Airmap says "do not fly over..." - - is incorrect?

[wsalopek]

Hi folks,

I believe there is an error in the Airmap app...but please correct me if I'm wrong...see attached screen grab...it says:

Do not fly over:

FWS Lands (Wildlife Refuge)
US National Parks
Marine Protected Areas

But those are wrong, correct? (I'm not talking the ethics of these flights, just legality).

A drone can take off outside the boundaries of any of those areas, fly over those areas, and land outside those areas, and be legal, correct?

If so, why is Airmap saying don't do it?

(And why is "marine protected area" listed twice?)

Thanks

 

[wsalopek]

OK...I see Marine Protected Areas can have their own mandatory minimum altitude limits (wilderness areas have a requested floor of 2000 feet AGL)...in the case of Monterey Bay, it's 1000 feet. So perhaps those need to be checked on a case by case basis.

Overflight Regulations | Office National Marine Sanctuaries

Overflight regulations within Olympic Coast, Greater Farallones, Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries require that motorized aircraft maintain minimum altitudes above specified locations.

sanctuaries.noaa.gov

 

[jeplane]

You could check a sectional, like in skyvector.com, and see how the airspace looks like.

In Morro Bay's case, there is no restriction. However, follow the coast north Toward Cambria, and you will get into the Monterey bay national marine sanctuary, which becomes a no-no. Unless you could fly over 1000' AGL, which isn't going to happen with a UAS.

As for your question of "Could I T/O from outside a NFZ and overfly it?", I personally never understood this. I see it a lot in this forum with people debating if it is legal or not.

For us manned pilot, it is clear. It doesn't matter that we T/O somewhere else. If we can not fly over something, we are done. Period. I tend to think of it the same way with a UAS. Easier to handle, and certainly easier to deal with, in front of the judge at the hearing.

 

[brett8883]

You could check a sectional, like in skyvector.com, and see how the airspace looks like.

In Morro Bay's case, there is no restriction. However, follow the coast north Toward Cambria, and you will get into the Monterey bay national marine sanctuary, which becomes a no-no. Unless you could fly over 1000' AGL, which isn't going to happen with a UAS.

As for your question of "Could I T/O from outside a NFZ and overfly it?", I personally never understood this. I see it a lot in this forum with people debating if it is legal or not.

For us manned pilot, it is clear. It doesn't matter that we T/O somewhere else. If we can not fly over something, we are done. Period. I tend to think of it the same way with a UAS. Easier to handle, and certainly easier to deal with, in front of the judge at the hearing.

It shouldn’t be hard to understand from a manned aircraft pilot’s perspective. You can’t take off or land your Cessna in your neighbors back yard even though its in class G airspace. It is, however, perfectly legal to fly over it even if your neighbor would prefer you didn’t.

 

[TampaTC]

You could check a sectional, like in skyvector.com, and see how the airspace looks like.

In Morro Bay's case, there is no restriction. However, follow the coast north Toward Cambria, and you will get into the Monterey bay national marine sanctuary, which becomes a no-no. Unless you could fly over 1000' AGL, which isn't going to happen with a UAS.

As for your question of "Could I T/O from outside a NFZ and overfly it?", I personally never understood this. I see it a lot in this forum with people debating if it is legal or not.

For us manned pilot, it is clear. It doesn't matter that we T/O somewhere else. If we can not fly over something, we are done. Period. I tend to think of it the same way with a UAS. Easier to handle, and certainly easier to deal with, in front of the judge at the hearing.

The difference is not always a difference. Maned aircraft include helicopters and they can not take off or land on said property. Also it's a land use issue not a airspace issue in most cases.

 

[DanMan32]

Some of the restrictions Airmap indicates may be accepted land use restrictions rather than official FAA air space restrictions.

 

[superstarpup]

You could check a sectional, like in skyvector.com, and see how the airspace looks like.

In Morro Bay's case, there is no restriction. However, follow the coast north Toward Cambria, and you will get into the Monterey bay national marine sanctuary, which becomes a no-no. Unless you could fly over 1000' AGL, which isn't going to happen with a UAS.

As for your question of "Could I T/O from outside a NFZ and overfly it?", I personally never understood this. I see it a lot in this forum with people debating if it is legal or not.

For us manned pilot, it is clear. It doesn't matter that we T/O somewhere else. If we can not fly over something, we are done. Period. I tend to think of it the same way with a UAS. Easier to handle, and certainly easier to deal with, in front of the judge at the hearing.

Some uas and manned is the same, some isn’t.

Most of the “t/o outside and fly over” discussions tend to be around things that have local or state restrictions specific to drones. For example, here it’s illegal to fly a drone from a state park. You could take off and land outside the park and over fly it, no issues, provided you remained vlos. No one thinks twice if an airplane flys over the same state park.

Obviously for things like restricted airspace or tfrs, it’s the same.

 

[DanMan32]

Not only local and state, but also national not related to FAA. National parks for example. NPS says no flying in them. It's not an FAA regulation, but many (most?) will abide by it as if it were, even if the loophole is to launch, land and control from outside the park, but fly over it within its boundaries.