Northern California Airborne (Bay Area)

Flying Irish · Feb 11, 2017

Went up to Lake Sonoma which is a federal reserve. Talked to the rangers who told me you can fly anywhere except near the physical dam.

Achilles · Feb 13, 2017

Flying Irish said:
Went up to Lake Sonoma which is a federal reserve. Talked to the rangers who told me you can fly anywhere except near the physical dam.

Great place to fly but word of warning. Significant tick saturation there.

North Bay - California

Flying Irish · Feb 13, 2017

I worry about getting shot down by pot farmers. I could care less about their crop

andy@hivemapper · Feb 21, 2017

NorthernCalifornia has a lot of great places to fly

Skydog said:
I'm interested in Eastbay, Northbay areas to fly. A list of recommendation would be welcome. I've seen a lot of folks fly down in the park north of the Berkeley Marina.

Here are a couple lists of recommendations to fly drones in NorCal and the Bay Area:
1. Top 10 Places in NorCal
2. Top 10 Places in SF Bay Area

SteveCA · Mar 18, 2017

Treasure island is a great place for SF cityscape shots. Most state parks are also available with a few exceptions. Unfortunately the East Bay regional Park district has a drone ban on all of its parts. San Mateo County Parks also ban drones. As far as the coast is concerned, everything south of Pescadero is a marine mammal protected area. That means you cannot fly over the water but you can fly over land.

Flying Irish · Mar 18, 2017

How about Pt.Reyes/Marin Coast. Any RF Areas out there?

SteveCA · Mar 18, 2017

Pt. Reyes and Marin Coast is difficult as it is virtually 100% Golden Gate National Recreation Area and off limits as it is run by the NPS which follows National Park Service Drone bans.

regdawg · Apr 10, 2017

How about the beaches along the coast....Monterey / Pismo / etc.?

andy@hivemapper · Apr 10, 2017

A lot of the beaches between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara are difficult to fly because of airports (Pismo) or wildlife protections. Water from Carmel to Cambria are protected but the land is not. This is a tricky thing so I recommend flying inland more so. South of Pismo is restricted air space for a military base.

Either side of Santa Barbara is good if you avoid any airports. And Santa Cruz does not have an NFZ but you have to avoid flying over crowds. Hope this helps!

regdawg · Apr 10, 2017

andy@hivemapper said:
A lot of the beaches between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara are difficult to fly because of airports (Pismo) or wildlife protections. Water from Carmel to Cambria are protected but the land is not. This is a tricky thing so I recommend flying inland more so. South of Pismo is restricted air space for a military base.

Either side of Santa Barbara is good if you avoid any airports. And Santa Cruz does not have an NFZ but you have to avoid flying over crowds. Hope this helps!

Looks like the coast is just skechy in general. I went to So Cal this past weekend and had planned to go fly at Palos Verdes but the winds were just too strong for me to feel comfortable on my 2nd flight with the Mavic.

Side question....do you use hivemapper with your mavic? How is it? I'm looking at other options aside from GO. Thought about Litchi but read it has issues right now with the Mavic.

andy@hivemapper · Apr 10, 2017

regdawg said:
Looks like the coast is just skechy in general. I went to So Cal this past weekend and had planned to go fly at Palos Verdes but the winds were just too strong for me to feel comfortable on my 2nd flight with the Mavic.

Side question....do you use hivemapper with your mavic? How is it? I'm looking at other options aside from GO. Thought about Litchi but read it has issues right now with the Mavic.

Right now - we don't support the Mavic. The GO app has been the best option in my experience so far.

regdawg · Apr 10, 2017

andy@hivemapper said:
Right now - we don't support the Mavic. The GO app has been the best option in my experience so far.

Plans for support in the future?

andy@hivemapper · Apr 11, 2017

Yes - but no timeline for when. You can still upload video to Hivemapper and see it transformed into 3D though.

theallyeezy · Jul 9, 2017

andy@hivemapper said:
NorthernCalifornia has a lot of great places to fly

Here are a couple lists of recommendations to fly drones in NorCal and the Bay Area:
1. Top 10 Places in NorCal
2. Top 10 Places in SF Bay Area

Thanks for this. Hopefully I can go visit these or at least some of these places before summer ends.

Warrior1 · Jul 10, 2017

Any recommendations in the south bay? I tried Rancho San Antonio but its open only to single prop and non-video RC. I live within 5 miles of San Jose Airport so I have to venture out to fly.

sonof40 · Jul 11, 2017

Warrior1 said:
Any recommendations in the south bay? I tried Rancho San Antonio but its open only to single prop and non-video RC. I live within 5 miles of San Jose Airport so I have to venture out to fly.

Try Baylands Park

Warrior1 · Jul 11, 2017

sonof40 said:
Try Baylands Park

Thanks! I will give it a shot.

*update* checked Airmap and its giving me some advisories. Whats the procedure to notify the correct people?

sonof40 · Jul 11, 2017

Warrior1 said:
Thanks! I will give it a shot.

*update* checked Airmap and its giving me some advisories. Whats the procedure to notify the correct people?

There's a meetup on July 29th
There is no problem with authorization.
Flying Drones for Fun

dubberz · Jul 11, 2017

Ive had similar challenges in the South Bay. Ortega park in Sunnyvale is clear as well as Stanford Hills Park in Palo Alto. Campbell in general is pretty safe as well