So how would one get permission to fly in a state or national park or do it legally. Because I've been told that one could fly into a park but not launch or land in one.
Flying in State an National Parks?....
- Thread starter Tristan C.
- Start date
Where are you? You should check NOTAMs for NFZ/Restricted and prohibited airspace. AFAIK all federal parks are prohibited space and may not be flown over under class E airspace. Each parks NOTAM will classify its altitude restrictions. For the most part these rules protect wildlife who do not like the noise - so "flying into" would still violate the purpose.
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Related to this topic. I am travelling to the US as a tourist on a photo safari to the Southwest US with a Russian tour group. I am a US citizen and retired military married to a Russian but living in Hungary. I was a bit surprised at the IMHO illegal decision to ban all drones from flying in National Parks. With the new registration requirements and drone pilot certification it should be logical to be able to fly in National Parks responsibly and particularly if one applies for a Special Use Permit (and the associated fees). As I am a licensed pilot (Commercial Instrument single engine land) I am fully aware of the federal requirements for rule changes and I believe this was done without using the normal process for rule changes and it is over-restrictive. Of course, only responsible pilots will obey the ruling and we can see many people are ignoring the rules from Youtube videos. I am not willing to risk the effects of breaking the laws so have attempted to get permission to film in the National Parks. I have 40 years of working for the US government and understand the morass of regulations and permissions required to do something deemed exceptional However, there is a process to do that and I decided to try.
Because I am not travelling to Las Vegas (our origin for the photo safari) until the last week of April I decided to pursue obtaining a Special Use Permit for flying my Phantom 4. To whit I wrote a letter to the Manager of the NPS Special Use Program office:
(Merle) Lee Dickinson
National Park Service
Special Park Uses Program Manager
Washington
202-513-7092
She responded with a kind letter indicating that, while she is sympathetic and understands the issue, no Special Use Permits will be issued unless something changes. She did indicate that 3 permits were issued for drone use since 2014 but only to NPS personnel for NSP purposes. The email I received is below.
So, we are left with a situation where the government has once again decided en masse to be over-restrictive to address a perceived problem which only punishes the law-abiding and responsible pilots. I have written a letter (unanswered) to President-elect Trump to encourage him to take a look at this issue as this falls into his view of an over-regulated Federal Government. Probably I do not have a good address to write to him and a single letter is not sufficient to rise past his minions filters of importance. I am resigned to not being able to bring my UAS with me on my trip to the US which is unfortunate. I was planning to take the drone certification examination (I am out of currency by 25 years as a airplane pilot) and add that to my pilot certificate but it is unnecessary here in Europe and probably not recognized anyway. I am certain I will pass the examination and can take it on line at a testing point in Budapest. I could als take it in Las Vegas when I am there but I don't see the need to waste time, effort, and money to become compliant in the US just to be thwarted in any attempt to actually do anything useful with the drone. IMHO, the US has become vastly over-regulated and it is apparent in these over-restrictive drone regulations.
On the other hand business wants to use UAS to deliver parcels (medicine or purchased goods) and these will be the driving force for change as obviously it will be impossible for commercial drone operations to maintain line of sight unless they only want to deliver within a 300 meter radius. I believe if enough of us write similar letters we may be able to affect some changes. If, for some reason, they can prove there is a negative impact on the ecology of the National Parks or undue risk to park visitors that is another matter entirely. But, I believe no one has conducted the necessary research to answer that question. As a scientist I understand that this may be necessary to prove one way or another the impact of using drones in Parks. But, what they did was to eliminate the use and enjoyment of the parks to a growing community. We are all also voters and perhaps that is more important. The other factor would be political and to refute the previous policies of the Obama administration which have restricted so many activities of American citizens. The old saw "the squeaky wheel gets greased" is appropo here and if enough of us rally to the cause we just might stand a chance of changing rules. But, I believe Jeff Bezos of Elon Musk stand far better chances of fixing this problem than we do. Nonetheless, we should at least make the attempt.
What I wrote to President-elect Trump:
Dear President Trump,
Congratulations on your election to President. I have been a an active supporter of yours from the get-go and we are very proud that you have been elected President of the United States of America.
I am writing to you to ask for you to examine the regulations put into place by the National Park service banning the use of drone (Unmanned Aircraft Systems - UAS) in National Parks. This ban was implemented without any public notice in 2014 prior to the drone registration requirement and subsequent pilot licensure implemented in August of this year. I am a licensed pilot and have requested a Special Use Permit for use of my DJI Phantom 4 when I visit the US in April/May of 2017. I wrote to Ms. Merle Dickinson, Manager of the NPS Special Use Program, to initiate an application for a permit but she politely responded that it is virtually impossible as indicted below. I believe responsible pilots such as myself can operate safely and without adverse impact on animal life of park operations and that avid drone video photographers can enjoy the parks in a responsible manner. I am fully willing to comply with all requirements including insurance and permits but it seems that there is no possibility to even try. I believe, like President Trump that there are an inordinate amount of Federal rules and regulations made which are of no obvious benefit and are overly restrictive. this is just one example of that and I am hoping that President Trump can act to stop this kind of restrictive decisions which result in discrimination of citizens. There are thousands of pilots like myself who are responsible and playing by the restrictive rules but are still unable to enjoy the splendor of these parks using their photographic skills. I do believe registration and coordination are necessary as there are unfortunately irresponsible pilots but these same people will fly their drones regardless of the rules. I am speaking for the law abiding citizens like myself who will operate responsibly and within the rules.
