Propriety (not legality) of flying in US national parks while closed

[goldwein]

Any opinions on this issue as it pertains to parks “closed” to visitors during the government shutdown, and of course in instances where wildlife would not be disturbed?

 

[Mr. Salty]

It's still illegal and would still put our hobby in a negative light.

 

[rickw]

just because it's closed doesn't change the rules

 

[Decal Josh]

 

[rickw]

if you don't see a cop is it ok to do 90 mph in a 25 zone?

 

[dvarapala]

if you don't see a cop is it ok to do 90 mph in a 25 zone?

If the street is closed and there's nobody there?

 

[DanMan32]

Still not OK.

Besides the act of launching/landing in the park not OK, closed or not, just the fact of being there while closed is not OK.
It's closed. You're trespassing.

 

[AMann]

Any opinions on this issue as it pertains to parks “closed” to visitors during the government shutdown, and of course in instances where wildlife would not be disturbed?

Why should it be any different? Besides, they’re just closed due to funding but have not changed in terms of why they exist. Hope people don’t fly there like the other outlaw idiots breaking in and doing what they want and messing them up for the rest of us.

 

[BearSwartz]

I have to drive thru a NP every time I go to town. While the parks are "closed" that only means there's nobody there collecting fees or emptying trash bins. The park is still open to the public. Our community got the notification from the park when the shutdown started, that there would be no patrols, and limited emergency services on call only. You certainly could get away with flying in the park right now. Not saying it would be a good idea, but there is definitely nobody home to stop you. You can fly over a park, you just can't launch/recover/fly from the park. So it darn sure would be a great time to set up on the edge and fly over.

 

[AMann]

I have to drive thru a NP every time I go to town. While the parks are "closed" that only means there's nobody there collecting fees or emptying trash bins. The park is still open to the public. Our community got the notification from the park when the shutdown started, that there would be no patrols, and limited emergency services on call only. You certainly could get away with flying in the park right now. Not saying it would be a good idea, but there is definitely nobody home to stop you. You can fly over a park, you just can't launch/recover/fly from the park. So it darn sure would be a great time to set up on the edge and fly over.

Some parks are now closed to the public due to vandalism, sanitation and trash issues and have been authorized to use funds to keep law enforcement personnel present- Joshua Tree NP, for example.

 

[BearSwartz]

Some parks are now closed to the public due to vandalism, sanitation and trash issues and have been authorized to use funds to keep law enforcement personnel present- Joshua Tree NP, for example.

Good to know. I live just outside the Colorado National Monument, and we haven't had any of those issues. In fact it was on the news yesterday that everyone was picking up after themselves and the park is staying clean. Guess it varies by the type of people who frequent the park. This will get real interesting if the shutdown goes another month or more...

 

[Jackcutrone]

Some parks are now closed to the public due to vandalism, sanitation and trash issues and have been authorized to use funds to keep law enforcement personnel present- Joshua Tree NP, for example.

Great example of some people being irresponsible. Drone flyers no different some will be responsible and some won’t and we all get tagged because the irresponsible ones get the publicity. I love humanity it’s people I hate.

 

[n5ac]

I was at Haleakalā National Park yesterday and they had a funny sign which I did not take a picture of — it essentially said that all rules are in effect even though some services are not available. They had the restrooms open and there was a Ranger patrolling the park, but all the gift shop/info center facilities/money collection (gate) was closed. My hat’s off to the Ranger(s) that patrolled and for keeping as much of the park open as possible. An for the record, NO I didn’t fly a drone in the park even though I had mine with me and would love to have been able to shoot some altitude shots.

As a side note, with the USAF site on top of the park, there’s a whole other issue in this park where folks that weren’t paying attention might overfly an area they shouldn’t if flying were possible.