THis past weekend I was in San Francisco, On Friday We arrived to the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge (at Vista Point near the Lone Sailor). Upon Arrival I noticed a CHP Officer on a bike riding by I stopped him and asked if it was ok to fly my drone, He stated that is was ok because that area was State property and proceeded to point to the hills in the back saying that sthe national park so just dont fly thier. Then he proceeded on his way. I was flying for about 10 minutes when I was interupted by a Golden Gate Bridge Officer and he told me to land the drone immeadieatly. I told him I spoke with CHP on the bike upon arrival and he said it was ok to fly. He then said the CHP ranking is higher then him so it was ok, he did walk away but always kept me in his sight for the duration of the flight.

Just so you guys know its alway good to ask any law enforcement before you fly if you see any near by, if i didnt ask the first CHP officer I would of had to end my flight due to the lack of knowledge of the second officer.

Glad you got off ok but if you look at the map here https://app.airmap.io/ and check the "national parks" checkbox, you will see that both sides of the Golden Gate are actually designated as National Parks areas. In areas such as the Bay Area with numerous national parks and congested airspace, it is always a good idea to check an airspace map such as airmap.

dotfiles Posted at 2016-12-5 11:54
Glad you got off ok but if you look at the map here https://app.airmap.io/ and check the "national parks" checkbox, you will see that both sides of the Golden Gate are actually designated as National Parks areas. In areas such as the Bay Area with numerous national parks and congested airspace, it is always a good idea to check an airspace map such as airmap.

Flying From (taking off within) a national park is prohibited. However.flying in the airspace above it is ALLOWED. This isn't difficult. Not sure why the confusion

Maybe because F.F asked permission that how he was allowed to fly, it never hurts to ask..

dotfiles Posted at 2016-12-6 02:54
Glad you got off ok but if you look at the map here https://app.airmap.io/ and check the "national parks" checkbox, you will see that both sides of the Golden Gate are actually designated as National Parks areas. In areas such as the Bay Area with numerous national parks and congested airspace, it is always a good idea to check an airspace map such as airmap.

Main congestion is from heliports.

LimitingFactor Posted at 2016-12-5 13:06
Flying From (taking off within) a national park is prohibited. However.flying in the airspace above it is ALLOWED. This isn't difficult. Not sure why the confusion

Just pointing this out because it is more than likely that the OP launched from national park space as it extends quite far around each end of the Golden Gate bridge. It's not a big deal but no need to be hostile.

dotfiles Posted at 2016-12-5 12:24
Just pointing this out because it is more than likely that the OP launched from national park space as it extends quite far around each end of the Golden Gate bridge. It's not a big deal but no need to be hostile.

Sorry. No offense meant. There is just a lot of bad information out there that isn't helping the drone community when people start quoting rules that don't exist or they don't understand.  

dotfiles Posted at 2016-12-6 03:24
Just pointing this out because it is more than likely that the OP launched from national park space as it extends quite far around each end of the Golden Gate bridge. It's not a big deal but no need to be hostile.

I launched from the parking lot where the lost sailor is on vista point. the CHP on his bike watched then rode off.

That area is very risky to fly.

- There's a lot of security/police that really do NOT like drones out there
- People from SF absolutely hate drones
- The coast guard helis and tourist helis buzz the bridge often.. especially the CG heli that often flies under the bridge

Too many chances to end up on the 10 O'clock News, so I never fly there.

Mir Posted at 2016-12-6 06:20
That area is very risky to fly.

- There's a lot of security/police that really do NOT like drones out there

Well with permission from CHP I dont see a problem, I kept within sight and no Helicopters came near. Golden Gate Bridge officer also stated that the CHP was pretty high in rank so it was fine.
I took off rear the back of the parking lot then immediately went out away from people.

Mir Posted at 2016-12-6 06:20
That area is very risky to fly.

- There's a lot of security/police that really do NOT like drones out there

Good points. Beyond worrying about hostiles on the ground you have to worry about congested airspace as well. Definitely a space where line of sight is important.

FrequentFlyer Posted at 2016-12-6 06:35
Well with permission from CHP I dont see a problem, I kept within sight and no Helicopters came near. Golden Gate Bridge officer also stated that the CHP was pretty high in rank so it was fine.
I took off rear the back of the parking lot then immediately went out away from people.

He is saying risky as in increased probability of mid-air collisions. Good to hear it all worked out for you though.

I live in SF and it's pretty common knowledge ocean beach, gg bridge, and most of Marin headlands are off limits because it's federal property. Golden gate park however is cool to fly because the city owns it, not the Feds. Check out hivemapper next time ...it says no for the parking lots, but okay to fly from the middle of the bridge....weird it doesn't cover the whole bridge when you look at the SF map

If it is CA state park property, there are no restrictions on drones unless it is so posted. Drones are allowed in State Parks unless the local superintendent bans them, and if so it must be posted. This is based on a notice from the CA state Parks.

SteveCA Posted at 2016-12-6 00:13
If it is CA state park property, there are no restrictions on drones unless it is so posted. Drones are allowed in State Parks unless the local superintendent bans them, and if so it must be posted. This is based on a notice from the CA state Parks.

Would you happen to have the link?

So lots going on here.   
1 - National Parks have banned drones, and that includes most of the GGNRA (both sides of the bridge, the headlands and pretty much anything coastal in SF from Aquatic Park west and south.
2 - I believe the GGB itself is a no drone area, probably by the agency which runs the bridge.  There are no drone signs posted there.  The officer was probably correct, and probably has precedence over the CHP
3 - Golden Gate Park is not part of the National Recreation Area, but SF has banned drones in city parks.  I've been asked to not fly there by park workers
4 - California State Parks don't have a blanket ban, but leave it to the discretion of the district.  The San Francisco Bay Area district has banned drones.
5 - The Peninsula and East Bay Open Space organizations have banned drones as well

On point 4 above: http://www.naspd.org/ca-recreati ... -local-state-parks/

And point 2: http://goldengate.org/news/bridg ... den-gate-bridge.php

FrequentFlyer Posted at 2016-12-7 05:04
Would you happen to have the link?

http://resourcemagonline.com/201 ... e-is-allowed/69290/