Know the Law About Drone Flight

Alright, let me come right out of the box and tell you that you are never allowed to launch or land your drone for any reason from within the boundaries of a National Park in the United States.

Now, this does not mean you cannot fly over the property, but you can never launch or land from within the park borders.

It is also important to note that if you do launch and land outside the park, you MUST remain in a Visual Line of Site position of your Unmanned Flying System (Drone).

Line of sight can include binoculars, but you must always be able to see the flying object.

In many of the National Parks, say for example, Arches, Canyonlands, and Death Valley, the scenic spots are so far in, it will be impossible to get any footage without flying in some way illegally.

There have been others where I have been able to fly legally to get epic drone video and photos.

Legal Flying and Photographing Locations

In these places, the park boundary is right up next to some of the most scenic spots. A few examples have been Theodore Roosevelt North Unit, Glacier National Park up near Bowman Lake, the Mount Rainier National Park area, Devils Tower National Monument, Badlands National Park, Grand Teton National Park, the far northeast edge of Yellowstone National Park, Horseshoe Bend, just to name a few.

I can’t stress it highly enough, however, to know the law. The fines are steep if you fly illegally. Like $10,000 steep for starters.

Be mindful of other campers/hikers and don’t pester and disturb the wildlife.

Know your airspace too. (I use a special app to let me know if I am in an airspace requiring flight approval from Air Traffic Control towers)

Drones are noisy. They sound like a giant mosquito flying around. Get your footage and land it. If people are around, talk to them about it and about what you plan to do. Make sure they won’t be too upset by the flying.

“Fly it like you stole it” is advice I heard one time. I use that model unless I am certain no one is within earshot of what I am doing.

I always make it a point to introduce myself and mention what I am doing. On a few occasions, I have even let bystanders fly the device momentarily for fun. I never fly if someone says “I hate those things” or some other such statement. I will just find somewhere else. The world’s a big place. It’s really about being considerate of others around us.

A Video from Teddy Roosevelt National Park

In this video from Theodore Roosevelt National Park I found a few spots backing up to the park boundaries that were replete with video and photography opportunity.

I’d like to share this with you today.

And also, I’m sharing a few photographs for you to enjoy.

I love the panoramic photographs taken with the drone. Great Stuff!

Great Milky Way and Sunset photography at the end of the video. Enjoy!