This weekend the winter weather broke and I went to fly! I wanted to fly in an open space with no one else around and maybe something interesting to photograph. I went to a near state park/lake in Ohio. The site I selected was a huge spillway near the lake with nobody around. I parked at the lot near the open space and started flying. All LOS and not over 100' in altitude. The interaction with the officer really wasn't a big deal but here is what happened.
As I was flying, a Ranger pulled in and asked what I was doing. I didn't think what I was doing was a problem so I replied, "Flying my Quadcopter". He said, "You can't do that here". I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll land it" Which I did. He was really pretty cool about the whole thing and was interested in the Phantom. I showed it to him and as I put it in it’s case. I told him that I thought it was okay to fly in a state park. He said actually this was Army Corp of Engineers (ACoE) land and he worked for them. He said the state park was contained within it so they had jurisdiction. I told him I wasn't aware it wasn't okay to fly on ACoE land and that I knew it wasn't okay at national parks but this was news to me. He said, “The government doesn't know what to do so they just stop it until they figure it out". He told me about someone flying on a trail and having to kick them out of the park and about the requirement for a permit to shoot nature photos or even a wedding on ACoE land. He also said, the park should use drones and save money compared to what they have to spend on helicopters to get aerial photography. I packed up my Phantom and we both left cordially with no trouble or tickets and the name and contact info for the ACoE park manager who can give me more infomation.
I plan to do a bit of research and see what the ACoE says at a national level. They’re not the National Park Service who we know has banned us. If I find more information from the ACoE at the national level, I plan to have a conversation with the local park manager and see if we can’t work something out.
Anyway, any info you may have about flying on the ACoE land/water I’d appreciate if you’d share it. Lastly, when you do interact with a police officer be polite and respectful of their position and unless you happen to run into a true a$$hole of an officer, you’ll probably be okay.
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