Where to fly in Los Angeles

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Hi,
I recently got a phantom 4 and am trying to figure out were I can legally fly it. I live on the Westside of LA but am willing to drive a ways. I'm not finding anything very clear online. The faa so shows me where the airports are, which are everywhere when you consider helipads. I'm have a hard time believing that I will get in trouble flying a few miles away from a seldom used helipad right? Also, I've read that national parks are a no go. What about state or county parks? How about the beach?

Any help would be appreciate!





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Wondering the same thing! I took it to Palos Verdes at some of the abandoned cliffs yesterday as it seemed to be the only place without an airport 5 close by. It was great, but obviously I can't take it there everytime!
 
I honestly don't know what the answer is.

The drone specialty shop in Burbank (Ventura Blvd.) says there are some parks that allow them to fly. I think he said three so it might pay to call them and ask. Some AMA fields are pretty stuck-up against drones and won't let you fly there even if you are a AMA member and pay them an annual membership both. Plus, LA is so large that each city has their own ordinances as to what and where too.

Really gets messy if one gets into the permit area too if you want to fly legally for commercial use in LA - or maybe even non-commercial. Some off-duty cops are monitors for the FilmLA licensing/permit outfit and know. I read of a drone shoot where they had to block crosswalks and sidewalks for a certain time length (2 minutes max. for drone flyovers.) and the entire production made out of doing all that would break most's bank accounts to do so legally. If it was a union shoot, no doubt they would hire actors or stunt people to be in the crosswalks too and keep John Q. Public safe on the sidelines.

Your successful flight will be the one that you don't get the po-po involved with you telling you otherwise. Good luck.
 
It is a little frustrating trying to find out information about where I can fly and where I can't. There was this blog post at hivemapper from Jan of this year, but evidently it wasn't long after that new rules were put in place that basically took away most of those places in the post (6 out of 10 by my count). They made another blog post in July called Where NOT To Fly A Drone In Los Angeles that basically nullified a bunch of the locations they mentioned in the previous blog post.

I'm just getting into t his hobby and I'm a little disappointed that it's a struggle to find some good areas to practice. I feel like a lot of these laws that have been laid down by Los Angeles, like no flying at any LA city or county parks, etc. were rushed knee jerk reactions to a few incidents involving drones being flown where they shouldn't have been.

I think we need some sort of organized group of drone pilots that can work with the city to try and relax some of these laws, or maybe bit by bit open up certain areas that are currently restricted. The current FAA regulations are pretty common sense and would probably cover a lot of cases so that there wouldn't be a need for as many local regulations. Just my two cents.

So far, it looks to me like the map at hivemapper.com is pretty useful for seeing the restricted areas. It shows the airport 5 mile radii and shows all the parks in green (maybe red would have been a better choice, but it works).
 
do you have a Part 107? if so then you need to follow those rules.

but if you are just flying for fun and are not a Part 107 Pilot you just need to notify the airports within 5 miles. So depends which beach you go to, but head north past Malibu. I don't recall many airports up there, so you don't have to notify that many (as in the middle of LA). As long as you are not over people. You are one step closer to having aerial freedom. FAA website has rules for you. Sorry i don't have the link.
 
Any updates on this, I am also looking for places to fly
 
Same here. It sucks that there is no place to fly my drone. I am feeling discourage now from owning the drone. I was going to join the AMA for the Whittier Narrow park but if they are stuck up then what's the point of paying for the membership. If we are paying then we should get the same treatment for flying our drones.
 
And how does one contct airtraffic control of an airport; I wanted to get clearance to ffly my drone below 50 feet at the beach near LAX and every time i would call a number would just get a VM system with no one ever calling back. Do i need to go get a walky-talky radio or something?
 
And how does one contct airtraffic control of an airport;

You "notify" them for Hobby. You file an airspace waiver or authorization request for 107. I'm being slightly vague on purpose as there are more than enough posts here for you to read about this. See the Sticky at the top of this section..

I wanted to get clearance to ffly my drone below 50 feet at the beach near LAX and every time i would call a number would just get a VM system with no one ever calling back.

Not going to happen. That's in Class Bravo airspace, less than 5 SM from LAX and the FAA has a special rule for this type of airspace. The planes are so low I can count the rivets on them as they pass overhead there.

The number you call is either the wrong number or is ignoring your message.

Do i need to go get a walky-talky radio or something?

Nope. You are not allowed / authorized (by either the FCC or FAA) to transmit on airband frequency's.

I am a pilot and do carry a handheld airband radio tuned to the appropriate frequency for the area I'm flying. So I can hear the "traffic" around me. The only time I would ever think of using it is if I spotted a low flying plane / 'chopper. coming at me and there was a high risk of a collision. So far, I have not needed to.
 

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