The airmap.com for San Francisco looks like military zone.  Can't fathom how the locals fly for fun and adhere to the FAA notify rules...

SF

Shhhh......

BIGDZ does. Take a look at his posts like these over at Treasure Island:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-67719-1-1.html
http://forum.dji.com/thread-48851-1-1.html

Use the FAA iOS or Android mobile app called B4UFLY to check your location prior to flying......

For a liberal city SF is very tough with drones. The problem is almost all the park areas are controlled by National Park Service... yea good luck. On top of that, the hippy types absolutely hate drones.. and they WILL confront you directly. I highly discourage flying over the city itself, you're asking for a lawsuit against you in case something goes wrong. Absolutely avoid everything around Golden Gate bridge as there are literally signs posted everywhere against drone flying and a hotline to call to report drones.

Only area that is safe: Treasure island as mentioned above.. and if you do fly there absolutely stay under 400ft and keep your drone in sight at all times due to very low flying helicopters that come through with little notice. Coast guard helicopters in particular fly under bridges every once in a while. There's also been incursions with CHP helicopters before, and in one case the CHP heli chased down the drown until it landed and had local PD catch the operator.

I'm thinking of heading up to SF this weekend to check out the DJI store and then heading over to Treasure Island to get some city shots. Is there a particular spot on the island that I can launch from where I won't get hassled? I'll be coming up from San Jose.

I was in  SF a few weeks ago, while flying a bit in the neighborhood I was confronted by a resident almost immediately. Nicely took it down and didn't argue.


However I did get some nice shots near Half Moon Bay.

el pelo Posted at 2017-7-12 07:35
I was in  SF a few weeks ago, while flying a bit in the neighborhood I was confronted by a resident almost immediately. Nicely took it down and didn't argue.

Was this in SF or Treasure Island?

Half Moon Bay was another area I thought about. Any recommendations over in that area to launch? I heard some areas have NO DRONE signs up.

RegDawg Posted at 2017-7-12 08:04
Was this in SF or Treasure Island?

Half Moon Bay was another area I thought about. Any recommendations over in that area to launch? I heard some areas have NO DRONE signs up.

We were flying north of Sausalito in the "burbs"

For Half Moon Bay we parked in the neighborhood just south the main entrance. The beach is less crowed down there and you should be able to launch without being bothered.  The idea is to get away from the crowds of people.

The more photogenic of a place is directly proportional to the troubles one would get if he/she tries to fly his/her quadcopter there. Therefore, try to fly in a shady part of the town and no one will bother you.