Interesting flight areas that are LEGAL.

[m4dp4rrot]

Well for the second time in a week I've been run off by police for filming in a place I was sure was legit. I haven't been fined yet, but I'm sure at my lifetime limit for getting shocked out of my flight-reverie by siren blips and flashing lights.

I regularly consult sites like Airmap and Don't Fly Drones Here, but their usefulness is limited since they function as blacklist type sites: they only indicate places where flying is 100% not legal. There are still many, many places where you can't fly that are as yet unmarked, which makes planning a crapshoot. The aforementioned runoff occurred despite my best attempts to find any rule or regulation that banned flight in that area, and came up with zip. Only after the officer gave me a specific code number was I able to find it, buried deep within an obscure PDF on a huge, sprawling website.

I dislike walking a legal minefield while scouting locations, so what I'm looking for now is the opposite to Airmap etc. A whitelist-style site, that only shows places where flight is confirmed 100% legal (ideally including Northern California). Does anyone know of such a place? I haven't had any luck googling, since the only sites I've found so far are either years out of date or have horrible recommendations (Ocean Beach? sure, if i want to lose $1500).

 

[lonjsnyder]

There is no complete online resource. Only way is to call local police and ask. And you may get different answers if you call more than once. For beaches, call the lifeguard station.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Waternut13134]

Where do you live? I'm currently in Police academy right now. There must be signs posted. Check your state laws and then your county,and then down to your city ordinances. For example if your flying in the city you have to follow the city,county and state laws,but if your flying in the county you only have to follow county and state laws. Politely ask the cop the statute and what laws your breaking,if he turns into a D!ck about it then he's more than likely full of it,but if he pulls them up and shows you then learn from the experience and move on. I would have no problem explain a statute to someone that asks me to show it to them.

 

[surplussunshine]

This is something that should be created OP.

 

[Clench M'cheeks]

What was the code the officer cited and could you give the link to PDF and website etc please...

I know it's been awhile...

Thanks.

 

[Kcgunesq]

Well for the second time in a week I've been run off by police for filming in a place I was sure was legit. I haven't been fined yet, but I'm sure at my lifetime limit for getting shocked out of my flight-reverie by siren blips and flashing lights.

I regularly consult sites like Airmap and Don't Fly Drones Here, but their usefulness is limited since they function as blacklist type sites: they only indicate places where flying is 100% not legal. There are still many, many places where you can't fly that are as yet unmarked, which makes planning a crapshoot. The aforementioned runoff occurred despite my best attempts to find any rule or regulation that banned flight in that area, and came up with zip. Only after the officer gave me a specific code number was I able to find it, buried deep within an obscure PDF on a huge, sprawling website.

I dislike walking a legal minefield while scouting locations, so what I'm looking for now is the opposite to Airmap etc. A whitelist-style site, that only shows places where flight is confirmed 100% legal (ideally including Northern California). Does anyone know of such a place? I haven't had any luck googling, since the only sites I've found so far are either years out of date or have horrible recommendations (Ocean Beach? sure, if i want to lose $1500).

I suspect you will find no one willing to provide such a list, at least for free. They'd pick up liability since they just told you, "hey, it is 100% legal". Things change. Maybe it was when they printed the list but it changed yesterday. But perhaps most importantly, many times you won't find something in the law, rules, regs, ordinances, etc that says "100% legal". Rather, someone has to read everything and make a judgment call. That's called the practice of law.

If you want to be absolutely guaranteed, your best bet (though not truly guaranteed) is probably to get permission to fly on private property not under any FAA restrictions.

I too would like to see what the officer cited, as many cops are quite ignorant of the law's finer points.

 

[Soldierboy1986]

Where do you live? I'm currently in Police academy right now. There must be signs posted. Check your state laws and then your county,and then down to your city ordinances. For example if your flying in the city you have to follow the city,county and state laws,but if your flying in the county you only have to follow county and state laws. Politely ask the cop the statute and what laws your breaking,if he turns into a D!ck about it then he's more than likely full of it,but if he pulls them up and shows you then learn from the experience and move on. I would have no problem explain a statute to someone that asks me to show it to them.

I promise you the officer will not know! Trust me, if you don’t know, he won’t either! The rule book is new, and still being written to fill the book! Leave the academy stuff at the academy, I absolutely guarantee, it a whole other story once you hit those streets!

 

[Meta4]

If you want to be absolutely guaranteed, your best bet (though not truly guaranteed) is probably to get permission to fly on private property not under any FAA restrictions.

Flying on private property makes no difference to FAA regulations.
They apply anytime you are in the national airspace - which is everywhere.

PS ...The original discussion was two years ago

 

[Kcgunesq]

Flying on private property makes no difference to FAA regulations.
They apply anytime you are in the national airspace - which is everywhere.

PS ...The original discussion was two years ago

Never said yay wasn't the case. That's why I qualified it by saying "not under any FAA restrictions."

Presumably, most local laws don't restrict property owners from flying over their own property. So if you are flying where the owner has given you permission, and their aren't any TFRs, flight restrictions, etc, then one should be as sure as is reasonably possible that flying is OK.

 

[Meta4]

Never said yay wasn't the case. That's why I qualified it by saying "not under any FAA restrictions."

Sorry ... I misunderstood. What you said is correct.

 

[Kcgunesq]

Flying on private property makes no difference to FAA regulations.
They apply anytime you are in the national airspace - which is everywhere.

PS ...The original discussion was two years ago

Never said yay wasn't the case. That's why I qualified it by saying "not under any FAA restrictions."

Presumably, most local laws don't restrict property owners from flying over their own property. So if you are flying where the owner ha given you permission, and their aren't any TFRs, flight restrictions, etc, then one should be as sure as is reasonably possible that flying is OK.

Sorry ... I misunderstood. What you said is correct.

No problem.

 

[tcope]

This is one of the ongoing problems. Local "laws" are made every day in hundreds of thousands of places. Some laws are legal, others (many) are not. Trying to get an updated lists of hundreds of thousands of places is simply not going to happen.

I'd say you best bet is to be well informed about the local laws in the area where you are flying. You should also understand national laws, such as regulation of public airspace (which is only national), the first Amendment, etc.

If you'd like, feel free to post the link to the law mentioned to you for more input on it.

 

[anotherlab]

When in doubt check with the local town or city government. Before I went on a beach vacation in the Outer Banks (NC), I called the town hall in Duck, NC. They said as long as I stayed away from the protected beaches I was good to fly. On Martha's Vineyard, I found a nice beach and pond where I was able to fly without bothering anyone or being bothered.

 

[GMack]

Arizona posts signs in some city parks along with maps that define the area you can fly in. Some maps don't like flying over nearby residences or some nearby solar panel farm where they call it "Critical infrastructure" and ban them outright since a crashing drone may bust panel and cause a fire - or so I was told.

The city I'm in sends out some Parks Dept. flyer annually and there is an ordinance in it against RC craft and drones, probably due to nearby people. However, the question becomes "Are vacant sports fields (i.e. Football, soccer, ballpark, etc.) parks or not?" That gets into a debate with them since some employees will say "It's a park and you cannot fly due to the ordinance," and another will say "It's not park so go fly there." Confusing.

Really depends on the squeaky wheel that calls in to complain, and/or the badge that shows up. I'll also vote for asking the local police dept. where best places would be if unsure, even though they might not know either. Oh, and get a name too (or business card is even better) if the desk person tells you a place is okay just in case another says "Git!" I got the secretaries name at the BLM office who told me one area was good to go, but the local BLM patrol ranger said "Git!" (Trespassing on federal land.) until I told him "Martha at the office said it was okay" and he backed down.