Updated place to fly in SF Bay Area/East Bay/South Bay

Shon · Jul 23, 2019

Dogwalker said:
Well that stings a little. My park has no signs out there and I did spend a little time with the Fremont municipal but found no mention of drones anywhere.

I might just return my Mavic 2 Zoom. I don't fly it often enough to justify the investment..... . I'm in Oregon right now and no drones allowed anywhere in Oregon State Parks. It's a fun hobby but the restrictive laws are hobbling it.

The laws in Oregon are similar to California. Some State Parks ban drone use, others don’t.

midi459 · Jan 25, 2020

reductoe said:
Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum and to the drone scene. I've been flying my MA for about a month now. But that's been next to the park that I live by in Fremont, CA. I would like to go somewhere else to fly my MA. After hours of research (looking at Airmap, googling for safe areas), I still don't have any clues where I can safely fly. If you live in my area, can you give some tips on good places? Can I fly along the Alameda Creek Trail, as it doesn't appear in any NFZ. Can I fly at Lake Elizabeth or to the east of it? I know people fly at Bayland Parks, but I'm confused because Bayland is in the NFZ. Thank you. And sorry if this question has been asked already, I'm looking for updated information.

there is a flying club out of union city sacrats large large area to fly in u need ur ama to join and fly there

Flipsonic · Jan 26, 2020

The Delta (San Joaquin River)

Tiburon, Ca

These were shot with my P3P.

This one with my MA close to my home in Antioch.

wco81 · Jan 26, 2020

Would be surprised if its legal to shoot over Tiburon.

There must be a fair amount of helicopter traffic over that part of the Bay.

Flipsonic · Jan 26, 2020

wco81 said:
Would be surprised if its legal to shoot over Tiburon.

There must be a fair amount of helicopter traffic over that part of the Bay.

No helicopter traffic at all. You can fly over Tiburon, just not over schools. B4UFLY app show it is not restricted airspace.

scott rand · Jan 27, 2020

I flew over Sausalito, and in Napa when I vacation in SF. Two of the most beautiful areas in the Bay Area. I used to live in Walnut Creek, but that was before I got into drones, live in NY now. Would like to retire in the Bay Area in the future, favorite place in the US. Most likely would be Walnut Creek

scott rand · Jan 27, 2020

Flipsonic said:
The Delta (San Joaquin River)

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Tiburon, Ca

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These were shot with my P3P.

This one with my MA close to my home in Antioch.

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May have to visit Tiburon some day, so beautiful, great videos !

ItsLunchBOX · Jan 27, 2020

Dogwalker said:
Well that stings a little. My park has no signs out there and I did spend a little time with the Fremont municipal but found no mention of drones anywhere.

I might just return my Mavic 2 Zoom. I don't fly it often enough to justify the investment..... . I'm in Oregon right now and no drones allowed anywhere in Oregon State Parks. It's a fun hobby but the restrictive laws are hobbling it.

what?

Drone operations in state parks - Oregon State Parks

oregonstateparks.org

stberlin · Jan 27, 2020

You can fly over the bay from the Embarcadero next to the Bay Bridge.

Flipsonic · Jan 27, 2020

Treasure Island is also a good place to fly.

pelagic_one · Feb 20, 2020

This is a slightly out-dated link, but I’m finding some pretty nice flying spots in the North Bay and East Bay. I’ve mentioned Berkeley Marina and Baylands Park (Sunnyvale) in other posts, too. And yes, I’ve enjoyed the views flying from Treasure Island.

The 5 Best Places to Fly a Drone in San Francisco (2025) | UAV Coach

A guide to where to fly a drone in San Francisco. See the best places to fly a drone in San Francisco and learn where it's legal or illegal to fly a drone.

uavcoach.com

wco81 · Feb 20, 2020

Hmm has anyone flown from the Public Park mentioned in the article?

Just some strip of green space between Piers 35 and 39?

Does that mean you can take off and land from it but you can't go too far away from it, like to the north or south or west or east because you'd run into restricted airspace?

pelagic_one · Feb 21, 2020

I hope to fly at Public Park at sunrise either tomorrow or Sunday morning. Maybe you, @Bayareafly and whomever else would like to join me? Safety in numbers, and all.

