Drones in California?

GoodWillHunting91 · Mar 12, 2018

Hi all,

I'm doing a road trip from San Fran to San Diego for 16 days, and of course very excited to use my mavic pro. I've recently read you can't use a drones in national parks, which includes Yosemite valley...gutted! Although saying that, I recently took my drone to Goa, India and was told drones were banned from there.. everything was fine.

Has anyone been Cali recently, how did you get on, how should I prep?

Thanks in advance!

Will

Maxheadspace · Mar 12, 2018

A few months ago I traveled the same route, and have flown a lot in the LA and San Diego areas. Drone-friendliness differs with every community down the coast. And there are other pitfalls, like marine sanctuaries, such as those around Monterey. In Santa Monica it is a misdemeanor to fly your drone at the beach. San Diego area is very drone friendly, mostly south of LA. What I do is to get on each community's government web site and do a search of the community ordinances. For example, Huntington Beach allows drones, but you can't use it for surveillance or photograph people where they would have an expectation of privacy. The other problem is steering clear of airports. the LA area is littered with airports, heliports and such. And there always seems to be helicopters buzzing along the coast, so you have to be vigilant. But the scenery is spectacular for drone flying. Enjoy your trip!

joeywestside · Mar 1, 2021

I've flown in CA a bit, more inland however. I aside from local ordinances I really like the Kittyhawk/B4UFly app but I've noticed certain things aren't on there (for example, you are allowed to take off and land from within a National Forest, but not within a Wilderness Area that is managed by a National Forest.

Airmap seems to keep better track of this stuff.

If you happen to get away from the coast I would highly recommend the Dumont Dunes. It's fun, beautiful (they shot some of The Last Jedi there) and a blast. Take a look:

Have a great trip, friend!