Flying in Army Corps of Engineers & Bureau of Reclamation recreation areas (in the US)

[AMann]

Thanks for sharing that, very helpful. I missed it til now because I read here using the “new posts” function, and guess I overlooked this one.

The funny thing about the prison, is that the Sonora RC Flyers field is right next to a part of it (the fire camp at Peoria Flat).

I thought the Red Hills area would be good for flying - and as far as I’ve been able to find there aren’t any regulations prohibiting it. But I discovered it’s a bald eagle nesting area in the winter, so I stay away, at least for now.

I haven’t found anything mentioned regarding New Melones, though parts of it are within 5 miles of the Columbia airport.

Also at Moccasin there’s a prohibition because of the power plant.

I agree about the private property thing. I just stay away. I don’t want to find my drone or myself at the wrong end of a shotgun.

I flew once at Basso bridge, but was afraid to get too close after reading here about crashes due to magnetic interference near large metal objects. I’m not sure how close is “ok”. That’s a pretty cool spot though.

I have to say, the thing I like the least about flying drones is this “cat and mouse” feeling of trying to find legal spots (and often not really being sure if they are or not). I never really noticed til I started flying, but it’s amazing how much of California is fenced off with barbed wire & no trespassing signs.

I commend you on staying clear of bald eagle wintering areas. Have you tried Del Puerto Canyon on the other side of the valley? It’s rather nice. If not, better hurry before they close it for they may be building a dam and flooding it sometime soon.

 

[dronerdave]

Sonora's RC club is probably similar to the clubs I fly at, one is a small private airport and the other is a NASA runway. If you zoom in on our club sites using Airmap, it shows the names of our AMA fields. The only time I fly around Red Hills is during mild weather usually early spring and have yet to have any issues with Eagles or Osprey even though they are in the area. Along the Tuolumne or the local lakes is another story and you need to take care while flying. Up by Pedro on either side of the RR Canyon bridge there are a few spots to park and fly off. You can get some nice shots of the lake up there but if your bird goes down good luck finding it. As far as Moccasin power house, you're just supposed to stay clear of it and not fly over it. I've also flown Del Puerto a few times as (AMann suggested) a couple years back and have flown racing drones up at Frank Raines Park.

Probably one of my more stupid stunts was flying through those bridges below LaGrange especially since I only owned the quad 1 week. And there was an Osprey in the area but he got used to us after a fashion. The same bird is in the video below.
https://youtu.be/eS1_KVh-4GI

 

[bheiser1]

I commend you on staying clear of bald eagle wintering areas. Have you tried Del Puerto Canyon on the other side of the valley? It’s rather nice. If not, better hurry before they close it for they may be building a dam and flooding it sometime soon.

I haven’t been to Del Puerto, but will check it out. It looks great, thanks for the tip!

 

[bheiser1]

Sonora's RC club is probably similar to the clubs I fly at, one is a small private airport and the other is a NASA runway. If you zoom in on our club sites using Airmap, it shows the names of our AMA fields. The only time I fly around Red Hills is during mild weather usually early spring and have yet to have any issues with Eagles or Osprey even though they are in the area. Along the Tuolumne or the local lakes is another story and you need to take care while flying. Up by Pedro on either side of the RR Canyon bridge there are a few spots to park and fly off. You can get some nice shots of the lake up there but if your bird goes down good luck finding it. As far as Moccasin power house, you're just supposed to stay clear of it and not fly over it. I've also flown Del Puerto a few times as (AMann suggested) a couple years back and have flown racing drones up at Frank Raines Park.

Probably one of my more stupid stunts was flying through those bridges below LaGrange especially since I only owned the quad 1 week. And there was an Osprey in the area but he got used to us after a fashion. The same bird is in the video below.
https://youtu.be/eS1_KVh-4GI

I visited the Sonora club, and joined, but haven’t had a chance to go back yet. Most of my time has been spent looking for places to fly for get scenic photos. As for the eagles, I don’t want to disturb them. Also I wonder about the “critical area of environmental concern” designation...

I saw a nice open area near Pedro yesterday, on a side road I hadn’t explored before. But there were signs saying “no motorized vehicles”. I’m pretty sure they meant cars, trucks, and OHVs... but technically a quadcopter is a motorized unmanned aerial vehicle... I’m erring heavily on the side of caution as I don’t want any violations. Like you said, much of the area around there would result in a lost aircraft if it went down - heavy manzanita growth, not to mention barbed wire fences.

Flying through that bridge looks like fun, but you’re way braver than I am.

I’m looking forward to more of the national forest areas opening up in the Spring...

 

[akdrone]

I have yet to receive a return to my e mail from them.
So guess I will just carry on like I have for years.
Maybe different districts just don’t pursue it like others.
Don’t know.

I don't think any return email plays into this in legal terms. They may very well tell you that you are not allowed to fly over their land, however, as has been explained, they do not control the airspace. They may be able to legally tell you that you cannot -launch- from their land, which is another question entirely, but they cannot make rules with regard to flying over their land. This is true for many public lands ie state parks and, I think, even National Parks and Wilderness areas. You cannot launch from within them but it may be legal to fly over them. That is as true for big planes as it is for our consumer drones. It does NOT, however, stop people from hassling a drone pilot, sigh. I have yet to have that happen to me as I'm new to drone flying but I know people that have indeed been wrongly accosted. This does get complicated and I am not an expert so just take this as one person's understanding of the situation but from everything I have read here and elsewhere this does seem to be the case.