Flying Mavic in the US

[Srisport]

Ok, so i am a UK citizen about to go travelling around the US for 3 weeks in April, my destinations will be San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. I am fairly new to the sUAS and i have only flown the Mavic on a quiet beach in my home town in the UK.

I would love to capture some footage with my new toy in the US and have read lots about registering the drone and only flying under 400' and staying outside the 5 mile radius of an international airport etc etc.... I could spend a whole day re searching.

So thought it might be worth asking on here for peoples experiences with flying in the 4 cities listed above and where they have flown with little interference from police, what they have done and what they have come across etc .......

Any advice is much appreciated.

Regards.

 

[halley]

New York: don't.
Washington D.C.: don't.

Over people, over events, near airports, over highways, through powerlines, over farmers with shotguns, over private resorts: don't.

Most of the rest of the country really doesn't seem to care that much, even if you stray a little bit from the letter of the law. I always do my research to ensure I am as clear as possible within my rights to fly, but you can see a lot of YouTube videos from folks who don't.

 

[Squamer]

Download the air map app and look where you're within 5 miles of airports. major cities it's a pain.

 

[Srisport]

Thank you for your replys, pretty much confirmed what i expected with regards to New York, I do already have a few apps loaded on my iPhone so intend on using them while out in the US.

Regards.

 

[ServisAir]

In San Francisco you can pretty much fly everywhere that you aren't breaking the don't fly over groups of people rule, with the exception of a small radius around AT&T Park and the Presidio just south of the Golden Gate Bridge. AirMaps shows most of the ocean coastline in San Francisco as a no go under the jurisdiction of NOAA's wildlife protection efforts, but NOAA's own maps do not show that stretch of coast as a restricted area. I do see people fly at ocean beach but it tends to be very windy there so check the forecast and be cautious. Golden Gate Park is a great place to fly, tons of open meadow areas and at 120m you can see pretty much every landmark you could wish for.

 

[Srisport]

In San Francisco you can pretty much fly everywhere that you aren't breaking the don't fly over groups of people rule, with the exception of a small radius around AT&T Park and the Presidio just south of the Golden Gate Bridge. AirMaps shows most of the ocean coastline in San Francisco as a no go under the jurisdiction of NOAA's wildlife protection efforts, but NOAA's own maps do not show that stretch of coast as a restricted area. I do see people fly at ocean beach but it tends to be very windy there so check the forecast and be cautious. Golden Gate Park is a great place to fly, tons of open meadow areas and at 120m you can see pretty much every landmark you could wish for.

Thank you for your reply, I wouldn't mind getting some nice arial shots of the golden gate bridge. was gonna fly early morning when the area would be less busy and maybe get the sunrise in shot too. does it tend to be very windy round this area?

of course i will be sticking to the 400' (121m) altitude

Regards.

 

[ServisAir]

Unfortunately the Golden Gate Bridge and most of the coast on either side is restricted by the National Park Service or other agencies, the bridge itself has explicit no drone signs. Do you use the AirMaps app? It has pretty good info on restriction areas. You can get a decent view of the bridge from within a couple miles from a lot of parks nearby, you'll definitely catch it from Golden Gate Park a couple miles south of the bridge, Alta Plaza park has a naturally high vantage point, but the closest place to the bridge that you can legally take off for the moment is the Palace of Fine Arts, which is worth getting some footage of in its own right, but from which you could also take off vertically and without flying any further west get a pretty close aerial shot of the span. The bay itself is mostly open flying, so it is possible to take off a mile or two east of the bridge and fly west over the water to get a decent shot of the whole thing, but I wouldn't get too close, and in the city the video downlink and the RC signal will get laggy and weak, and there may be a big headwind, so it could get dicey. Signal interference is even stronger within a mile or so of Sutro Tower as well due to all the broadcast equipment.

In general, morning is the best time in terms of wind speed and I would try to get as much flying in then as you can because you can't always count on the wind later in the afternoon and evening, strong gusts are pretty common. April does tend to the mild side. The wind typically comes off the ocean, so it is less severe on the eastern side of the city. Bernal Heights has some good views and lots of open space, though it is a hill so it's definitely not completely sheltered. Some of the eastern industrial areas on the bay near the Mission Bay and Dogpatch neighborhoods are more sheltered and give you a pretty good view of downtown, the Bay Bridge, and old dockyard infrastructure, but there is a no fly zone near AT&T park to be aware of. Sorry I can't draw you a map, but I promise these are all real places that will pop up on google as you plan it all out.

Whatever you do, always bring a light jacket with you everywhere you go.

Thank you for your reply, I wouldn't mind getting some nice arial shots of the golden gate bridge. was gonna fly early morning when the area would be less busy and maybe get the sunrise in shot too. does it tend to be very windy round this area?

of course i will be sticking to the 400' (121m) altitude

Regards.

 

[Srisport]

Unfortunately the Golden Gate Bridge and most of the coast on either side is restricted by the National Park Service or other agencies, the bridge itself has explicit no drone signs. Do you use the AirMaps app? It has pretty good info on restriction areas. You can get a decent view of the bridge from within a couple miles from a lot of parks nearby, you'll definitely catch it from Golden Gate Park a couple miles south of the bridge, Alta Plaza park has a naturally high vantage point, but the closest place to the bridge that you can legally take off for the moment is the Palace of Fine Arts, which is worth getting some footage of in its own right, but from which you could also take off vertically and without flying any further west get a pretty close aerial shot of the span. The bay itself is mostly open flying, so it is possible to take off a mile or two east of the bridge and fly west over the water to get a decent shot of the whole thing, but I wouldn't get too close, and in the city the video downlink and the RC signal will get laggy and weak, and there may be a big headwind, so it could get dicey. Signal interference is even stronger within a mile or so of Sutro Tower as well due to all the broadcast equipment.

In general, morning is the best time in terms of wind speed and I would try to get as much flying in then as you can because you can't always count on the wind later in the afternoon and evening, strong gusts are pretty common. April does tend to the mild side. The wind typically comes off the ocean, so it is less severe on the eastern side of the city. Bernal Heights has some good views and lots of open space, though it is a hill so it's definitely not completely sheltered. Some of the eastern industrial areas on the bay near the Mission Bay and Dogpatch neighborhoods are more sheltered and give you a pretty good view of downtown, the Bay Bridge, and old dockyard infrastructure, but there is a no fly zone near AT&T park to be aware of. Sorry I can't draw you a map, but I promise these are all real places that will pop up on google as you plan it all out.

Whatever you do, always bring a light jacket with you everywhere you go.

Thank you so much for your detail advice, i will search google maps now looking for the points you discussed

Kind Regards.

 

[joet]

Also watch for Temporary Flight Restrictions - which apply to drones as well. The ones you will most likely encounter are over sports arenas around game times.