drone above Statue of Liberty permission

[Myerchinize]

I saw a guy flying his drone from the south side of liberty park at the water's edge. A ranger told him it wasn't allowed, so he immediately brought the drone in, but it was after flying about 15 min. He got a warning and the pilot got his video. I spoke with the pilot, he said the ranger was very nice about it. So I decided to fly lady liberty early the next morning after finding a secluded launch site in the bushes, complete with shelter and seat which had clear view of the statue, looking east. This was a year ago.


This particular area isn't patrolled by liberty park rangers because of its seclusion. Flying south of liberty island is outside airport 5 mi zones, but you still have to watch for tour planes and helicopters which start up around 9am. Lady is about 300' high, all of the manned craft I saw the day before stayed at or above 500'. I saw no craft around lady liberty early in the morning, 7am

So is that particular spot not Liberty Park Property? Therefore, it would be legal to launch from that area.

 

[John Locke]

So is that particular spot not Liberty Park Property? Therefore, it would be legal to launch from that area.

On the map it doesn't appear to be part of the park, however others have claimed it is. It's definitely not maintained like the rest of Liberty park, hence I don't think it in Liberty Park jurisdiction, but I'm unsure. When I flew, I was banking on getting a warning if caught flying as hobbyist, like the guy on previous day, but I did my best to prevent getting caught to learn the truth of the situation. This site is pretty well hidden, and it was early morning. A ranger would have to be within 500' to hear the take-off or landing to be a problem, and this is in a secluded and somewhat hidden area that rangers don't frequent, IMO.

 

[andy_k]

I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. The drone would shatter though. But just having commercial aircraft seeing a drone within a couple miles of them is enough to hit the news these days, let alone a strike. This is never good for us. In Canada we are banned from flying in most places due to this unreasonable fear.

main rotor blades no but the tail blades are a lot less robust and are not designed for impacts of any kind (even birds). The other 'weak point' are the screens - they are designed to be light but strong enough to withstand bird strikes (even then they will often crack and need replacing). I would suspect a 'hard' object like a drone could go straight through if the impact angle was right.

It's not unreasonable fear really is it? It's trying to keep the airways safe for all and the FAA/CAA or whatever agency/government controls your airspace is charged with maintaining that safety - they have to work on the premise that anything less than 100% safe is unacceptable - 'oh that should be OK' cannot figure into their thinking

 

[Raptorman0909]

I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. The drone would shatter though. But just having commercial aircraft seeing a drone within a couple miles of them is enough to hit the news these days, let alone a strike. This is never good for us. In Canada we are banned from flying in most places due to this unreasonable fear.

I would not bet my life on a P4P not shattering a rotor blade given the high velocity of the blade. I would not bet the life of the people in the copter either.


Brian

 

[shockwave199]

Yeah this is a tough spot. Even just slightly south at flag park right down next to the water, the closest spot to fly if you're allowed, is a good 4k' out to the statue. That's just too far, knowing that it's a busy helicopter route. You can't plan for everything unless you actually plan for everything. I wouldn't choose a recreational flight, personally. I expect that I'll do a commercial flight along the way and like I said, I'd only do it with everyone having full knowledge I'm in the area. When we know where everyone is it goes a long way to being safer.

 

[lickitysplit11111]

What about launching from flag plaza on the jersey side? That's the absolute closest place I can see. The water is SFR from the surface. However it is G airspace but I'd set a 200' altitude limit in the go app. The problem isn't airports there as much as it is heliports and helicopters. I may very well have to run the process of flying there for a commercial shoot. I'll be happy to let people know how that process goes when I do it. For me personally, I won't be satisfied until ALL entities and heliports are notified. I'll be setting a drotam too of course. If you want an eye opener, take the free online faa SFR test for the hudson. In fact, I recommend it. I wouldn't recommend flying that area in most cases. You put yourself at great risk and manned aircraft even more, if something doesn't go as planned.

My bad ,when you said Flag Plaza I was thinking of another spot linked below. Flag Plaza is one of the most heavily patrolled areas of the park not a good spot at all ,the spot John Locke pinpointed is much more secluded.

