Yellowstone investigates drone photo of Grand Prismatic

[Mr. Salty]

Your lack of comprehension does NOT make someone else a liar.

You keep posting that I wrote that an eruption will never happen, and that DOES make you a liar.

 

[ac0j]

No, it isn’t. That hysteria has pretty well been disproven.

I may have misinterpreted this reply. Mistaken maybe.

 

[SharkHunter2012]

I wouldn't want to be Timothy McGurr:

Y’stone investigates drone photo of Grand Prismatic

A New York photographer is under fire after sharing an aerial image of Yellowstone National Park’s Grand Prismatic Spring on his Instagram page, where he has 717,000 followers.
Photographer Timothy McGurr, who’s better known by the online persona 13thWitness, told followers that he didn’t know drones were illegal in national parks.

“Unless I see specific signage or am told I can’t fly you better believe I will or I’ll certainly try to,” McGurr replied on Instagram to a critic. “I removed the post, something I’ve never done in my life.”

The photo, posted Nov. 6, included a long caption about the hours leading up to its capture and is now the subject of a federal investigation.

Timothy McGurr, a New York photographer known as 13thwitness, posted this aerial photo of Grand Prismatic Spring to his more than 700,000 Instagram followers. He removed it after public condemnation. Below the photo he shared an account of finding his way out of the park when returning to a locked entrance at West Yellowstone. Drones were banned from most national parks in 2014.


“I landed at the Billings, Montana, airport around midnight,” McGurr wrote in the now-deleted post. “I opted to drive straight to Yellowstone National Park through the night for four hours to catch PRISMATIC at sunrise.”
In the caption McGurr told followers he arrived at the West Entrance at 6:45 a.m. and “somehow managed to drive right into the park despite the seasonal winter closure” that he said he didn’t know about.

“Once inside I essentially had the entire YNP to myself,” McGurr said. “When exiting the park from the same entrance I entered I was greeted with a padlock and essentially locked in. I eventually found a way out.”
After receiving online criticism for ignoring National Park Service rules, McGurr removed the photo.

“I’ve never had to remove a post over some bulls--t before,” McGurr wrote. “I’m one part livid, two parts amazed by the hate people can project towards me for putting up a photo I basically traveled 24 hours straight for and that I’d been wanting to get for a few weeks.”
Drones were banned from national parks in 2014, according to the National Park Service.

“Drones are not allowed in the park,” a Yellowstone spokesperson told the News&Guide in a brief email. “We are aware of this, and rangers are looking into it.”
Other aerial photos of Grand Prismatic have been taken from airplanes, but critics of McGurr said he admitted to using a drone when he told his over 700,000 followers that he had the park to himself.

“Ignorance of the law is not a defense,” said Deby Dixon, a Gardiner, Montana, resident and wildlife photographer.

Dixon said she is in the park photographing almost daily, and she has noticed laws being ignored more often lately with the rise of visual-driven social media.

“There are really good people who love the park and come here and try to do the right thing, and they’re getting trampled by people who think they can do whatever they want,” Dixon said. “It ruins it for everyone else.”
The Park Service cites a variety of reasons for banning drones.

“Their use has resulted in noise and nuisance complaints from park visitors,” the Park Service states on its website.

Before the ban, park officials said drones were harassing wildlife, and some small drones even crashed into geysers in Yellowstone.
In 2014 Dutch tourist Theodorus Van Vliet crashed his drone into Grand Prismatic and was fined more than $3,000.

Drones have been lost in the Grand Canyon and have attempted to land on Mount Rushmore, the Park Service reports.

“Due to serious concerns about the negative impact that flying unmanned aircraft can have for safety of visitors, staff and wildlife, they have been restricted in all but a few parks,” the Park Service said.
Violation of the ban is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

“NPS just wants money,” McGurr told a follower. “If I would have offered them 5K to fly for a photo, they would have certainly found a way to make it happen for me.”

