Navy Pier Chicago Illegal to Fly? I got assaulted there for not showing my ID to a security guard there.

[PHZ]

Depends on where you launched and landed. If the airspace is Class G then you're ok. But if you launched from private property then they can ask you to leave.

Yes, but they cannot assault you.

 

[GFields]

Yes, but they cannot assault you.

I was not addressing that issue. Only the legality of Drone flying.

 

[BigAl07]

...... You don't even have to show it to the cops in many cases unless they can tell you that you are committing a crime and what that crime is. ....

But if you're Part 107 you are required to show to LEO (not security guards) or you're in violation of your Part 107.

 

[spsphotos]

The best is to get in contact with the Community-Based Organization. (CBO) is an FAA-recognized group that promotes recreational flying and provides safety guidelines to its members. CBO requires recreational flyers to follow the safety guidelines of a CBO.
CBOs have specific requirements that must be met for official recognition from the FAA. A listing of recognized CBOs can be found on the FAA’s website.
Personally, I would fly around Chicago Navy Pier instead of flying over to avoid flying over roads and people.

CBO are purely for recreational flying. And CBO's have no bearing on this incident. While the FAA now requires you to pick a CBO for guidelines, it's a joke because there is NO way to enforce it or show which one you are flying under. As for flying around the pier, there is no restriction on flying as it's Class G unrestricted airspace, but you just can't take off or land on the pier's property.

But I think you're missing the point, as are a few others, this is about being assaulted for flying a drone. Not about whether the pilot was in the right (clearly he was not via Pier regulations) but about how the Barney handled it and his aggressive, violent behavior.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Looks like you definitely cannot launch/land from Navy Pier property, but looking at the FAA's maps there are no restrictions on flying over/in the vicinity of it.

RULES
EXAMPLES
Specific activities that are not permitted include, but are not limited to:

• 
  
• Operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (i.e. drone)

@BobaFuct seems to have answered your legal/illegal question.

They can say what they want for rules like a botanic garden or any place like that, but illegal is another thing what I was doing wasn’t illegal. They may not allow on their property and can ask me to leave which I wish he would have let me do

Yep, rules is one thing, true legality another.

He's overstepped the authority he had, by a long way it seems, but his employer will likely try and cover for him.

Sorry this happened to you.
Whether you do follow up with police / the property owner / the security company is up to you I guess, but just wanted to say try not to let this stop you flying places you know are legal in the future, even though this would have been quite difficult to deal with at the time.

 

[MS Coast]

It's easy to say, "Sue 'em." but the reality is that getting attorneys involved and filing a lawsuit is going to be very expensive and time consuming and it will take a long time to resolve anything. And you'll recover your up-front costs only if you're successful in court or they decide to settle, which may be unlikely.

You were definitely wrong operating your drone from Navy Pier in violation of their regulations. The security guard was very definitely wrong in behaving the way you described. You've documented his bad behavior well. Present that information to the management of Navy Pier and ask that they handle take appropriate actions.

What is your primary interest? Being compensated monetarily or seeing that the security guard is reprimanded, educated, or fired and having Navy Pier apologize?

In any case, don't let this sour you on flying drones and don't let it consume too much of your time or energy. Find a good place to fly and get out there and do it tomorrow.

 

[AMann]

You need to be careful with private security. We had guns pointed at us by a couple of Rent a Barney’s working at a local water district property when we were legally working with federal permits on adjacent federal Forest Service property. They saw our permits but eventually called the local sheriff, who assisted THEM and we were taken to their office. An hour later all three of them were reprimanded by their supervisors.

 

[pdipasquale]

Looks like you definitely cannot launch/land from Navy Pier property, but looking at the FAA's maps there are no restrictions on flying over/in the vicinity of it.

Navy Pier is committed to providing an enjoyable experience for all guests.

RULES​

While visiting Navy Pier, the following general activities will not be accepted:

• Violations of the law
• Any activity that threatens the safety of our guests, tenants and/or employees
• Any activity that threatens the operations of Navy Pier, or well being of the property
• Any activity that would disrupt the legitimate business of Navy Pier and its tenants
• Any unauthorized water entry
• For the safety of all our guests, bicycle riding is prohibited on the South Dock and East End Plaza
• Smoking, except in authorized places

EXAMPLES​

Specific activities that are not permitted include, but are not limited to:

• Disruptive profanity, vulgar or threatening language or unpermitted amplified sound
• Unnecessarily blocking walkways, roadways or store fronts
• Soliciting, littering or excessive loitering
• Operating unauthorized recreational and/or personal transportation devices (skateboarding, segways)
• Horseplay or disorderly conduct of any nature
• Unleashed dogs or exotic pets
• Illegal weapons
• Commercial photography without permission
• Operating an unmanned aerial vehicle (i.e. drone)

That's a policy not a law. B4UFLY is not restricting anything at the Pier. I would've packed and left. The security is going to push the wrong guy and get his.

 

[jephoto]

I was flying in Chicago the other evening for Sunset. I am a licensed 107 pilot as well. I was parked at Navy Pier off to the side since really empty practically closed for Winter. I was approached by a Navy Pier security guard. He said I cannot fly here and to land my drone. I said sure no problem and landed. Once I landed I was about to walk back to my car which was just 30 feet away or so and he said he needed to take a picture of my drone and my ID. I have talked to Greg at Pilot Institute and others and they said I am not legally needing to show my ID to anyone for something like this. So of course I said legally I do not need to show you my ID. Instantly he got belligerent and aggressive and physical and started chest bumping me hard pushing me back to my car. I asked him many times not to touch me and why he was doing this and he just would not stop. I knew I was dealing with some rogue security guard and made me extremely nervous. He was pushing me and grabbing on me and being very hands on no matter how many times I said to not touch me. It was very scary and I never laid hands on him he touched me first 100%.

