Flying Around University of Washington..Any Restrictions?

[Burg54]

Hello, I am a new Mavic Air owner (1st quad) and am interested in flying down around UW campus and around Husky Stadium a bit. I was sure there had to be restrictions against this but to my surprise I have been unable to find anything on the matter online. I have searched for UW drone policy, Husky Stadium drone policy, etc. Nothing comes up.

Does anyone know if I am allowed to put the drone in the air around Husky Stadium and campus? Obviously I know you are not supposed to fly around stadiums during sporting events but when the stadium is empty, is it ok?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[baksideDisaster]

On top of all the other restrictions in the area, UW has it's own restrictions which basically makes it a no go. I suggest you download AirMap, best way to scope out the legality of anywhere you want to fly.

Here's airmap down by the stadium, nothing but red.
AirMap Web App

 

[radman]

The good news is that the UW is not on the dji data base for no fly or authorization zones (www.dji.com/flysafe). The bad news is that there are a lot of restricted zones around the campus and nearby! I would suggest that you download the AirMap app for a listing of current advisories. You can get a list by looking at the map and tapping the red triangle with the exclamation point. It looks like there are 57 advisories listed! It might be easier to fly in the Warren Magnussen Park a short distance away to the northeast. But there may be some local park restrictions. Good luck!

 

[Burg54]

Airmap looks cool. I will give it a try. I have also discovered B4UFLY and AirNav. Ill give them all a shot and see which is best.

So AirMap shows 16! advisories. Does that mean I need to call all 16 places listed if i want to fly there? Or just the actual airports? Sorry for the remedial question, this is all new to me and I am trying to follow all the rules. There are so many and so much grey area its hard to tell sometimes.

baksideDisaster, I have looked for the UW restrictions you speak of online and I cant seem to find anything. Do you happen to have a link for these restrictions?

 

[baksideDisaster]

Airmap looks cool. I will give it a try. I have also discovered B4UFLY and AirNav. Ill give them all a shot and see which is best.

So AirMap shows 16! advisories. Does that mean I need to call all 16 places listed if i want to fly there? Or just the actual airports? Sorry for the remedial question, this is all new to me and I am trying to follow all the rules. There are so many and so much grey area its hard to tell sometimes.

baksideDisaster, I have looked for the UW restrictions you speak of online and I cant seem to find anything. Do you happen to have a link for these restrictions?

AirMap shows red banged University restrictions, but looks like you can digitally notify in AirMap.

 

[black_magic100]

I just looked at the university of Cincinnati and it is not restricted and yet on their website it says it is not allowed... So legally speaking. Which one is right

 

[Mavic Ray]

It seems like all these maps still don't show you all the no fly zones because of the different agencies. For example on the AirMap it shows that the National Parks are NFZ but it doesn't say anything about the Mount Baker area which I know is a NFZ as well because its a Congressionally Designated Wilderness area. I also see no mention of Mt St. Helens on the AirMap and I'm positive you can't fly there either. You'll have to look in the US Forest Service website. This is what makes finding a place to fly legally quite tricky.

 

[AeroVP]

Hello, I am a new Mavic Air owner (1st quad) and am interested in flying down around UW campus and around Husky Stadium a bit. I was sure there had to be restrictions against this but to my surprise I have been unable to find anything on the matter online. I have searched for UW drone policy, Husky Stadium drone policy, etc. Nothing comes up.

Does anyone know if I am allowed to put the drone in the air around Husky Stadium and campus? Obviously I know you are not supposed to fly around stadiums during sporting events but when the stadium is empty, is it ok?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Interesting. Having acquired my 107 Certification, the only rules I follow are those related to commercial operations. That means that my first go-to rules state that I cannot fly anywhere within 5 miles of any airport. Thus, commercially, there are few pieces of land in the Puget Sound area open to me without acquiring a waiver. I am hard pressed to step into the hobby arena, yet there may be many places one could fly freely for all I know. I just don't want to go there.

You are doing the right thing by asking about rules, as now that I know why I must fly within 107 regs, I am highly concerned about so many who purchase a sUAV, then just fly freely without considering major safety issues.

I do not have an answer, however, do recommend you call the nearest airport to pick their brains about how to fly (non-commercially) safely.

 

[black_magic100]

It seems like all these maps still don't show you all the no fly zones because of the different agencies. For example on the AirMap it shows that the National Parks are NFZ but it doesn't say anything about the Mount Baker area which I know is a NFZ as well because its a Congressionally Designated Wilderness area. I also see no mention of Mt St. Helens on the AirMap and I'm positive you can't fly there either. You'll have to look in the US Forest Service website. This is what makes finding a place to fly legally quite tricky.

Honestly it's pretty sad. I always try to follow the rules and stay legal, but sometimes if I don't see any restrictions I just take a chance and follow basic safety procedures like never flying over people or always keep the drone in LOS.

 

[Mavic Ray]

Honestly it's pretty sad. I always try to follow the rules and stay legal, but sometimes if I don't see any restrictions I just take a chance and follow basic safety procedures like never flying over people or always keep the drone in LOS.

Yeah that's what I do too. I'm also constantly listening for aircraft and if I see one flying close by at a low altitude I'll drop down to just above the tree tops. I know that most manned aircraft won't skim tree tops.

 

[selee]

I think the number 1 reason UW is restricted is that children's hospital uses the athletic field for medical evacuation. Given the geography and line of sight lines in that area, not a good place to even consider

 

[black_magic100]

Yeah that's what I do too. I'm also constantly listening for aircraft and if I see one flying close by at a low altitude I'll drop down to just above the tree tops. I know that most manned aircraft won't skim tree tops.

