Checking on Feasibility of Flying for Monterey Bay Aquarium

[emm]

I fly a drone commercially, but its not a huge part of my business. I was recently approached by a filmmaker inquiring to take footage around the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I'm trying to check on legality but I'm getting conflicting info. I am assured by the filmmaker that the Aquarium would give the all clear if it is otherwise legal to fly. So I have two questions:

1) Assuming it is legal to fly in, say, the 1/2 mile radius around the Aquarium, what sort of written permissions would you want from the Aquarium? Would it be as simple as a property release?

2) Have do you have experience flying in the area? In looking over this forum there seem to be multiple people saying Monterey is a great (and legal) place to fly but according to Aloft, and the FAA's own UAS data map it looks like up and down the waterline around the Aquarium is an absolute no-go.

 

[Cafguy]

We had a similar post sort of recently. You need more than just the aquariums permission. You will also need permission from the MBNMF to fly over a whale sancturary. Aircraft are Forbidden to fly below 1000 ft in the Monterey Bay area without permit. You are not likely to get a permit to fly over the Bay area BUT you will need to get them and If you have seen that aquarium on ANY day there are so many people there I don't think I would even try to use a free flying Drone that weighed any more than a Tinywhoop.

MBNMS Resource Issues: Aircraft, Model Aircraft, & Drones

 

[emm]

We had a similar post sort of recently. You need more than just the aquariums permission. You will also need permission from the MBNMF to fly over a whale sancturary. Aircraft are Forbidden to fly below 1000 ft in the Monterey Bay area without permit. You are not likely to get a permit to fly over the Bay area BUT you will need to get them and If you have seen that aquarium on ANY day there are so many people there I don't think I would even try to use a free flying Drone that weighed any more than a Tinywhoop.

MBNMS Resource Issues: Aircraft, Model Aircraft, & Drones

This is exactly the info I was looking for--thank you. I'll pass this on to the filmmaker and if he wants to do all the paperwork I'll gladly do the flying

Out of curiosity, I'm not sure I understand your last comment. Are you suggesting the tiny drone because of the risk of accident with flight over people? Or is there another concern I'm not realizing? (If this does happen it would take place before the Aquarium opens.)

 

[Cafguy]

Yep I was wondering about the crowds. Just on the insurance side lol. Smart Idea. There are places in that area that are out of the preserve but they are few and they are well away from the Aquarium. It probably won't be hard to do it just have your paperwork in order and if its not out on the open bay area (away from marine life) I don't think you will get a no from them.

 

[AMann]

Hi emm, welcome!

So I’m curious if you have a part 107? They are pretty easy to get and a great way to learn how and where you can legally fly. So recreational or professional, every pilot should know to also look at the FAA sectional maps and not rely too much on those apps. The town of Pacific Grove, and the aquarium is not really in the 1000 foot limitation zone of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, that lies north starting from Moss Landing and south of the Aquarium and town starting from the Carmel Hignhlands, however, it is in class C controlled airspace for the local regional airport from the surface up to 4200 ft AGL… you will have to get LAANC clearance to fly there. It also looks like the city requires a permit for flying a drone (actually standing there to control, land and take off from there, but I wouldn't think they can require it if you are on a boat in front of the aquarium), and there's a Naval facility nearby as well that you may need to contact.

As for property release, there are basic PDF template forms for those online. But realistically, if you’re just filming from the outside of the building, you don’t really need one of those unless you’re trying to sell your images to a stock agency. They usually do require property and model releases, and if you’re doing that, you’ll also need a FAA part 107 certificate to fly for commercial use.