flying in hawaii big island & national parks

[cretivoutletimg]

I just got back from the Big Island and bought a mavic just for the trip. I had good experiences using it mainly at beaches and over water areas on the north west side. I didn't have any interest in using it at the volcano. I used the drone to follow my wife around while snorkeling which was a cool perspective.

I always checked the b4ufly app, I called a local helicopter place to notify them about my flight in one area. Overall I never had a hard time and it was mostly a conversation starter at a few beaches. I would avoid crowded beaches and not fly over anyone.

The most surprising thing was that there were several mavic's usually flying at the same time. The other tip is that if you want to fly from a beach bring a clean towel to put down on the sand to launch and land or catch the drone in the air.

The big island is more supportive of drones than my home state of California.

Sample video:

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[regdawg]

I just got back from the Big Island and bought a mavic just for the trip. I had good experiences using it mainly at beaches and over water areas on the north west side. I didn't have any interest in using it at the volcano. I used the drone to follow my wife around while snorkeling which was a cool perspective.

I always checked the b4ufly app, I called a local helicopter place to notify them about my flight in one area. Overall I never had a hard time and it was mostly a conversation starter at a few beaches. I would avoid crowded beaches and not fly over anyone.

The most surprising thing was that there were several mavic's usually flying at the same time. The other tip is that if you want to fly from a beach bring a clean towel to put down on the sand to launch and land or catch the drone in the air.

The big island is more supportive of drones than my home state of California.

Sample video:

YouTube

I feel you on that. I'm from CA also and heading to Maui next month. I'm wondering if its because its THE travel destination around this time. They don't want to turn off tourists who want to get that awesome footage. With a drone, as I've seen with people's vids, you can get awesome video.

 

[mikey201]

Here's the take from somebody who just returned from Big Island. I struggled with exactly the questions you're asking while there.

First of all, there is amazing coastal sceneries and volcano fields in the island you can capture without having to worry about park boundaries. But watch the winds on the coasts, they can suddenly become very strong when you leave the land just a few 10s of meters. At one point in South Point my Mavic wasn't strong enough to fly back and was over the ocean. I thought I was going to loose it and saw it right in front of me, 50 meters or so away. It wasn't coming any closer, even in Sport mode! The way I got it back is by diving below the level of the cliff I was standing on (where the wind was slower) and flying back, then quickly jumping up above the cliff and landing.

Filming lava was on my mind all the time. I'm a big fan of our NP system but personally found the safety boundaries imposed in Volcanoes obnoxious. For instance, you can hardly see the lava in Kilauea even when the lake level is high (within 25 m below the level of the crater) because it's a mile away from Jaggar and the angle is bad -- far away from the caldera boundary, which is still a ways to the lava lake on the other side of it. On the windward side (where Jaggar is) it would still seem much safer than standing on the edge of Grand Canyon, which is perfectly legal. I thought about (and tried) launching just outside the park but the closest point, a golf course north of the crater, is >2 miles away from the lava lake, so I was at 60% battery level when I had only crossed half the caldera. Similarly with the lava ocean entry -- the safety line is so far away so it's hard to see much with bare eyes. Though it's better than the crater where you see almost nothing. Overall I'll say (and this is just my opinion) that Volcano NP's rules BEG for evasion by drone flyers and hikers ok with taking a little bit of calcuated risk (and yes, I've done extensive research on those risks and how to minimize them, and no, I didn't evade any rules myself).

The park boundary at the ocean entry is indeed about 1-1.5 miles away from the site, but VLOS is pretty good and I think it can be done. I'm still beating myself up for not trying but I was too busy encouraging/carrying my tired children. That said I took a decent video with 135mm equivalent focal length lens on a tripod from the boundary enforced by rangers. I'll be excited to hear what you report and watch the winds!

