Where to fly - Orange County, Southern California

If you decide to go through with the Part 107 certification, you'll feel more confident of where to fly after passing the test. Generally, if you are outside the boundaries of airports, you're safe. If the area is posted no RC Models, you're not. Very few So. Calif cities have no fly ordinances, but Laguna Beach does, however you can still fly in certain areas in Laguna Beach, like Top of the World. Whether you're in a legal area or not, I always fly as stealth as possible, away from people that can be a nuisance. Hide and launch.
If you go to the Laguna Beach web site, they list the parks that are "legal" and those that are off limits to hobbyists. Despite the restrictions, a pilot with a Part 107 license is exempt from those limitations.

I also avoid people as much as possible and there are days I can find local parks with zero people.
 
Hi. I've had my P4A for about 6 months now. Been slowly but surely learning to fly it better and better and get better and better footage as well. Live in Southern California (Redondo Beach) and love flying off the coast in south redondo and along PV. I also love flying along Hermosa but....well....they wanna take advantage of their completely unrestricted FAA zone with an expensive permit. Love Manhattan Beach as well. Looking forward to flying in Whittier Narrows soon as well as wanting to fly over the dog beach in Huntington. 'Cause...let's face it....dogs are fun.


Are they are any local drone clubs or groups in SoCal? I also race RC cars (off road 10th, 8th, 5th). Mustang enthusiast (puts it lightly). Hope to see some of ya out there in the skies!


B.
 
Hi. I've had my P4A for about 6 months now. Been slowly but surely learning to fly it better and better and get better and better footage as well. Live in Southern California (Redondo Beach) and love flying off the coast in south redondo and along PV. I also love flying along Hermosa but....well....they wanna take advantage of their completely unrestricted FAA zone with an expensive permit. Love Manhattan Beach as well. Looking forward to flying in Whittier Narrows soon as well as wanting to fly over the dog beach in Huntington. 'Cause...let's face it....dogs are fun.


Are they are any local drone clubs or groups in SoCal? I also race RC cars (off road 10th, 8th, 5th). Mustang enthusiast (puts it lightly). Hope to see some of ya out there in the skies!


B.
I have been unable to locate any active clubs. There were some people on meet-up dot com some time ago but it looks like they ran out of steam. Whittier Narrows looks promising. I did not see any restrictions on their web site.
 
Hi. I've had my P4A for about 6 months now. Been slowly but surely learning to fly it better and better and get better and better footage as well. Live in Southern California (Redondo Beach) and love flying off the coast in south redondo and along PV. I also love flying along Hermosa but....well....they wanna take advantage of their completely unrestricted FAA zone with an expensive permit. Love Manhattan Beach as well. Looking forward to flying in Whittier Narrows soon as well as wanting to fly over the dog beach in Huntington. 'Cause...let's face it....dogs are fun.
Are they are any local drone clubs or groups in SoCal?
B.
Whittier Narrows is OK to fly, but just OK. There's really not a lot to see there, but it's a nice park for the kids. You have to avoid other fixed wing model aircraft, as it's a very popular RC flight area. Be super careful if the drone racers are out, those dude are fast and crazy! There's usually about 6 to 10 other pilots flying their fix wing craft, helicopters, or drones, and on weekends it's even more. Although it's an AMA field that requires AMA membership, nobody has asked me for my membership card, frankly because I don't think anyone cares. Maybe on weekends this is policed more, not sure since I haven't been there on a weekend. I flew there after work, weekedays after 5pm. There's a Wed morning crew that fly at 9am, race drones, I've seen that once. I got bored after about 3 visits to fly my Phantoms. The risk of flying near other pilots isn't worth it to me, given all the other places there are in So. Calif to fly. So many choices.

I'm unaware of any clubs, but I'm not looking for them either. I prefer to fly away from other pilots unless I know them. If I know them we can coordinate and communicate where we're flying and heading. So I'm not looking for clubs. I like to have a few droning friends to make day trips with occasionally. Coastal trips are nice. I visit PV peninsula too, especially during whale migration season, nice area but you need to fly stealth.
 
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I like the varied terrain, if you will, of places like the Narrows or PV, some of the beaches. Improving my flying to improve my photography or vice versa. I'm not looking to fly with a bunch of people, same as most, droning friends because it's best to work in pairs. LOL

I don't fly too on the down-low, honestly. Everyone that approaches me are curious or impressed and wanna know more. I treat my flying like my RC cars.....goodwill and information for those that ask. I wouldn't be flying now had I not asked and learned.
 
Whittier Narrows, specifically, has an event coming up in September that I would love to fly n shoot. I think it will make for some amazing footage.
 
Here's an updated map of locations to fly. Most of them I've flown. Notes are provided for each location, just click on the PinPoints.
I appreciate you putting this together. I have been looking for something like this, as I'm a new drone owner. Does the legend indicate whether a launch site is approved or not? I was unable to add the Google Map to My Maps. Everytime I open it I am told unable to open in maps, opening in Google Drive instead.
 

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