McGurr said he’s responsible when flying and doesn’t believe what he did was wrong.

“I assume any and all risk/responsibility for my actions when trying to get photos should anything unfortunate happen as a result of it,” he wrote. “That’s what real photographers do.
“I’ve made foolish decisions, and this probably wasn’t one I’m particularly proud of but it happened and it’s over,” he wrote. “Lesson learned.”

Yellowstone officials did not provide any additional information about the investigation.

I dont fully like the laws because they just dont understand, yet I do on the same hand understand the reasons for not flying in national parks, some folks are reckless, with all said. Most of all the places I want to fly are in no fly zones do to our Government. I support free flight and hope they drop the claim against you. Fly On

 

[Prmath]

Why not post a Google photo and have some fun with those silly ( Mod Removed )

 

[dioscuriII]

Honestly, the image isn't that great. It is decent. The popularity is because it is a taboo subject. Bring on the hate.

 

[mmcnel99]

I went to Joshua Tree National Park several months back and really wanted to fly my Mavic. I checked before I went and saw that is was a “no drone” park and I left my drone back in my hotel. I arrived at the park about 5 minutes before sunrise and was there over an hour before I ever saw another human. The park is so immense and so few people i thought how I could have flown it for hours and would have never bothered anything. But, rules are rules, and the last thing I wanted was a $1000 fine and my Mavic confiscated.

For what its worth, I did get some pretty cool shots with my Canon 7D Mark II.

 

[JDawg]

Honestly, the image isn't that great. It is decent. The popularity is because it is a taboo subject. Bring on the hate.

Decent at best.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I went to Joshua Tree National Park several months back and really wanted to fly my Mavic. I checked before I went and saw that is was a “no drone” park and I left my drone back in my hotel. I arrived at the park about 5 minutes before sunrise and was there over an hour before I ever saw another human. The park is so immense and so few people i thought how I could have flown it for hours and would have never bothered anything. But, rules are rules, and the last thing I wanted was a $1000 fine and my Mavic confiscated.

For what its worth, I did get some pretty cool shots with my Canon 7D Mark II.

A blanket ban anywhere is far over reaching IMO.... the entire west cost of California from just south of San Francisco to Cambria is off limits. A 1000 foot altitude minimum - don't want to disturb any wildlife, at 100 feet??! - ridiculous! I could understand no lower than 100 feet or something like that. My brother does a lot of work around whales, dolphins, seals etc. They don't give a hoot unless you get real close. I guarantee there ans not been a single study about how far away would be "reasonable".

 

[packnrat]

As that link point out, Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring already has been littered by a drone crashing into it several years ago, and there are good reasons to keep trash out of it, including the presence of highly specialized heat dependent bacteria that not only give the spring it’s unique colors, they also of are interest for biomedical and energy researchers for the enzymes they produce. Drones have impacted the park, and it is not known what the impacts are of having electronics and LiPO batteries melting in the spring, so it’s important to keep drones away from it. That’s why the park is pursuing this incident.

has there ever been proof of a drone crashing into the spring?
i have only seen a report where somebody (unnamed source) said it happened, but in years of searching,the park service using a helicopter, and there OWN DRONE. have never found one in the spring.

no i am not saying one should fly there. that is NOT part of my question.

 

[tcope]

has there ever been proof of a drone crashing into the spring?

Yes. I spent about 3 seconds on Google:

A crashed drone could destroy Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring

 

[AMann]

has there ever been proof of a drone crashing into the spring?
i have only seen a report where somebody (unnamed source) said it happened, but in years of searching,the park service using a helicopter, and there OWN DRONE. have never found one in the spring.

no i am not saying one should fly there. that is NOT part of my question.

There were witnesses, but the park personnel apparently have not been able to locate it- as this article points out, its big and very deep and they do not hover any aircraft directly over the spring, even for searching.

