Hey everyone, not sure if this is the proper spot to post this, but here goes.  I was recently made aware of the my local county laws prohibitting drone usage big time, basically you can only use the drone on your own property.  This doesn't consider being part 107 licensed, which I am, more of a hobbyist.  That said, would federal UAV laws preempt local laws?  I did some research and it seems a bit subjective but the FAA guidelines typically win.  Thank you!

Local laws have jurisdiction on the ground. Federal has jurisdiction of the air. As long as you take off and land on your own property, or where you have permission, they cannot tell you what air space you can or  cannot use!!!

Mobilehomer Posted at 9-1 11:56
Local laws have jurisdiction on the ground. Federal has jurisdiction of the air. As long as you take off and land on your own property, or where you have permission, they cannot tell you what air space you can or  cannot use!!!

Exactly what I thought, thank you very much.

For example, there are many parks in my area that do not allow drones, but you can still fly over them. Just launch outside. However, I would not press that to include other restricted areas.

GaryDoug Posted at 9-1 14:27
For example, there are many parks in my area that do not allow drones, but you can still fly over them. Just launch outside. However, I would not press that to include other restricted areas.

Agreed, thank you for the reply.

May I ask what county you are in? I am in Nassau and the restriction here seems to be only county property.

fans5fad8194 Posted at 9-2 07:05
May I ask what county you are in? I am in Nassau and the restriction here seems to be only county property.

Sure, Rockland County, NY, not too far from you.

Local laws can get entertaining too.  In the city I live in, I can not take off or land on any city property or facility.  So I can take off from my driveway and fly anywhere I want (with a limitation if I get very far east due to an airport class D airspace).
So yes, you do need to pay attention to local laws on where you can fly.  Also note that in many cases, people do not know what their laws are.  For example on my first day of flying, I went out with a friend who had flown drone for years (tap his experience).  We spent several hours confirming that we could fly in a couple city parks in his city.  A city parks guy came over and told us we could not fly there.  Told him that was incorrect and that we had verified that the only restriction was the FAA (we were fairly close the Los Angeles International airport - but in a notch of the class D airspace).  He realized we knew what we were talking about about and let us continue.

Great to see another Rocklander here! Hope you've been able to find good places to fly, but I know that's a challenge in this county. The laws are not only strict, but in several cases they contradict federal regulations. To help fellow Rocklanders, I've compiled all the local laws, legal cases, drone friendly locations/groups, and other resources here: https://www.rocklanduas.com

Coincidentally, I reached out just today to the county legislator responsible for our current laws. I pointed out the errors, conflict with FAA regulations, and the FAA's position on jurisdiction. I offered my services as a pilot, instructor, and safety rep with the hope of making reasonable changes that would align county with federal law and still address safety and privacy concerns. Unfortunately he responded as expected, saying he feels his laws are appropriate and correct, and someone will just have to try them in court. Other courts have found in favor of the FAA in similar cases (https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2017/09/local-drone-law-struck-down-by-federal-preemption), so I suspect the county laws will eventually be challenged and overturned.

DaveZ Posted at 3-8 16:01
Great to see another Rocklander here! Hope you've been able to find good places to fly, but I know that's a challenge in this county. The laws are not only strict, but in several cases they contradict federal regulations. To help fellow Rocklanders, I've compiled all the local laws, legal cases, drone friendly locations/groups, and other resources here: https://www.rocklanduas.com

Coincidentally, I reached out just today to the county legislator responsible for our current laws. I pointed out the errors, conflict with FAA regulations, and the FAA's position on jurisdiction. I offered my services as a pilot, instructor, and safety rep with the hope of making reasonable changes that would align county with federal law and still address safety and privacy concerns. Unfortunately he responded as expected, saying he feels his laws are appropriate and correct, and someone will just have to try them in court. Other courts have found in favor of the FAA in similar cases (https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2017/09/local-drone-law-struck-down-by-federal-preemption), so I suspect the county laws will eventually be challenged and overturned.

Definitely a mess, although I haven’t encountered any issues as of yet. Appreciate you trying to reach out to local representatives but figured that might be their answer as well.