Is it legal to launch a drone from a city sidewalk in LA?

[kjonyou]

In spite of what I have seen on several different blogs listing 4 city parks good for drones, there are no city parks in Los Angeles that are legal to land or launch from except AMA spots. There's an old law in the books that talks about any type of aircraft. It is legal to fly in Los Angeles, but so few spots to launch from. Of course you can fly over them but I am wondering if anyone knows if launching from the sidewalk is legal? Except for a handful of shopping districts, most sidewalks in LA are completely free of pedestrians. I cant seem to find any law prohibiting it. Anyone know the answer?

 

[vindibona1]

I was curious about Los Angeles as I know that NYC has very restrictive drone laws. But in terms of general flying I couldn't find anything unusual about L.A.
LA Drone law info

In terms of flying over parks and other places that individually restrict drones, the general rule of thumb is that the FAA owns the air space so one would think that one could launch and land from a place that has no restrictions and fly over areas that entities might declare as banning drones. Double check the local laws. But the rules of keeping line of sight and all other FAA regs apply at all times. And if you crash your drone in an area that bans drones you might have some stuff to deal with and may not be able to recover your drone. Also, you have to be aware of the restricted areas due to all the airports in the area.

 

[snowghost]

FWIW when requesting permission from a local L.A. fire station to photograph an old air raid siren on the property, they basically said we can't tell you not to launch from the sidewalk. And that was that. YMMV.

As an aside, don't launch from the sidewalk surface due to rebar. I used my GPC case to avoid compass error.

 

[ianwood]

There are no LA laws preventing you from taking off on the sidewalk in LA. However, there are different local laws in different parts of the city (e.g. West Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc.) and some have laws directed at drones.

Even without any legal issue, unless you have a lot of experience flying in the city, it is not advisable. Depending on which part of the city you are in, there are a lot of factors that can make flying there a risk without sufficient experience. A couple things to consider:

- LA has a lot of low flying helicopter traffic. Impossible to predict, hard to avoid.
- People and cars. Unless you are in a very quiet area, you will have to avoid them.
- Hidden / obscured obstacles. Power lines, masts, etc. They are everywhere.
- RF and magnetic interference. Plenty of this.

All of these can be overcome but only with a lot of learning. Best to do that learning in an open and rural setting and slowly work your way towards more complex environments.

 

[BigAl07]

There are no LA laws preventing you from taking off on the sidewalk in LA. However, there are different local laws in different parts of the city (e.g. West Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc.) and some have laws directed at drones.

Even without any legal issue, unless you have a lot of experience flying in the city, it is not advisable. Depending on which part of the city you are in, there are a lot of factors that can make flying there a risk without sufficient experience. A couple things to consider:

- LA has a lot of low flying helicopter traffic. Impossible to predict, hard to avoid.
- People and cars. Unless you are in a very quiet area, you will have to avoid them.
- Hidden / obscured obstacles. Power lines, masts, etc. They are everywhere.
- RF and magnetic interference. Plenty of this.

All of these can be overcome but only with a lot of learning. Best to do that learning in an open and rural setting and slowly work your way towards more complex environments.

Was it not LA where someone clipped a powerline and crashed into the side of a building and then the UAS came tumbling down and burst into flames on the sidewalk with people walking all around in the area?

 

[mobilehomer]

Why not just check the LA city website?

 

[snowghost]

Last set of rules I saw didn't mention public sidewalks.

 

[Don Testme]

Flying for 3 years now. Learned to fly in "stealth mode" after numerous encounters with law, What this entails, I will not describe in detail in this forum, but it works. I've never been detected and never post video or photos of the flights. It's possible to fly where you want, but keep your drone out of site and out of sound distance to ground level. Never fly near restricted airports . Stay away from manned aircraft, they may not just be flying by, they may be looking for your drone. Stay away from people on the ground. They often call police. Use common sense. Stay hidden.

 

[kjonyou]

Well I have seen people post videos flying past the Hollywood sigh, the reservoir, all over Hollywood Blvd and I cant for the life of me figure out how this was done without breaking the law. I am sure hotels don't allow that. City codes forbid taking off from public parks especially places like Griffith Park and the Observatory. I know I could probably sneak a drone into the air from some hiking trail but that's not what I want to do. I would like to be able to tell Mr. Ranger who saw me do that I am operating within the law, even if it's a loophole like a sidewalk.

I am the kind of guy that gets busted for the littlest thing no one else does like not wearing a seat belt one block from my house at a stop sigh. Anyways, I know the area well, I used to live there. Lot's of hidden quite streets in the hills. I just dont want to end up with 1,000 fine if I do. And since I live in a city, there really is no open rural area within 2 hours of where I live. Even the beaches are restricted.

