When you fly into somewhere like San Diego or New York, you fly right over the city and are basically directly next to skyscrapers. But when you fly into somewhere like Austin or New Orleans, you’re flying over flatlands. How do pilots know clearance for certain areas, does ground control tell them how best to land or does that not matter?
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Check out Part 77 “imaginary surfaces” that require building/antenna tower/transmission line companies to notify the FAA when they are constructing a structure that exceeds certain criteria based on heights and distances from the runways of any airport.
Sometimes the FAA will deny a tall structure because it would have significant impact on the safety of aviation operations.
Sometimes the FAA will require the structure to have certain types of lights installed at the top or painted certain colors to make pilots more visually aware of it. The criteria for this is based on the Part 77 imaginary surfaces, as well as the Terminal Instrument Procedure (TERPS) that tell pilots how to make instrument-based approaches to a runway based on different criteria. It involves a lot of math and navigation calculations and can be found in FAA Orders 8260.3 and 8260.58.
The company building the structure is required to comply with these regulations and an FAA “Determination of No Hazard” is usually required to get the proper local and state permits to build it. After it’s constructed, the FAA will include it aeronautical charts available to all pilots.
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