Permission? Or forgiveness?

[Chaosrider]

All of my flying so far has been from my house. It's a great place to fly, but not for students or the timid. I'm starting a drone training business, and I found a nice park near me that would be great for beginners.

My question is...do I just fly and see if anyone objects, or should I check with somebody first. It's fine from both an FAA airspace standpoint, and the DJI Fly map. I'm more concerned about local LEOs.

My inclination is to just do it, but I wanted to see what the collective wisdom of this group thought about the issue.

The Place is Fuji Park, in Douglas County, Nevada.

Thx!

TCS

 

[ResistanceFlyer]

It seems to me that it might be prudent to have a sit-down with the local city/town management and let them in on your plans since you intend to use the park for for potential monetary gain. They might even be willing to help promote it, community service and all. JMHO.

 

[dronerdave]

Find out who is in charge of the park and ask. We have a park near by that allows flying. I still wanted to know what rules they wanted me to abide by. The city gave me a idea what is allowed and isn't allowed. For instance if there are workers maintaining the area I wanted to fly, the parks manager told me to move to an area away from their workers. I kept his name and number on hand so if I was approached by any LEO (or bystander) who was concerned, at least I had some ammo to back me up.

 

[Chaosrider]

Good thoughts! I think there's a "Parks and Rec" department for the county, and if they aren't the ones who run it, they'll know who does.

It never occured to me that they might want to promote it...but they might! I could arrange drone demo for them.

I'd certainly never fly close to anyone, worker or other park user. There are no tall buildings anywhere nearby, and even though it's "down the hill" from where I live, it's still not a congested area.

Perhaps I'll just try a flight there this weekend, no commercial activity involved. If someone objects, I'll just stop, at least in the moment.

Thx!



TCS

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Not sure about your country, but here city managers (aka councils, city of *, etc) do charge a small fee for business doing park fitness etc, so it would be wise to talk to the park manager concerned, probably your local city management.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

If you start a "drone flying training" as a bussiness, one thing that should be part of it is "how to prepare for a flight". And i.m.o. checking if you are allowed to fly from the spot and in the area you start is one thing. So you could prepare for three or more areas where people would like to fly, check the rules and then tell your participants "Where would you like to fly? Choose one and find out if it is allowed or not." You would know the answers, so if they say, they would like to take of at Kennedy Airport and they would not find out about the restrictions there, you could point that out to them. (just as an example, I guess you know what I mean).

 

[AZDave]

It's probably just me, but it seems odd that somebody who plans to teach others how to fly a drone would "just do it" when faced with a potential regulatory question.

 

[eaglesurfing]

It is better to get them on your side then to have them against you.
Getting to know the police in the area is the best thing you can do.
It would great to have them as a friend then just another PIA that they might have to do paperwork on.
You would not like it if someone came into your work area and disturbed you or created more work.
Remember that you are "teaching" so get them started on the right path.

 

[Howard70]

There might be extra concerns regarding liability issues with student pilots - both your liability for possible harm to students and combined liability of you and the students for harm a student flier causes to third parties or property.

I realize many of us are frustrated with what we see as unreasonable concerns about liability etc. but there could be some real potential for an accident with relatively inexperienced students flying drones in a public park.

Howard

 

[GFields]

Long term, permission is always the best. Especially if you're starting a business. You don't want to start out on the wrong foot.

Local news: "drone pilot arrested for operating an illegal drone training session in local park... blah blah"

 

[DVPOWERS]

I train drone spotter students at a local park in Campbell, CA. I emailed the city about their drone regulations, and they replied back that the City of Campbell does not regulated drones. I keep a paper copy of that email in my flight bag.

 

[BigAl07]

Good thoughts! I think there's a "Parks and Rec" department for the county, and if they aren't the ones who run it, they'll know who does.

It never occured to me that they might want to promote it...but they might! I could arrange drone demo for them.

I'd certainly never fly close to anyone, worker or other park user. There are no tall buildings anywhere nearby, and even though it's "down the hill" from where I live, it's still not a congested area.

Perhaps I'll just try a flight there this weekend, no commercial activity involved. If someone objects, I'll just stop, at least in the moment.

Thx!



TCS

I mean this in the nicest possible way but. . . . why did you even ask in the first place sir? Every single reply suggests you "Do the right thing and ask first" and then you say "I'll just try and fly there this weekend".

