you to read it fluently (test yourself with our free practice test).

General information only. Not legal advice. Verify current airspace rules at faa.gov/uas.