Google Maps

 

[indwastes]

Taking off and landing within a national park or a state park might be generally restricted/prohibited.... but where there is a tidal area one could land in and out of high/low water area(at low tide) which are waters of the US/State but not park property. fwiw

 

[AVATARtv]

I'll just say this.. flying there without permission is dangerous and irresponsible. I'm a professional cinematographer and I shoot from helicopters a lot. I also pilot a Mavic Pro (I have 3). I've shot "the Lady" via helicopter a few times. We get special permission and have flown as low as 300 ft.(over water- she's a little over 300 ft tall with the pedestal). This is an area with VERY heavy air traffic and keeping in touch on radio is essential for safety. I could get into the legalities (State Parks prohibit UAV) or practicalities (I've flown in some restricted space - but within very limited altitudes) but the REAL DEAL is: an unreported UAV could be a hazard that could cause death. Stop giving UAVs a bad name. FLY RESPONSIBLY.

 

[AVATARtv]

I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. The drone would shatter though. But just having commercial aircraft seeing a drone within a couple miles of them is enough to hit the news these days, let alone a strike. This is never good for us. In Canada we are banned from flying in most places due to this unreasonable fear.

"I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. " Respectfully, You are incorrect about that. If it should hit the tail rotor especially.

 

[FatherXmas]

LOL! Phantoms dropping bombs! Thats a new one one me!

The threat is not so much Phantoms dropping bombs as it is rigging a Phantom as an IED and flying into somewhere and setting it off. Google it, there's several news stories about it - some even have photos of a Phantom.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

That's how I look at it If a helicopter can launch at its port and come do some sight-seeing around it why can't I

Helicopers do launch after filing a flight plan. Also, they are visible to other pilots; your drone is not. That's why VLOS is so important. You need to be able to see, and get out of the way of, manned aircraft. NYC has many commuter helicopters on weekday mornings so I also don't think early morning flights are a good idea. If you get formal approval for a specific flight plan and have your cell phone on record with ALL flight operators (airports, hospitals, sightseeing heliports) then by all means fly to photograph the Statue of Liberty.

 

[sar104]

"I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. " Respectfully, You are incorrect about that. If it should hit the tail rotor especially.

I've not seen any testing on that kind of impact, which is not surprising since rigid, metal-cored, 1.5 kg objects were not typically encountered in the NAS prior to last couple of years. I certainly would not be willing to trust my safety in a helicopter to the assumption that they will do no damage to the rotors and I can say with some confidence that at 150 knots they will take out a regular windshield.

 

[kburrows]

I agree with AvatarTV and Russ42Phantom, fly responsibly. First, it's a National Park. Second, the traffic there is not conducive to safe flying. This does give UAS pilots a bad rap. I got my UAS the hard way with my Pilot's License and the Section 333 exemption. Don't make us look bad.

 

[trevsdad]

I don't think a rotor blade of a helicopter hitting a drone would even feel the damage. The drone would shatter though. But just having commercial aircraft seeing a drone within a couple miles of them is enough to hit the news these days, let alone a strike. This is never good for us. In Canada we are banned from flying in most places due to this unreasonable fear.

...you don't think??? do you really feel like taking that chance?

 

[trevsdad]

I agree with AvatarTV and Russ42Phantom, fly responsibly. First, it's a National Park. Second, the traffic there is not conducive to safe flying. This does give UAS pilots a bad rap. I got my UAS the hard way with my Pilot's License and the Section 333 exemption. Don't make us look bad.

...agreed! This thread is full of some VERY bad accidents waiting to happen.

 

[Jthomp]

..... You do know Phantoms are being used to drop bombs in Syria don't you? Good luck explaining yourself to the police

Yes, and I hear they have dropped approximately .00002 tons of explosives so far. They are having difficulty overcoming the MTOW capabilities that DJI built into the machines. They are up to about 3 cherry bombs per sortie now, but their PR man, I bin a-Mustasha, says they are making rapid progress toward bigger munitions than that.

 

[jcknows0]

I don't know if he had permission but if you plan on giving it a go I'd launch North of the park @ Exchange Place and do it early in the morning before anyone's on the island and before the tourist copters start buzzing around the river.
That's where I flew this morning..

I used to fly there as well but even Liberty State Park (mainland) used to be fine. Furthest I got to the statue was about 1/2 mile away (Still small on camera) because you have to fly under 100 feet around there with all the tourist and police helicopters. Its techinically not a NFZ but park rangers will shoo you away if there is safety concern (like during the bomb scare) Haven't tried flying there since the election when they had an NFZ over all of Northern NJ for 2 months.

 

[kwalter]

Just Google the two words "drone" and "grenade" if you don't believe me.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Just Google the two words "drone" and "grenade" if you don't believe me.

Waste of tine -- idiots that want to do what they want to do will give no fcks about safety or the future of civilian drone rights.


Brian

 

[GadgetGuy]

Waste of tine -- idiots that want to do what they want to do will give no fcks about safety or the future of civilian drone rights.


Brian

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