 

[kjonyou]

- LA has a lot of low flying helicopter traffic. Impossible to predict, hard to avoid.
- People and cars. Unless you are in a very quiet area, you will have to avoid them.
- Hidden / obscured obstacles. Power lines, masts, etc. They are everywhere.
- RF and magnetic interference. Plenty of this.

All of these can be overcome but only with a lot of learning. Best to do that learning in an open and rural setting and slowly work your way towards more complex environments.

I agree with all of that, espcielly the helecopters. Lived in Hollywood for a number of years, they wrere alwasy buzzing around. But unfortunately, there is no big open rural place to fly near by. City parks and beaches are off limits as are the hills with no houses.

 

[kjonyou]

FWIW when requesting permission from a local L.A. fire station to photograph an old air raid siren on the property, they basically said we can't tell you not to launch from the sidewalk. And that was that. YMMV.

As an aside, don't launch from the sidewalk surface due to rebar. I used my GPC case to avoid compass error.

Intresting they said that. Seems they know something about the law that is not talked about. Good point about the rebar. I suppose one could hand launch.

 

[CalOldBlue]

Intresting they said that. Seems they know something about the law that is not talked about. Good point about the rebar. I suppose one could hand launch.

Not their job? Wonder if the police would say the same thing.

 

[kjonyou]

The police would probably say no regardless of what the law actually says. I would not antagonize them. Don't do this:

 

[dart106]

The police would probably say no regardless of what the law actually says. I would not antagonize them. Don't do this:

The things new rules and regulations are made of.

 

[snowghost]

There's the City Ordinance that came out of stuff like that. Paparazzi and invasion of privacy etc.

 

[keysol]

Well I have seen people post videos flying past the Hollywood sigh, the reservoir, all over Hollywood Blvd and I cant for the life of me figure out how this was done without breaking the law. I am sure hotels don't allow that. City codes forbid taking off from public parks especially places like Griffith Park and the Observatory. I know I could probably sneak a drone into the air from some hiking trail but that's not what I want to do. I would like to be able to tell Mr. Ranger who saw me do that I am operating within the law, even if it's a loophole like a sidewalk.

I am the kind of guy that gets busted for the littlest thing no one else does like not wearing a seat belt one block from my house at a stop sigh. Anyways, I know the area well, I used to live there. Lot's of hidden quite streets in the hills. I just dont want to end up with 1,000 fine if I do. And since I live in a city, there really is no open rural area within 2 hours of where I live. Even the beaches are restricted.

Your seat belt comment brought this to mind: "Approximately 52 percent of all car accidents occur within a five-mile radius of home, and 69 percent of all collisions happen within a 10-mile radius from home."

 

[Don Testme]

Well I have seen people post videos flying past the Hollywood sigh, the reservoir, all over Hollywood Blvd and I cant for the life of me figure out how this was done without breaking the law. I am sure hotels don't allow that. City codes forbid taking off from public parks especially places like Griffith Park and the Observatory. I know I could probably sneak a drone into the air from some hiking trail but that's not what I want to do. I would like to be able to tell Mr. Ranger who saw me do that I am operating within the law, even if it's a loophole like a sidewalk.

I am the kind of guy that gets busted for the littlest thing no one else does like not wearing a seat belt one block from my house at a stop sigh. Anyways, I know the area well, I used to live there. Lot's of hidden quite streets in the hills. I just dont want to end up with 1,000 fine if I do. And since I live in a city, there really is no open rural area within 2 hours of where I live. Even the beaches are restricted.

Sorry about your frequent bad luck. I fly in parks fairly often without getting caught. I go on days or times when their are no people to call in the drone. I then fly away from any roads or paths that a ranger could be present. I get my shot in less than 10 minutes and land in a very tree covered area with no paths. I fly through the smallest holes in the tree canopy without any issue coming or going. My drone bag is a bag made to hold a six pack of soda. I never get questioned about what's in it.

 

[Chip]

The police would probably say no regardless of what the law actually says. I would not antagonize them. Don't do this:

That is an interesting video. I think the police officer did good job explaining why drones were not permitted to fly over the parking lot and record images. This would be a good video to send to the FAA and ask for clarification whether a property owner like the LAPD can prohibit drone flights over their property under trespass, nuisance, privacy invasion or any other theory.

 

[ianwood]

Go to Apollo. Good guys over there. Straight shot up the 101 from Hollywood.

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[hiflyer201]

don't do anything you think you shouldn't