Btw I'm not encouraging this, so this is just for information disclosure purposes, but according to the guys renting the bikes in Kalapana there are no rangers at the entry before 3 pm, so you could launch launch from within the park. Also, I'm also pretty sure you could launch/land closer to Kilauea lava lake from within the boundaries without being caught, say from one of the hiking trails or from near Jaggar. But doing this could lead to tighter rules in the future, and is obviously illegal, so I didn't do it and wouldn't encourage/want others to do it.

2 more weeks for me! really wish i could be able to get some footage of the lava/volcano from the drone..are u able to pm me and pinpoint these areas on the map of where your talking about taking off or did take off?

 

[cobra46]

I just got back from the Big Island and bought a mavic just for the trip. I had good experiences using it mainly at beaches and over water areas on the north west side. I didn't have any interest in using it at the volcano. I used the drone to follow my wife around while snorkeling which was a cool perspective.

I always checked the b4ufly app, I called a local helicopter place to notify them about my flight in one area. Overall I never had a hard time and it was mostly a conversation starter at a few beaches. I would avoid crowded beaches and not fly over anyone.

The most surprising thing was that there were several mavic's usually flying at the same time. The other tip is that if you want to fly from a beach bring a clean towel to put down on the sand to launch and land or catch the drone in the air.

The big island is more supportive of drones than my home state of California.

Sample video:

YouTube

That link didn't work for me.

 

[mikey201]

That link didn't work for me.

SAME

 

[bdrowe]

there are places to pull off a road and fly, some right next to the water. try not to take off directly from sand, there are normally good flat rocky or concrete spots to operate from. big no to within 5mi of airports, don't fly from state or national parks or wild life management areas. also no to power plants, schools, military areas, and private property without permission, plus no flying over people, respect people's privacy. and a few more... but there are places you can fly.

 

[kona]

2 more weeks for me! really wish i could be able to get some footage of the lava/volcano from the drone..are u able to pm me and pinpoint these areas on the map of where your talking about taking off or did take off?

For the lava lake in Halemaumau crater you can't do it without taking off inside the NP. The closest spot outside the park is the Volcano golf course, but it's too far -- you'll be over the caldera in no time but from there it's still a long way to the lake. I tried and failed. For the ocean entry I would just take off from where the national park sign is at the unpaved road you will use to bicycle/hike to the entry. There are two road sign posts actually, a first one beyond which the buggies aren't allowed to drive (which is 1.5 miles from the site) and a second one which is the beginning of the NP (which should be ~1 mile from the site). That should be the one of relevance to you. I think it's doable but just watch your connection and have a high enough RTH altitude set. Again I'm still beating myself up for not getting around to trying it!

 

[regdawg]

For the lava lake in Halemaumau crater you can't do it without taking off inside the NP. The closest spot outside the park is the Volcano golf course, but it's too far -- you'll be over the caldera in no time but from there it's still a long way to the lake. I tried and failed. For the ocean entry I would just take off from where the national park sign is at the unpaved road you will use to bicycle/hike to the entry. There are two road sign posts actually, a first one beyond which the buggies aren't allowed to drive (which is 1.5 miles from the site) and a second one which is the beginning of the NP (which should be ~1 mile from the site). That should be the one of relevance to you. I think it's doable but just watch your connection and have a high enough RTH altitude set. Again I'm still beating myself up for not getting around to trying it!

Not an expert with waypoints or anything but would this be a situation that a waypoint mission would be more logical? But I guess if you run into high winds or an unplanned obstacle you could be screwed.

 

[cretivoutletimg]

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[kona]

Not an expert with waypoints or anything but would this be a situation that a waypoint mission would be more logical? But I guess if you run into high winds or an unplanned obstacle you could be screwed.

If you look at the map you will see they it's more than 2 miles from the park boundary to the lava lake, one way. Furthest people have flown under ideal conditions is 3.5 miles. I've thought this through, it doesn't work.

 

[kona]

Not an expert with waypoints or anything but would this be a situation that a waypoint mission would be more logical? But I guess if you run into high winds or an unplanned obstacle you could be screwed.

