With a very few exceptions, the NPS prohibits the taking off, landing, and operation of aircraft on national parklands (36 CFR 2.7). The FAA recognizes the authority of the NPS to establish such prohibitions and restrictions (14 CFR 107.45).
I think this last point is why we cannot in National Parks, there have been too many fools who, have lost or crashed their drones without an=y recovery leave that debris behind, especially in the early days before all the obstacle sensors of today. There are others that have harassed wildlife. It is no different that the rules i need to follow with my Jeep when offroad in some park, no trail breaking stay on established trails. with out the rule that small minority of idiots destroy a lot of stuff.
For sure, I feel exactly the same. It's almost as if they want you to take your drone and fly it from the corner of 5th and Main Street. If some of these remote places were opened to drone, it's hard to find a reason to fly often in the city when there are welcoming places abound. But who wants to travel to a nice park a couple hours away only to find NO DRONES signs posted all over the entrance. It's frustrating.
Small plane that low? This would never be tolerated in my neighborhood. It would stop immediately or we'll shut down that little airport overnight.
Sadly I cannot fly casually from my neighborhood; don't want to rile up the neighbors.
There are already laws against misusing a bullhorn. I would only get upset if they created new laws just because I got a bullhorn.
if there was a way to fly the drone in the park without visitors seeing it or "buzzing" in their ear, would you agree to allow drones? What happens one day when drones go completely silent and no one on the ground can hear them? What happens one day when drones look like birds and no one can distinguish them? Will these still be the excuses or will there be new excuses?
Not picking on you and your AI generated response but "somewhere else" is always going to end up being "not in my backyard." the NPS are for everybody, not for some of everybody. Accomodations.
I think you made the point "some parks" and their limitations. Have you encountered a blanket NO JEEPS rules? What if the BLM said "no off-road vehicles" in any BLM locations nationwide, how would you feel about that? Bad enough you have to deal with the rules which we can all live with but drones aren't even given the option to comply with strict rules.
Filming rules in general have changed in NP in the last few years, while some are very upset with the need for permits. I do not see an issues as long as there is a reasonable path to obtain them. Most of the complaints have come from YouTube content creators because for some reason they do not see their filming as a business venture, in the end not really any different other than impact than a commercial shoot.
Yes, I know that story and I'm familiar with the battle. I really really wish there was a similar system for drones and I know it's there but it's unrealistic. Someone will tell you, just drive up to the GC gate and ask if you can fly your drone, they might say yes? But we all know it's not that simple.
Yes, thanks , entirely happy with that. And more so, rather proud of my continued efforts to circumvent existing regulations, which I consider my civic duty to pursue ! No, this is excellent behaviour
And most likely entirely unnecessary ! They know how acidic that pool is. If they'd just left it it would have been gone in a week ! It wouldn't surprise me if that whole operation was only carried out to provide some sort of warped justification for the unnecessarily large fines levied at the pilot ! And it is obvious to all of us that the pilot should have known better, and that there are sensible reasons for forbidding flight there, in the one of the most populated and busy areas of the park and with such evidently hazardous conditions for drones.
Yes, the parks belong to the people, and the people decided more than a century ago, through laws enacted by their elected representatives, that management of the parks should be entrusted to an agency with the expertise necessary to ensure their protection in perpetuity. And, in accordance with your wishes, the national parks have a drone policy. There are also policies and regulations regarding all manner of extractive uses and other destructive and intrusive activities.
Yes but like I said people have crashed and left their debris behind in sensitive areas, I cannot tell you how many Mylar balloons I have picked up in the desert besides other trash. Even when someone does something stupid with their truck or Jeep in say Death Valley they rarely leave it behind unlike the drones with lithium batteries left on the floor. If people took more responsibility for their actions maybe we would have less restrictions on our use of drones. I would be in favor of a permit system for a limited use by a limited number on a given day, not unlike the permits for some of the restricted use ares for hikers and backpackers.
Agreed. You take one drone in the park when you check in and when you check out, you bring one drone back. If you don't, heavy fines. You can't leave a lithium battery behind. However, a person driving thru the front gates in their car, they can toss a car battery in the parking lot, right? Nobody checks them. I don't mind the strict rules in NP but at least they are allowed. In my opinion, the Red Rocks area is a good test, let's see how that goes as far as allowing drones and the problems that come with. I suspect the issue is overblown and it will be determined that drones are not a problem and restrictions will be lifted.
I'd imagine that the prohibition regarding drone operations in parks isn't primarily about safety; it's about intrusions on the enjoyment of other visitors, concerns about resource damage, and the potential for the disturbance of wildlife.
Ok great, in 5 years I expect that prohibition to be lifted when drones no longer disturb people and wildlife and no longer pose a danger to the precious resources in the park. When I look over the stats, I see nothing being done to preserve the significant erosion of parks today so I have my doubts it's really such a thing. If it were, there would be a plan to phase out the combustion motor traffic entering the park and only allowing EV cars over the next 10 years; there would be sound check devices for vehicles entering the park, and all vehicles must have a special inspection sticker to go beyond the main parking lot to make sure there is no engine backfire or tire blowout and sparks or hot rubber to start a fire.