Mr. Borschel,
I appreciate you taking the time to research UAV use in national parks prior to your visit. And you certainly appear to have the skills necessary to operate an UAV. Current NPS policy has a procedure to apply for a permit to launch, operator and retrieve a UAV from parklands. But other than for administrative use, that permit has only been issued 3 times since 2014 that I am aware of, and those video projects were educational videos about the parks or NPS programs. I think the likelihood of success in obtaining a permit is very low. I am not aware that the policy will change in the near future, but you are welcome to contact me again just prior to your trip is you would like to double check.
Sincerely,
Lee Dickinson
(Merle) Lee Dickinson
National Park Service
Special Park Uses Program Manager
Washington
202-513-7092
Because I am not travelling to Las Vegas (our origin for the photo safari) until the last week of April I decided to pursue obtaining a Special Use Permit for flying my Phantom 4. To whit I wrote a letter to the Manager of the NPS Special Use Program office:
(Merle) Lee Dickinson
National Park Service
Special Park Uses Program Manager
Washington
202-513-7092
She responded with a kind letter indicating that, while she is sympathetic and understands the issue, no Special Use Permits will be issued unless something changes. She did indicate that 3 permits were issued for drone use since 2014 but only to NPS personnel for NSP purposes. The email I received is below.
So, we are left with a situation where the government has once again decided en masse to be over-restrictive to address a perceived problem which only punishes the law-abiding and responsible pilots. I have written a letter (unanswered) to President-elect Trump to encourage him to take a look at this issue as this falls into his view of an over-regulated Federal Government. Probably I do not have a good address to write to him and a single letter is not sufficient to rise past his minions filters of importance. I am resigned to not being able to bring my UAS with me on my trip to the US which is unfortunate. I was planning to take the drone certification examination (I am out of currency by 25 years as a airplane pilot) and add that to my pilot certificate but it is unnecessary here in Europe and probably not recognized anyway. I am certain I will pass the examination and can take it on line at a testing point in Budapest. I could als take it in Las Vegas when I am there but I don't see the need to waste time, effort, and money to become compliant in the US just to be thwarted in any attempt to actually do anything useful with the drone. IMHO, the US has become vastly over-regulated and it is apparent in these over-restrictive drone regulations.
On the other hand business wants to use UAS to deliver parcels (medicine or purchased goods) and these will be the driving force for change as obviously it will be impossible for commercial drone operations to maintain line of sight unless they only want to deliver within a 300 meter radius. I believe if enough of us write similar letters we may be able to affect some changes. If, for some reason, they can prove there is a negative impact on the ecology of the National Parks or undue risk to park visitors that is another matter entirely. But, I believe no one has conducted the necessary research to answer that question. As a scientist I understand that this may be necessary to prove one way or another the impact of using drones in Parks. But, what they did was to eliminate the use and enjoyment of the parks to a growing community. We are all also voters and perhaps that is more important. The other factor would be political and to refute the previous policies of the Obama administration which have restricted so many activities of American citizens. The old saw "the squeaky wheel gets greased" is appropo here and if enough of us rally to the cause we just might stand a chance of changing rules. But, I believe Jeff Bezos of Elon Musk stand far better chances of fixing this problem than we do. Nonetheless, we should at least make the attempt.
What I wrote to President-elect Trump:
Dear President Trump,
Congratulations on your election to President. I have been a an active supporter of yours from the get-go and we are very proud that you have been elected President of the United States of America.
I am writing to you to ask for you to examine the regulations put into place by the National Park service banning the use of drone (Unmanned Aircraft Systems - UAS) in National Parks. This ban was implemented without any public notice in 2014 prior to the drone registration requirement and subsequent pilot licensure implemented in August of this year. I am a licensed pilot and have requested a Special Use Permit for use of my DJI Phantom 4 when I visit the US in April/May of 2017. I wrote to Ms. Merle Dickinson, Manager of the NPS Special Use Program, to initiate an application for a permit but she politely responded that it is virtually impossible as indicted below. I believe responsible pilots such as myself can operate safely and without adverse impact on animal life of park operations and that avid drone video photographers can enjoy the parks in a responsible manner. I am fully willing to comply with all requirements including insurance and permits but it seems that there is no possibility to even try. I believe, like President Trump that there are an inordinate amount of Federal rules and regulations made which are of no obvious benefit and are overly restrictive. this is just one example of that and I am hoping that President Trump can act to stop this kind of restrictive decisions which result in discrimination of citizens. There are thousands of pilots like myself who are responsible and playing by the restrictive rules but are still unable to enjoy the splendor of these parks using their photographic skills. I do believe registration and coordination are necessary as there are unfortunately irresponsible pilots but these same people will fly their drones regardless of the rules. I am speaking for the law abiding citizens like myself who will operate responsibly and within the rules.
Mr. Borschel,
I appreciate you taking the time to research UAV use in national parks prior to your visit. And you certainly appear to have the skills necessary to operate an UAV. Current NPS policy has a procedure to apply for a permit to launch, operator and retrieve a UAV from parklands. But other than for administrative use, that permit has only been issued 3 times since 2014 that I am aware of, and those video projects were educational videos about the parks or NPS programs. I think the likelihood of success in obtaining a permit is very low. I am not aware that the policy will change in the near future, but you are welcome to contact me again just prior to your trip is you would like to double check.
Sincerely,
Lee Dickinson
(Merle) Lee Dickinson
National Park Service
Special Park Uses Program Manager
Washington
202-513-7092
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