I do this as well. You can hear a helicopter from a mile away. As a matter of fact, I was just in Colorado flying over Dillion Reservoir and heard a helicopter off in the distance and I immediately took my drone down and packed it up. The government places so many rules on pilots and does not make it easy whatsoever to find updated information so I usually practice safe flying if I ever am not sure whether the area I am in is legal or not. What is so odd to me is that most national (if not all?) parks are off limits. I never understood this... Do they think we are going to hit a bear or something? Perhaps they are predicting a forest fire and don't want drones interfering? It really doesn't make sense to me. Regardless, as long as you are being safe and not putting anybody's life at risk or the spot you are flying is clearly not marked NFZ on google airmaps then I would just fly and follow basic part 336 rules (LOS, below 400 ft, etc).

 

[Mavic Ray]

I do this as well. You can hear a helicopter from a mile away. As a matter of fact, I was just in Colorado flying over Dillion Reservoir and heard a helicopter off in the distance and I immediately took my drone down and packed it up. The government places so many rules on pilots and does not make it easy whatsoever to find updated information so I usually practice safe flying if I ever am not sure whether the area I am in is legal or not. What is so odd to me is that most national (if not all?) parks are off limits. I never understood this... Do they think we are going to hit a bear or something? Perhaps they are predicting a forest fire and don't want drones interfering? It really doesn't make sense to me. Regardless, as long as you are being safe and not putting anybody's life at risk or the spot you are flying is clearly not marked NFZ on google airmaps then I would just fly and follow basic part 336 rules (LOS, below 400 ft, etc).

I like that national parks are off limits. It would be very annoying having drones buzzing around while your trying to enjoy the experience. I already feel guilty when I fly in national forests.

 

[black_magic100]

I like that national parks are off limits. It would be very annoying having drones buzzing around while your trying to enjoy the experience. I already feel guilty when I fly in national forests.

I get that, but if you put low noise props on the mavic you can't even hear it a few hundred feet up. Instead of completely banning them alltogether, the gov't could place some sort of decibel limit on certain locations. This would be significantly difficult to enforce, but if the FAA could get their stuff together than perhaps it could be a possibility.

 

[Mavic Ray]

I get that, but if you put low noise props on the mavic you can't even hear it a few hundred feet up. Instead of completely banning them alltogether, the gov't could place some sort of decibel limit on certain locations. This would be significantly difficult to enforce, but if the FAA could get their stuff together than perhaps it could be a possibility.

The world is such a big place and there are so many other places to fly. It's best to leave the national parks no fly zones. I have the low noise props and I can still hear the buzzing from several 100 feet up in areas that are extremely quiet. When you are in areas that have no ambient sounds such as wind or people talking the buzzing sounds are very noticeable even from far away. You definitely do not want to be disturbing the piece and quiet in a place like that. I know there are a lot of city people who would never appreciate that.

 

[black_magic100]

The world is such a big place and there are so many other places to fly. It's best to leave the national parks no fly zones. I have the low noise props and I can still hear the buzzing from several 100 feet up in areas that are extremely quiet. When you are in areas that have no ambient sounds such as wind or people talking the buzzing sounds are very noticeable even from far away. You definitely do not want to be disturbing the piece and quiet in a place like that. I know there are a lot of city people who would never appreciate that.

If the gov't bans every place to fly there will be zero point in owning a drone though.

 

[HiKen51]

The good news is that the UW is not on the dji data base for no fly or authorization zones (www.dji.com/flysafe). The bad news is that there are a lot of restricted zones around the campus and nearby! I would suggest that you download the AirMap app for a listing of current advisories. You can get a list by looking at the map and tapping the red triangle with the exclamation point. It looks like there are 57 advisories listed! It might be easier to fly in the Warren Magnussen Park a short distance away to the northeast. But there may be some local park restrictions. Good luck!

I believe Seattle has banned drones in all city parks, not sure if that's what Magnussen is, but if so, it's a no-fly zone.

 

[TotemLake]

I believe Seattle has banned drones in all city parks, not sure if that's what Magnussen is, but if so, it's a no-fly zone.

Yep. I was going to post the same, but I'll just add this is confirmed.

 

[TotemLake]

I get that, but if you put low noise props on the mavic you can't even hear it a few hundred feet up. Instead of completely banning them alltogether, the gov't could place some sort of decibel limit on certain locations. This would be significantly difficult to enforce, but if the FAA could get their stuff together than perhaps it could be a possibility.

It isn't just our hearing... the noise frequency is easily heard by the indigent fauna and it does stress them. I have humming birds attacking my Pro all the time.

 

[DroningOn]

The world is such a big place and there are so many other places to fly. It's best to leave the national parks no fly zones. I have the low noise props and I can still hear the buzzing from several 100 feet up in areas that are extremely quiet. When you are in areas that have no ambient sounds such as wind or people talking the buzzing sounds are very noticeable even from far away. You definitely do not want to be disturbing the piece and quiet in a place like that. I know there are a lot of city people who would never appreciate that.

You all do realize that in most national parks, helicopter tours are almost ubiquitous. They are constantly flying around. At the Grand Canyon for instance, you can take helicopters down to the floor to access some of the more remote camping sites (I’ve done it). I don’t see people running to the Park service office complaining that they are ruining the “experience“