Flying In Or Around A State forest

[Wreckhunter]

Hi
I have question ,i live in wisconsin and would like to fly in an area that is a state forest.
I already know that I can't fly in this property,and I did get this verified with an email.
An explanation of the land layout is a highway,and on both sides of the highway is state forest property.
And the big lake is on the other side of the forest land.I photograph air shots of shipwrecks with my drone.
There are currently five shipwrecks that i would like to take photos of,my idea was to walk the trail through the forest
until i get to to the lake shore and launch my inflatable out in the water a ways to get close to the wrecks,and then launch
my drone from my boat to take photos.
I would think this would be considered legal without any issues.
Sounds kinda goofy,but any thoughts or ideas.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I believe that would work, unless the waters around the beach are a protected area... like a lot of our California coast! :-(

Do you use AirMap or a similar app? That may help.

 

[Wreckhunter]

I believe that would work, unless the waters around the beach are a protected area... like a lot of our California coast! :-(

Do you use AirMap or a similar app? That may help.

I loaded Airmap on my tablet it does not show a protected area in which I want to fly in the way it looks.
Thanks a lot for the reply
Have a good day

 

[tlswift58]

I loaded Airmap on my tablet it does not show a protected area in which I want to fly in the way it looks.
Thanks a lot for the reply
Have a good day

Most state and local restrictions do not typically show on any of the major apps - as there are so many and change constantly, would be a nightmare for companies to keep track of on that level.

Question is - is the lake you wish to drone part of that restricted state forest? If not, then you should be fine to drone it. If the lake is "surrounded" by state forest, then more than likely it is considered part of that state forest. If you're out and there is not a soul within 5 miles; then who knows if you were droning or not? Is it 100% legal and within rules, hard to say without knowing so many other things about the area.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Most state and local restrictions do not typically show on any of the major apps - as there are so many and change constantly, would be a nightmare for companies to keep track of on that level.

Question is - is the lake you wish to drone part of that restricted state forest? If not, then you should be fine to drone it. If the lake is "surrounded" by state forest, then more than likely it is considered part of that state forest. If you're out and there is not a soul within 5 miles; then who knows if you were droning or not? Is it 100% legal and within rules, hard to say without knowing so many other things about the area.

Hi
This area of Water is Lake Michigan,with the state forest on one side and 50 some miles of open water across before
you hit the michigan coastline.
Sounds like this will work out.I could not find anything at all for that area on airmap,so your right there.
This project will happen next year when its warm out.
Thank you for the reply
Have a great day

 

[tlswift58]

Hi
This area of Water is Lake Michigan,with the state forest on one side and 50 some miles of open water across before
you hit the michigan coastline.
Sounds like this will work out.I could not find anything at all for that area on airmap,so your right there.
This project will happen next year when its warm out.
Thank you for the reply
Have a great day

Like the saying goes - "Where there is a will, there is a way!"

If Lake Michigan - would expect the "restrictions" for the state park to be little if any; but I don't live there to know. We all have some very crazy and loosely written rules / restrictions from local to state we have to deal with and seems to get worse (can't understand why when everyone flies by ALL the rules 100% of the time). Aloft, if you use it can help at times and other times it is not so great. B4UFLY is about the same and guess what; when you look at maps / restrictions on several of the apps - they give conflicting info on 'boundaries" that may be associated with the restriction. Sometimes you have to zoom way in to see tiny pockets within a restricted area that may be flyable. Found many such instances, so I like using B4UFLY - the browser based version on my big pc monitors to see such abnormalities. I'd never see them on my phone or tablet.

Then comes the next issue / question - which app is 100% correct (or close enough for G work) on their boundaries, if any at all. Even with federal sites like NPS / etc. - things vary. While it's the pilots responsibility to try and make sure they fly legally - when we do using apps to help us in that decision are not good or accurate - then when we do fly and may get our hand smacked - who says the smacking party is the right one. Do they have access to better info WE should have access to so as to now be breaking the rules? Or is it simply "their" opine on how they read it versus ours and if I have the app to prove my point to show them?

Food for thought!

Have fun flying and make sure to post those "wreck" pics / videos. They can be very very cool.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Like the saying goes - "Where there is a will, there is a way!"

If Lake Michigan - would expect the "restrictions" for the state park to be little if any; but I don't live there to know. We all have some very crazy and loosely written rules / restrictions from local to state we have to deal with and seems to get worse (can't understand why when everyone flies by ALL the rules 100% of the time). Aloft, if you use it can help at times and other times it is not so great. B4UFLY is about the same and guess what; when you look at maps / restrictions on several of the apps - they give conflicting info on 'boundaries" that may be associated with the restriction. Sometimes you have to zoom way in to see tiny pockets within a restricted area that may be flyable. Found many such instances, so I like using B4UFLY - the browser based version on my big pc monitors to see such abnormalities. I'd never see them on my phone or tablet.

Then comes the next issue / question - which app is 100% correct (or close enough for G work) on their boundaries, if any at all. Even with federal sites like NPS / etc. - things vary. While it's the pilots responsibility to try and make sure they fly legally - when we do using apps to help us in that decision are not good or accurate - then when we do fly and may get our hand smacked - who says the smacking party is the right one. Do they have access to better info WE should have access to so as to now be breaking the rules? Or is it simply "their" opine on how they read it versus ours and if I have the app to prove my point to show them?

Food for thought!

Have fun flying and make sure to post those "wreck" pics / videos. They can be very very cool.

Thanks for the reply,I may post some wreck photos I took back in August from a different area of the Lake.
If this works out for me early next year,I would like to post a few pics.
Have a good day.

 

[tlswift58]

Thanks for the reply,I may post some wreck photos I took back in August from a different area of the Lake.
If this works out for me early next year,I would like to post a few pics.
Have a good day.

Got to be awesome I'm sure. Have a nephew and his family live in Tawas City, MI. No idea exactly where that is, but one day hope to stop by.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Got to be awesome I'm sure. Have a nephew and his family live in Tawas City, MI. No idea exactly where that is, but one day hope to stop by.

My wife is from Upper Michigan.her sister lives in lower Michigan.
Have a good one.

 

[NG Wildman]

I'm jealous; Sounds like a great flight. Remember to adjust your RTH as in a boat you will often drift. And, don't overfly your battery. Good luck.