Is Quad-Copters Illegal to fly over National Parks?
- Thread starter Eric1084
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These parks are vast. Do they really think 200 drone flyers are gonna turn up at the same spot every day? Crazy that gas guzzling vehicles are allowed inside the parks but a tiny electric copter isn't.
As the owner of a dozen multirotors, I would have to say ONE multirotor zooming through Delicate Arch as I watch the sunset is one too many drones in my field of view.
Yes, GoodNuff, I am sometimes wrong but I always acknowledge it when I find the error. I am very careful to quote sources of my information.
State and local governments have considered legislation that purports to regulate drone flight, but if challenged in court, any such laws would be considered preempted by the federal government's intent to "occupy the field," and therefore be invalid. By federal statute, "[t]he United States Government has exclusive sovereignty of airspace of the United States" (49 U.S. Code § 40103(a)(1)). The passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, (Senate Bill, Section 607(g)) confirms the federal government's intent to continue to "occupy the field" of flight, thereby invalidating (through preemption) any state or local laws that purport to regulate it. [I forgot where I found this, it may have been Dronelaw.com].
Paragraph (32) of subsection (a) of Section 40102 of Title 49 of the United States Code gives the FAA exclusive responsibility for the National Airspace System which, according to the FAA starts as soon as the aircraft is airborne.
I do not advocate breaking laws, even if the law is indefensible. Unless you have lots of money.
The National Park Service is the only national public property administrator that has a blanket drone prohibition today, but the other services (Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service) do not. There are, however, wilderness areas in all of those jurisdictions where taking off or landing an aircraft is prohibited. As are any motor vehicle or motorized boat, so access to these areas is pretty difficult. Here is an interactive map showing the Wilderness Areas in the US: http://www.wilderness.net/map.cfm
The NPS drone ban may also be indefensible (if you have enough money to challenge it).
Here is an example of the Yosemite Park Rangers making up rules on the fly. (They obviously don't believe in the First Amendment).
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/fe...sts-drone-footage-to-keep-it-off-the-internet
State and local governments have considered legislation that purports to regulate drone flight, but if challenged in court, any such laws would be considered preempted by the federal government's intent to "occupy the field," and therefore be invalid. By federal statute, "[t]he United States Government has exclusive sovereignty of airspace of the United States" (49 U.S. Code § 40103(a)(1)). The passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, (Senate Bill, Section 607(g)) confirms the federal government's intent to continue to "occupy the field" of flight, thereby invalidating (through preemption) any state or local laws that purport to regulate it. [I forgot where I found this, it may have been Dronelaw.com].
Paragraph (32) of subsection (a) of Section 40102 of Title 49 of the United States Code gives the FAA exclusive responsibility for the National Airspace System which, according to the FAA starts as soon as the aircraft is airborne.
I do not advocate breaking laws, even if the law is indefensible. Unless you have lots of money.
The National Park Service is the only national public property administrator that has a blanket drone prohibition today, but the other services (Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service) do not. There are, however, wilderness areas in all of those jurisdictions where taking off or landing an aircraft is prohibited. As are any motor vehicle or motorized boat, so access to these areas is pretty difficult. Here is an interactive map showing the Wilderness Areas in the US: http://www.wilderness.net/map.cfm
The NPS drone ban may also be indefensible (if you have enough money to challenge it).
Here is an example of the Yosemite Park Rangers making up rules on the fly. (They obviously don't believe in the First Amendment).
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/fe...sts-drone-footage-to-keep-it-off-the-internet
I would float into any park in a boat and then launch from the boat. My argument being that the water I was in was not from the park so it could not possibly belong to the park. As a Zen master once said "you can never step into the same river twice".
Kidding
I doubt most judges understand Zen thinking
I understand the thinking on both sides, these could be an annoyance and problem in the parks in many ways but it's unfortunate that we can't fly over these beautiful areas and record it. Wear your High-Vis vest!
Whenever I fly over rural areas I use this disguise...
Kidding
I doubt most judges understand Zen thinkingI understand the thinking on both sides, these could be an annoyance and problem in the parks in many ways but it's unfortunate that we can't fly over these beautiful areas and record it. Wear your High-Vis vest!
Whenever I fly over rural areas I use this disguise...
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All Steve says may be true but what are you going to do when stopped by a PR or some other official? Resist and end up with more charges? Remember whose backyard you are playing in. If you have OOS plates, you are likely to be in jail. Remember that each officer, ranger or whomever, is in charge of his own little pond.
This is an old out-dated thread and the rule has since been clarified. The NPS rule is, we can't launch or land within a park, but we can fly over and within one if we launch or land outside the park.
That map is interesting if you look at it.
Some areas of Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Lassen National Park show the red boundary of the park, but there are areas within them that are not red. Could these be private properties; i.e. Scotties Castle in Death Valley for example, or Curry Village in Yosemite which might be under some private concessionaire? Lassen N.P. the entire main road through the park is out of the red, but I believe the main park road is maintained by Cal-Trans due to snow clearing if the park does not maintain it so the N.P. might not own it? It's puzzling as I would have thought Lake Helen and even Lassen Peak would be in the red areas.
I think a lot of this is silly and over enforced. You get a permit for a few thousand and pay them off and you are good to go so all rationale for drone enforement is thrown out. Sort of negates the claims of bothering the wildlife. And I get the noisy kids and generators over a drone that might last 20 minutes at most, and maybe only around for a couple of minutes at best. Never understood why all heck broke loose in college photographing a night shot of a refinery in the 70's either, other than they thought the photos would work against them (smoke pollution) and maybe the startup of the then green EPA which is most likely, and still holds true today for whatever reason. Or the drone spotted over a nuclear plant in S.C. recently, like it would take it out, that caused a big stink and call for more enforcement.
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