It got to the point where he was blocking my car door and not letting me inside my own car which I have on video. I also have on video him telling me it's illegal to fly there. I had to finally push him out of the way to gain access to my car. He was illegally detaining me essentially and was really scary not knowing what this guy was going to do since he kept getting more angry and aggressive. Mind you I had no weapons....was polite....landed my drone the second he asked....and simply wanted to leave the property which really is the only thing that I technically I should not have been doing is parked where I was. I did not record the beginning part only because my phone was in my car and was flying my Mini 3 Pro with the RC controller. I finally was able to get my iPhone by unlocking the passenger door quickly. Once I got in my car he tried to rip my phone out of my hands while I was recording or trying to....he actually reached for my car keys out of the ignition and then tried to rip me out of my car by pulling on me and yanking my leg. This is when I had to enable fight or flight mode and put my car in drive and drove off and was really traumatizing to know this ALL happened because I was out flying my drone and would not show an ID. I was not committing any crimes and he was a security guard and from my understanding are NOT to touch you or get physical with you. I called Navy Pier and they even confirmed this.

I have video of him trying to take my keys out of my ignition too and also pulling on my leg before I decided the best thing for my safety was to drive away and get out of there as fast as I can. Traumatizing 100%! And my concern is that this does not happen to anyone ever when flying their drones let alone when remote ID becomes a thing later this year.

I know the airspace is clear at Navy Pier despite what they want to say regarding homeland security and all that nonsense. It's class G airspace period and safe on all the apps to fly.

I just don't know what to do. I did file a police report and tempted to make a video on this showing the video, but really is causing me undue stress and anxiety as it is so not sure.

Be safe out there and invest in a body cam 190% believe me it's worth it. I could have shown this guy pushing me from the start and getting physical with me. I told Navy Pier to pull the footage and it would show them he was pushing me and got physical first. Of course I have not heard back from them.

Holy crap. That’s bad.
I live in Chicago to, but I have refrained from trying to fly around Navy pier for several years because of how aggressive they’ve gotten about us not being able to do that. Wasn’t worth the trouble. But I’ve never had any security or police or anyone ever get physical with me. Sorry that happened.

 

[jephoto]

Depends on where you launched and landed. If the airspace is Class G then you're ok. But if you launched from private property then they can ask you to leave.

The airspace is G- but private property and local ordinances can say whether you can launch from a particular area or not.

 

[jephoto]

I would advise you to get a Lawyer and if you have his face, so much the better! I used to work right across the slip at the Water Filtration Plant and I used to fly there!

Hey Reg, considering how sensitive they are about launching from the pier I always avoided even trying to fly from the filtration plant park. Is that something that can be done safely or will they come harass you now as well? If you know…

 

[jephoto]

Yes, but they cannot assault you.

Totally in agreement… that’s way over the line

 

[patcarty2]

So of course I said legally I do not need to show you my ID.

If you felt you were 100% correct, why get ***** and refuse to show him your ID?

If you had, it may have just ended there.

 

[GFields]

The airspace is G- but private property and local ordinances can say whether you can launch from a particular area or not.

That's exactly what I said

 

[Deleted member 170899]

It's easy to say, "Sue 'em." but the reality is that getting attorneys involved and filing a lawsuit is going to be very expensive and time consuming and it will take a long time to resolve anything. And you'll recover your up-front costs only if you're successful in court or they decide to settle, which may be unlikely.

You were definitely wrong operating your drone from Navy Pier in violation of their regulations. The security guard was very definitely wrong in behaving the way you described. You've documented his bad behavior well. Present that information to the management of Navy Pier and ask that they handle take appropriate actions.

What is your primary interest? Being compensated monetarily or seeing that the security guard is reprimanded, educated, or fired and having Navy Pier apologize?

In any case, don't let this sour you on flying drones and don't let it consume too much of your time or energy. Find a good place to fly and get out there and do it tomorrow.

Well written. I have found also that happiness in life is inversely related to time spent with lawyers.

 

[Ryant35]

I launched from Navy Pier in the view of police a couple of years ago... First warm day of the season in May so the pier was busy too.

 

[TrabSeyn]

First hand witness and video evidence? Prosecute. He will be ineligible for any type of security job with an assault conviction, and he should not be in that line of work with this demeanor.

 

[Osmosis]

The best is to get in contact with the Community-Based Organization. (CBO) is an FAA-recognized group that promotes recreational flying and provides safety guidelines to its members. CBO requires recreational flyers to follow the safety guidelines of a CBO.
CBOs have specific requirements that must be met for official recognition from the FAA. A listing of recognized CBOs can be found on the FAA’s website.
Personally, I would fly around Chicago Navy Pier instead of flying over to avoid flying over roads and people.

He said he was flying as Part 107 - following CBO guidelines?

 

[Reginald E Johnson]

Hey Reg, considering how sensitive they are about launching from the pier I always avoided even trying to fly from the filtration plant park. Is that something that can be done safely or will they come harass you now as well? If you know…

I used to work at that Filtration plant and there is nothing to see there that Google Earth doesn’t have on its website! As a matter of fact, both of them! Next time, if there is one, call the Police! I kind of wish that it was me that he assaulted , I would buy a Tesla with the proceeds!

 

[Reginald E Johnson]

First hand witness and video evidence? Prosecute. He will be ineligible for any type of security job with an assault conviction, and he should not be in that line of work with this demeanor.

That’s good advice!