*yeah, the title is maybe over the top, but the article itself has good info about it and trash does impact the spring:

A crashed drone could destroy Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring

 

[AMann]

Yes. I spent about 3 seconds on Google:

A crashed drone could destroy Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring

That’s funny, you beat me to the same reference as I was typing. Anyways, the park will also release their report about it if you ask:

Request a Police Report - United States Park Police (U.S. National Park Service)

 

[Marko9219]

Really? Because they didn't recover the drone, you are questioning the validity of the claim? You've never been there, I can tell. Why? Because if you had ever been there for you would understand that it is absolutely impossible to be there by yourself during daylight hours and in anything but a blizzard in January. There were probably a hundred witnesses. They didn't recover the drone because they don't know where it is. They won't put a drone over it because of the same risk. They can't just send divers in and they were worried about safety (near boiling water) to launch a boat to recover it. Because you don't understand things doesn't mean they aren't real.

 

[MrMavic]

A tiny drone in 300 trillion gallons of water probably will not trigger a life ending event on Earth.

 

[JDawg]

A tiny drone in 300 trillion gallons of water probably will not trigger a life ending even on Earth.

 

[tcope]

A tiny drone in 300 trillion gallons of water probably will not trigger a life ending event on Earth.

You can feel free to misrepresent the facts in order to support your view but it is very easy to see through this.

You may want to read up on the subject before making up your mind.

In some cases there is unique bacteria in the springs that turn the water bright colors. Break down of plastic or a lipo battery may kill it off. The hole that water comes up from are not very big in many cases and drones could very well plug them up. If you read up on the subject you will see that people have thrown rocks in springs and have fill them in so they no longer allow water through. So _yes_ drones can affect the springs. You then weight this against the need for aerial photos (instead of land photos). All of these goes by an organization charged with preserving National Parks for everyone to enjoy.

 

[MrMavic]

I'm thankful that we have our own geologists on this site to set us straight on these things. If it wern't for all the alarmists our world would be a melting pot.

 

[packnrat]

Yes. I spent about 3 seconds on Google:

A crashed drone could destroy Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring

as per the story. it was reported to have crashed into the waters. but never been seen or proof of it ever going into the waters.

 

[packnrat]

You can feel free to misrepresent the facts in order to support your view but it is very easy to see through this.

You may want to read up on the subject before making up your mind.

In some cases there is unique bacteria in the springs that turn the water bright colors. Break down of plastic or a lipo battery may kill it off. The hole that water comes up from are not very big in many cases and drones could very well plug them up. If you read up on the subject you will see that people have thrown rocks in springs and have fill them in so they no longer allow water through. So _yes_ drones can affect the springs. You then weight this against the need for aerial photos (instead of land photos). All of these goes by an organization charged with preserving National Parks for everyone to enjoy.

no i am not nor did i say ok to flying a drone in yellow store. as to the rocks, it was not just one rock, it was hundreds of rocks over 10's of years.
i very much do agree that there are places that any drone just should not be. but not the whole of yellow stone park.
the temporary flight restriction should be investigated to find the corruption in it, as it has automatically been re-upped every time.
there was to have been a "study" in the original tfr rule. but no study has been done nor can one be done with a ban of flights.
i am not saying to allow drone flights in "special" areas. but speaking the truth is better.
yes i for one do not want a drone in my photo of the grand canyon, or seeing the washington monument used as a race pylon, or hevan forbid a fool trying to land on Lincolins head. so no i am not saying open all of a nat park up. just not a total ban everywhere. and if a jerk was to fly there, mandatory jail time, hugh monetary fine. and the drone is taken away.

 

[tcope]

as per the story. it was reported to have crashed into the waters. but never been seen or proof of it ever going into the waters.

I'm not sure if you simply did not read the article or understand it...

"Though there were witnesses to the incident, there was no consensus over where the crashed drone was actually located in the water.

Unbiased people who confirmed that the drone crashed into the spring. You need more proof then that?

First you can't Google the information then you seem to doubt eye witnesses.