From the Kittyhawk map, I would agree with you that flying to the west is limited to Fisherman’s Wharf, but you cannot fly past Hyde Street due to the SF Maritime Natl Historical Park restriction. However, if there’s no event happening at Oracle Park, the rest of our standard VLOS radius seems open for flying. Coit Tower and it’s helix shot-potential is only 0.4 miles away!

Having been there many times, the only time I’d fly from Public Park is during the early morning hours. Otherwise we’d be flying over groups of people.

I try to spread the word on our drone MeetUp group because of the monthly events all around the Bay. We’ve got Treasure Island in March, and hopefully Alameda Point in April. Drones in the Bay (Oakland, CA)

wco81 · Feb 21, 2020

Can't make it tomorrow, though it's suppose to be pretty clear tomorrow.

If you can fly out over the water and then shoot towards the east, should look pretty good, unless you want to get more closeup shots of the buildings and people.

On weekends, it should be rather busy on the waterfront.

wco81 · Feb 25, 2020

pelagic_one said:
I hope to fly at Public Park at sunrise either tomorrow or Sunday morning. Maybe you, @Bayareafly and whomever else would like to join me? Safety in numbers, and all.

From the Kittyhawk map, I would agree with you that flying to the west is limited to Fisherman’s Wharf, but you cannot fly past Hyde Street due to the SF Maritime Natl Historical Park restriction. However, if there’s no event happening at Oracle Park, the rest of our standard VLOS radius seems open for flying. Coit Tower and it’s helix shot-potential is only 0.4 miles away!

Having been there many times, the only time I’d fly from Public Park is during the early morning hours. Otherwise we’d be flying over groups of people.

I try to spread the word on our drone MeetUp group because of the monthly events all around the Bay. We’ve got Treasure Island in March, and hopefully Alameda Point in April. Drones in the Bay (Oakland, CA)

Did this work out?

pelagic_one · Feb 28, 2020

We did not make it out to Public Park last weekend. I flew Berkeley Marina Area in the morning, but learned to leave with all the other flyers by around 10am. Once everyone left, and I was the only guy flying my drone, the dog walkers seemed to descend on me. Comments like, “This is a frickin‘ dog park, idiot!”

I quickly and quietly landed and left the park. It really made me wonder if sunrise is the only appropriate time to fly at such an iconic area as the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf.

pelagic_one · Apr 6, 2020

I was getting stir-crazy at home so I decided to fly my M2P from the Embarcadero Saturday morning. There was practically no one around at 7am. A car passed me every 3-4 minutes, so it was weird not seeing bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I‘ll post all my Bay Area videos when i eventually sit down to edit clips and compile something. Highlights include views of Coit Tower, Salesforce Tower, the Ferry Building and the empty streets of Fisherman’s Wharf and the Market Street area. I even got a little bold when flying from Fisherman’s Wharf as I flew out to Alcatraz and got great pics of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise from there. By mid-morning I drove out to Lombard Street and flew like it was 2017 or something.

We all live in a beautiful corner of the world. So if you’re willing to stretch the rules of the Stay@Home order a little bit, you’re bound to get some spectacular footage, all without someone asking, “Is that a drone?”

Stay safe out there!

pelagic_one · Apr 6, 2020

For the OP asking about Fremont, I have to “burn” a particular flying spot to share a really good place to fly. There’s an empty cul-de-sac near the corner of Dumbarton Court and Campus Court where my flying buddies and I fly. Since we can’t fly at Coyote Hills Park, we can always get a great vantage point of the South Bay and Dumbarton Bridge from about 250 feet, with no LAANC approval needed. It also has a large grassy field to recover from any “training mishaps.“

wco81 · Apr 6, 2020

Where on the Embarcadero, which Pier?

Where did you park?

pelagic_one · Apr 7, 2020

wco81 said:
Where did you park?

I parked on the street next to this tennis club’s private lot, then flew from that lot:

37°47'48.2"N 122°23'46.2"W

goo.gl

SFPD drove by and nodded at me as he drove on by, clearly seeing a remote in my hands and me looking at the sky. Thumbswayup

Second battery, I drove to Fisherman’s Wharf and only saw a construction crew in Boudin’s parking lot:

37°48'31.6"N 122°24'50.9"W

goo.gl

Third battery, I’m parked a block below crooked Lombard, so I flew quickly for about five minutes of spectacular footage. That was as nerve-racking as my first-ever flight because I saw people watching from windows as I took off.