But TBH I was so annoyed with the exaggerated road and trail closures preventing people from actually seeing anything that for a sec I felt tempted to just say screw it and launch from jaggar. Be prepared for that temptation.

 

[mikey201]

For the lava lake in Halemaumau crater you can't do it without taking off inside the NP. The closest spot outside the park is the Volcano golf course, but it's too far -- you'll be over the caldera in no time but from there it's still a long way to the lake. I tried and failed. For the ocean entry I would just take off from where the national park sign is at the unpaved road you will use to bicycle/hike to the entry. There are two road sign posts actually, a first one beyond which the buggies aren't allowed to drive (which is 1.5 miles from the site) and a second one which is the beginning of the NP (which should be ~1 mile from the site). That should be the one of relevance to you. I think it's doable but just watch your connection and have a high enough RTH altitude set. Again I'm still beating myself up for not getting around to trying it!

ok thanks for the help. so the second sign along the way to the ocean entry ..are there alot of trees around is that why u said make sure RTH is high

 

[regdawg]

Im sooooo looking forward to hawaii next month! With my luck drones get banned effective the day before I leave...Lol

 

[kona]

ok thanks for the help. so the second sign along the way to the ocean entry ..are there alot of trees around is that why u said make sure RTH is high

I was just thinking you might fly behind the cliff filming the lava entry when/if you loose connection, so you want to make sure it goes back to above the cliff before returning. But all of that should be at lower altitude than the takeoff anyway, so maybe it's fine to just keep it at some moderate setting like 30 m. There are no trees there.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

It's a shame that instead of encouraging safe flying practise that authorities just put a blanket ban in place.
They could easily have a designated take off and flight plan for photographers to fly from.
This works with hang gliders at certain spots in Aus where the glider has to be part of a club and association. If any one knows the area then Stanwell Tops New South Wales Aus is one place in particular.
Stops the cowboys just launching off and causing problems.
Hope you get some good shots when you go.

 

[bdrowe]

the rule that you need to be able to see the drone at all times will also block getting some shots

 

[JFH52]

I was just thinking you might fly behind the cliff filming the lava entry when/if you loose connection, so you want to make sure it goes back to above the cliff before returning. But all of that should be at lower altitude than the takeoff anyway, so maybe it's fine to just keep it at some moderate setting like 30 m. There are no trees there.

From the ropes at the end of the road you can go upslope a mile or less and be out of the NP boundary. I visited with a ranger up there and he said they have no control of drones up there.

 

[JFH52]

From the ropes at the end of the road you can go upslope a mile or less and be out of the NP boundary. I visited with a ranger up there and he said they have no control of drones up there.

Oops, sorry - Kalapana side.

 

[droneguy91]

I was just in Hawaii Volcano National Park in Feb 17 with my Mavic. Spoke to the rangers who did indeed confirm that operation of a UAV is not permitted in the park but flights are allowed as long as you are not in NPS land. I walked 10 feet outside the gate and climbed over a bunch of rock to the edge of the cliff and took off.

I got some AMAZING footage and had full GPS lock. It will take a few minutes for signal to lock as cell service both ATT and Verizon are not great there. Enjoy!

dont know if this is the right place to post this so i apologies before hand

has anyone flown or had experience flying on the big island of hawaii . ill be going on a trip in may and hope to get some amazing footage.
and is it also true that u can fly over national parks as long as you take off from outside the park and dont land in them ?

wondering if this is true if id be able to fly up to see the volcano from a distance, there was news of some man flying inside and got tased for running and not cooperating

also looked on the air map app and on the west side of the big island the whole coastline a little further in the water is all a national park but it says ''null'' under it.. i dont understand?
any info would be helpful

 

[lehidave]

Headed to Hawaii in 2 weeks. I am on a boat tour for the lava going into the ocean on the big island. I am getting conflicting reports if I can fly or not off the boat. Any input would be greatly appreciated.