Part 107 UAS pilot reported flying in controlled airspace without authorization.

Date: 2025-08 · Aircraft: Small UAS (At or above 0.55 lbs and less than 55 lbs) · Phase: landing

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-unauthorized-flight-operations-uas

Synopsis

Part 107 UAS pilot reported flying in controlled airspace without authorization.

Narrative

I have been a recreational/commercial drone pilot for over 5 years and was using a small drone near a town called Basalt on the highway leading down into Aspen in the afternoon on Day 0. Before leaving that day we had updated the controller/drone firmware. Arrived at the first location and there was no issue as it was in . There was a change in plans on the location for the second mission and at the second location when the controller booted up it hung up and after restarting a few times it was able to connect to Drone. After takeoff a Warning Zone appeared on the controller and the drone was landed promptly; max altitude reached was about 30ft. A few minutes after landing I was approached and informed that it was Class D airspace. Confused I tried looking at the drone/controller and used my phone to go into Aloft to double check. It was indeed Class D airspace. Although no incident occurred and there was no near miss or anything of that nature it was a very sobering wake up call.I believe that contributing factors to this occurrence was a leaning on not only the Drone/Controller for accurate information (especially in the map as it misidentified airspace as the drone took off); but also some fatigue from a long drive in to town. There was also a perceived rush to capture a grouping of busses before they all took off to their locations.Corrective Actions: This is the first time something like this has happened to me so it was an eye opener on how quickly things can change and I learned a few lessons not the least of which is I wish I had taken more time before the second mission. So a change I'm going to make is walk away if I feel even a little bit of a perceived rush to take a few deep breaths and reassess the situation. Also; I will build in a buffer that allows more time to be taken before starting a mission so there is no rush to begin with. What should have happened was after the second location was changed; I should have checked Aloft against the information on the Drone/Controller. If it was Class D it would have been easy to reschedule after asking for authorization through LAANC.I'm also going to brush up on the PAVE model (pilot; aircraft; environment; external pressures) and subscribe to the newsletter on UAS safety to keep these types of topic more fresh in my mind (Safety in Sight).

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.