Lesson 3 of 12 · ~5 min

Read the newer brief signals

You'll learn: How to read the three drone chips — especially that Drone airspace measures incursion exposure (open sky), not restriction proximity — and how to interpret the stacked NTAS and travel-advisory banners on the brief.

Before you start

Run a scan with a locked venue location so the airspace, stadium-TFR, and advisory signals have a point to assess.

01 Find the three drone chips in the Movement pillar

In the signal dashboard, scroll to the Movement pillar. The drone read is split into three independent tiles, all driven by one /api/drone-zones response:

  • Drone airspace — incursion exposure over the venue.
  • Stadium TFR — whether a federal UAS ban is in effect for this event.
  • Flight conditions — whether a drone can physically fly right now.

They answer separate questions from separate sources, so read them separately — do not treat them as one number.

02 Read Drone airspace as exposure, not proximity

This is the chip operators most often misread. Drone airspace answers "how open is the sky over this crowd to a drone?" — not "how much restricted airspace is nearby." Restrictions are protective, so they lower exposure. Read the tile's primary value:

  • OPEN SKY (HIGH) — open Class-G airspace; drones may legally fly to 400 ft over the venue. This is the high-exposure case.
  • "NNN ft cap" (MEDIUM) — controlled airspace; drones authorized only up to the listed LAANC ceiling over the venue.
  • PROTECTED (LOW) — venue sits inside a no-fly zone or a 0-ft ceiling; UAS prohibited overhead.

Counterintuitively, HIGH here means "wide-open sky," not "active threat." Nearby no-fly zones are appended to the headline as context (e.g. "· 2 no-fly zones nearby") but do not by themselves raise the venue's exposure.

03 Use Stadium TFR and Flight conditions as the other two reads

Stadium TFR reads UAS BANNED (MEDIUM, labeled TFR) when the venue matches a federal stadium TFR — UAS banned within 3 nm / 3,000 ft during the event — otherwise NONE. Stadiums are the top illegal-incursion target, so treat an active TFR as a must-know.

Flight conditions tells you whether a drone can even fly right now, from live weather:

  • GROUNDED / MARGINAL (LOW) — wind, gusts, precipitation, or low visibility are suppressing drone ops.
  • FLYABLE (MEDIUM) — clear, drone-favorable weather with no weather mitigation.

04 Open the drone detail section

Click any of the three drone tiles to jump to the shared drone detail card. The card header shows the worst of the three levels, with a sub-line: "FAA UAS airspace, stadium TFR status, and current flight conditions for the venue." Below it are three rows:

  • Drone airspace — headline plus meta like ceiling 400 ft, venue in no-fly zone, and N no-fly zones nearby.
  • Stadium TFR — the league/venue match behind the ban.
  • Flight conditions — the actual wind, gusts, precip, and visibility numbers.

A row showing N/A means that part of the FAA UAS feed didn't return — not that the venue is safe.

05 Read the NTAS and travel-advisory banners

Above the signal dashboard, up to two advisory banners can stack. They render only when something is actually in effect — an empty space means nothing active.

  • DHS National Terrorism Advisory System — shows the active NTAS tier pill (e.g. BULLETIN), the advisory title and summary, and "Issued / Expires" dates, with a Read full advisory link to DHS. An active NTAS advisory escalates the brief's overall severity.
  • US State Department travel advisory — renders directly under the NTAS banner, and only for foreign stops; US/domestic venues stay hidden. It shows the country, a LEVEL N pill, and "Level N of 4 · label" (e.g. EXERCISE INCREASED CAUTION), the lead reason, region-specific guidance, and updated/published dates.

Tips