Truth is, you had planned to "just go fly" anyway and you had hoped you'd get some support from like minded people on this forum to reinforce your intentions.

At some point you have to have some personal integrity and even more so if you're planning to instruct others. Do the right thing from the get-go!!

Allen

 

[Deleted member 137163]

I mean this in the nicest possible way but. . . . why did you even ask in the first place sir? Every single reply suggests you "Do the right thing and ask first" and then you say "I'll just try and fly there this weekend".

Truth is, you had planned to "just go fly" anyway and you had hoped you'd get some support from like minded people on this forum to reinforce your intentions.

At some point you have to have some personal integrity and even more so if you're planning to instruct others. Do the right thing from the get-go!!

Allen

Well stated! I have heard it said..."You deserve the truth unless you do not agree with it....!" Allen stated the truth. The drone community can be its own worst enemy!

 

[tlswift58]

Good thoughts! I think there's a "Parks and Rec" department for the county, and if they aren't the ones who run it, they'll know who does.

It never occured to me that they might want to promote it...but they might! I could arrange drone demo for them.

I'd certainly never fly close to anyone, worker or other park user. There are no tall buildings anywhere nearby, and even though it's "down the hill" from where I live, it's still not a congested area.

Perhaps I'll just try a flight there this weekend, no commercial activity involved. If someone objects, I'll just stop, at least in the moment.

Thx!



TCS

If a true no fly zone by City / Park standards - they "should" have signage posted to that effect. Calling them may work and may not. See A LOT of people who post that it depends on WHOM you speak with on a given day as to what the rules are.

Would be nice for cities / towns / counties / states if they put a "no fly" into effect for areas - they'd let DJI / Aloft / other apps know so that WE know before we fly. Some do, some don't - so that leaves a lot up in the air.

 

[projectarjun]

If you don't see a "No Drone" sign, you should be in the clear provided the apps confirm that as well

 

[BigAl07]

If you don't see a "No Drone" sign, you should be in the clear provided the apps confirm that as well

Ummm that's not reality. In a perfect world that would be the case but we see just the opposite MANY times over. You know what the word ASSUME stands for?

 

[apeel]

Since you are planning on monetizing the use of a drone (drone training business), you need to be aware that you will require a Part 107 license. Just learning and applying for this license will address all of your concerns and questions. If you monetize your use of drones without a Part 107 license, you could be in serious financial liability.

 

[bcfd29]

ANY type of training infers some risk, and as a result some liability to you and others. Have a business plan, ensure that your properly licensed to have a small biz in the community where you plan to operate (especially if you seek to operate on public spaces) and obtain insurance.

Most cities/AHJ's will want to be named as an additional insured and have you get a certificate of insurance (usually for at least a mill) to cover this. This is not very difficult or expensive, it just takes planning and time.

No good deed goes unpunished....

 

[AZDave]

All of my flying so far has been from my house. It's a great place to fly, but not for students or the timid. I'm starting a drone training business, and I found a nice park near me that would be great for beginners.

My question is...do I just fly and see if anyone objects, or should I check with somebody first. It's fine from both an FAA airspace standpoint, and the DJI Fly map. I'm more concerned about local LEOs.

My inclination is to just do it, but I wanted to see what the collective wisdom of this group thought about the issue.

The Place is Fuji Park, in Douglas County, Nevada.

Thx!

TCS

I think you're asking the wrong people. I don't understand why you didn't just call the park ... they were trivially easy to find on Google.

Fuji Park - Carson City, NV (Address and Phone)

Looking for Fuji Park location & facilities? Quickly find Park phone number, directions & more (Carson City, NV).

www.countyoffice.org

And if you expected that you might have to ask forgiveness after the fact, how do you expect to operate a recurring business there? You aren't likely to get away with asking forgiveness more than once.

Very little of this makes an sense to me at all.

 

[Chaosrider]

Not sure about your country, but here city managers (aka councils, city of *, etc) do charge a small fee for business doing park fitness etc, so it would be wise to talk to the park manager concerned, probably your local city management.

Fuji Park isn't in a city. It's in an unincorporated area of the county. I went to go check it out yesterday, and it's not really ideal, but it has the advantage of being close to my house.

It's been so crazy hot out here that I haven't gone flying for a while. I'm going to try to get in a couple of morning flights this weekend.

Thx,

TCS