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It's a shame you can't land or take off from a national park. Rules and advises about using it would be better than the current prohibition. I understand no o
by henvic 7y ago
It's a shame you can't land or take off from a national park.
Rules and advises about using it would be better than the current prohibition.
I understand no one wants ten jerks flying their loud drones during summer time at Yosemite's most crowded areas... but this ignores the fact that you can drive 1h inside the park and find a place no one will be bothered.
Regarding dealing with wild life, etc. the best thing would be advises on how to deal with such an encounter. You can fly a small plane near a whale, and no one will complain... but try to fly a small drone 100m away, and suddenly, you'll be shamed for scaring the huge mammal.
- nradov 7y agoNOAA prohibits low altitude flights over marine sanctuaries in order to protect whales and other animals. https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/management/permits/aircraft.html https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/management/permits/aircraft.htm...
- imglorp 7y agoWell that's silly. A 1kg drone does nothing compared to Navy active sonar. edit - Not sure about the downvoters here, it's an established fact. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-military-sonar-kill/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-military-son...
- jsjohnst 7y agoWhataboutism is rarely if ever a valid response.
- leetcrew 7y agowhen you compare two activities with roughly equal harm, whataboutism is unproductive. when you compare against an activity that causes orders of magnitude greater harm, it starts to be a valid point.
- liability 7y agoThe downvoters probably question the relevancy, not the factuality, of your argument.
- madamelic 7y agoI am doubtful a hobbyist drone would even be noticed by a whale if they collided.
- leggomylibro 7y agoAs well you should be. Don't fly drones at low altitudes around wildlife, please. That sort of behavior is why people are calling for and making these more stringent regulations.
- alistairSH 7y agoI understand no one wants ten jerks flying their loud drones during summer time at Yosemite's most crowded areas... But people do and it’s at best annoying to other visitors and at worst dangerous. Two drone experiences come to mind... First, hiking in Scotland. Some other guys had drones (3 or 4 of them in a group). Buzzing around what should have been a quiet, relaxing area. The noise was annoying and when the batteries died, the drones landed in less than ideal spots. Second, camping in the Blue Ridge, at a full-service camp site. Guy in the next site was flying one around while drunk, at low altitude. Then, he passed out and left the drone on. Battery got low and stupid damn thing started calling out “battery low” every 5 minutes for an hour until it finally died. People are jerks. This is why we can’t have nice things.
- henvic 7y agoThanks for your feedback, as an owner of a loud drone (Phantom 4 Pro) I really appreciate it. I'm going to buy the quieter new blades before using it again on any place where I can slightly disturbe others.
- ClumsyPilot 7y agoIndeed you don't need to ban drones to address irresponsible use. National parks are some of best places to fly them
- ghaff 7y agoAnd I imagine if you were a dirt biker, you'd think many National Parks were an ideal place for them as well. I get that some of the existing drone regulations, especially on private property, may be overly restrictive. I could barely fly a drone around my multi-acre property between general aviation airports and a nearby Army area. I also get that striking appropriate balances for multi-use of federal land is difficult. For example, I'm perfectly happy to argue both sides of very limited snowmobiles in Yellowstone in winter. However, other than individually-permitted commercial drone use, (or SAR etc. obviously), I see no scenario where hobbyist drone use in National Parks should be an allowable activity.
- leetcrew 7y ago> However, other than individually-permitted commercial drone use, (or SAR etc. obviously), I see no scenario where hobbyist drone use in National Parks should be an allowable activity. in total, US national parks consist of about 50 million acres of land. are you really saying it's completely unreasonable for hobbyist drone users to enjoy any of it?
- afiori 7y agoI think he or she is rather saying that they are not entitled to any of it, if I understand the topic of this article it is possible to have local agreement to fly in specific areas.
- ghaff 7y agoPretty much. I’m open to extremely narrow exceptions as in my snowmobile comment. But I suspect that would probably satisfy approximately no one who wants to fly drones or engage in other sorts of related activities that are generally prohibited in National Parks. There’s plenty of BLM etc. land where a lot of activities are allowed.
- liability 7y agoIf there is truly nobody around to notice your drone, then you would be able to easily ignore the law as nobody being annoyed means nobody to report you. What drone pilots actually want is the opportunity to fly their drones in scenarios where there are in fact other people around.