Most of my state IS a national park. The biggest concern the Park service has here is your Batteries. when they hit the ground they have a nasty habit of creating a fireball. The next thing will be any Wildlife sanctuaries. I have a friend that has flown in a few National parks with permission. I do know it takes Months and months and you need a truckload of paperwork. NO harm in Trying OR ASKING I have a great shot I took with my Drone at the gate of a national park. I simply asked the ranger at the gate and she allowed me to do it in front of her straight up and down. Very nice Ranger.
If you want the info from the horses mouth...... here you go....
Of course, it's OK to ask the folks who operate the entrance stations, but they really aren't qualified to answer. Their job is to collect fees and dispense information about local attractions and perhaps the availability of campsites, but they have no law enforcement expertise, responsibility, or authority. I should hope that they'd refer visitor inquiries about possible UAV use to a more qualified authority. In your instance, permission to launch and retrieve just outside the park boundary requires no permission at all. The park's authority stops at its boundaries. Launching outside and then flying into the park's airspace, however, may be more problematic, given that regulations prohibit launching, retrieving, and
operation. What constitutes
operation may be subject to interpretation. Furthermore, specific regulations prohibiting wildlife disturbance and the creation of intrusive audible nuisances may come into play. In the event of a violation resulting in citation, the courts would be the final arbiters. Are some parks equipped to monitor RID? I don't know.
In accordance with the general regulation (36 CFR 1.5) governing user activities in the parks, each park superintendent is authorized to establish a compendium of additional restrictions particular to the area under his or her jurisdiction based on local concerns and resource and visitor vulnerabilities. In other words, one size does not fit all. In seeking permission, you'd need to at least ask a commissioned law enforcement ranger at each park, who, in turn, would probably want to check with his or her superiors before granting permission. In 14 CFR 107.45, the FAA recognizes and adopts the restrictions and prohibitions imposed by other agencies, such as the National Park Service.
