Here in NY state (Restricted State) and on Long Island (the Restricted Island) they are passing laws to ban drone flying at all parks.
First it was state parks, then county parks, now town parks. Thus there are no places to fly a drone legally!

I wonder if DJI or the Drone associations are going to help fight this trend of drone-fobia taking over our different government bodies?
Otherwise, drone flying will become totally illegal in NY and USA soon.   


In some cases, they are usng the plover birds as an excuse again!  I know most will laugh when I say this, but here in the USA, a stupid little bird is used as a ploy to close beach access to the public, so most of our beaches are closed because there are 3 - 5 birds nesting there! If you plan vacations on LI, think again. Of course the different groups maintaining these birds are making $$$$$$. They are stating that the drones will scare these birds?  but they are allowing the AIR show to occur every year, with many noisy planes flying here!

We will need legal support to stop this madness!  

I was interested to here a local park ranger say that the level of illegal fishing and egg poaching had been reduced by flying drones?

Aloha Icarus,

     Local jurisdictions and states can ban drones from taking off and landing on local and state property.  But, as long as you fly appropriately over the property, not over people or in a secure area (see GEO or B4UFly) you can still fly in the shared, Federal airspace above the local or state park.

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetaman Posted at 2016-7-10 16:26
Aloha Icarus,

     Local jurisdictions and states can ban drones from taking off and landing on loc ...

Please elaborate on that shared space.

When I called the state and the county parks they told me that no drones are allowed above their parks, at any altitude. I explained that I do not plan to be within the park area, just flying over it, away from people.  I also wonder, do the parks own the ocean area?  Most of my flights are over water anyway.

k.lower@hotmail Posted at 2016-7-10 10:55
I was interested to here a local park ranger say that the level of illegal fishing and egg poaching  ...

If the poachers spend more time flying drones than perform illegal fishing, then you got a good point and your statement is truerone flying will reduce poaching.

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-7-12 14:51
If the poachers spend more time flying drones than perform illegal fishing, then you got a good poi ...

We have plovers here in Australia. The stupid things nest on the edsge of the road, so you can imagine how much sympathy they get from the road users.

Geebax Posted at 2016-7-12 01:15
We have plovers here in Australia. The stupid things nest on the edsge of the road, so you can ima ...

Our plovers are much more stupid: they nest under the high water mark around our beaches, so the high tide will just wash their eggs away.  So we have a paid army of plover savers moving and fencing the eggs above the high water mark.  Then they close the entire beach! So even though LI has so much sea shore, most of the shores are fenced off or completely closed! As a result, there are only a few open beaches now, so just imagine the congestion!! Most NY city residents now travel north to the lakes.

They are also using the plovers now as a reason to ban drone flying!  But military jets are allowed to perform air shows.

Plover Birds = ECONOMIC DISASTER for the entire area.


But the few who are involved with maintaining them, or the different tree hugger groups who collect donations are doing $GREAT$

I love birds and my yard is full of them as I feed and water them all year long.  But the plovers are used as a ploy to collect donation$ and to control our precious seashores.


Sorry for the digression, but I can't help expressing my frustration.

Have you contacted your congressman and state representative?   Although I doubt they can help much.  

Drone flying community is small in size, it's not like hunting, which a lot of people enjoy, and whose right is protected under a lot of state constitutions.

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-7-11 18:46
Please elaborate on that shared space.

When I called the state and the county parks they told me t ...

Aloha Icarus,

     Where are you in the country?  These guys are really uninformed.  Maybe you can form a meet-up with others in your area so you can figure out how best to inform your parks people that they do not control the airspace, the FAA controls the airspace.  If the FAA says you can fly over their parks, you can fly over their parks.  It is really a no-brainer.

     Another, more benevolent approach is to contact your local or state representative and ask them to straighten out the parks people.  You can also contact various media representatives who can point the finger at how ignorant the parks people are in your area.  But, you will have to forward the FAA information to the political and media representatives so they at least know that you are right.

     Hope this helps!

Aloha and Drone On!

DJI-H.C Posted at 2016-7-12 03:37
Have you contacted your congressman and state representative?   Although I doubt they can help much. ...

I have tried but their staff are telling me that it's up to the local towns and parks depts to set the rules.

I am continuing to pursue this further though.

I think they know that if this gets challenged in court they will lose, but for now, there are no challenges.

Let's hope some good attorneys start using Phantoms.

Cetaman Posted at 2016-7-12 04:25
Aloha Icarus,

     Where are you in the country?  These guys are really uninformed.  Maybe you ca ...

I will try to do so, but they always take the side of what they perceive is the majority.  A local town official told me that I am not supposed to be flying in the town beach area, because my town just passed a law not to allow them in all the Brookhaven NY parks!  They will be giving summonses if they see repeat offenders.
The NY State has already banned them in NY state parks, and Suffolk County parks as well!

This will be the way NY drone flyers will look soon, in a park near me:

I may start a training school?

Some Advanced training classes will go over how to:

Set up and Fly it in less that 30 seconds.

Change Home Point in FLight (dynamic Home Point will be nice)

Use a baby carrier wrap for the RC; Advanced course will go into using a Lincoln type hat for maximum RC height.
We will paint the antenna tips black.

Please consider having camo green RC option soon.

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-7-14 17:27
This will be the way NY drone flyers will look soon, in a park near me:

I may start a training scho ...

You can considering painting camouflage color to your drone, so it can hide after it landed.

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-7-14 11:26
I will try to do so, but they always take the side of what they perceive is the majority.  A local  ...

Aloha Icarus,

     If your local and state politicians take the sides of "the perceived majority" in violation of laws and regulations, then your recourse is to explain your situation (and demand anonymity if you like) to the largest newspaper for your part of the state and the largest TV station.  (You may also consider contacting your Congressional Delegation.)  

     Unless, the NY State regulations have somehow determined and legislated that you cannot fly from private property through open airspace (Class G), they have no standing on the issue and you can file a complaint with the FAA regarding the conflict over the FAA jurisdiction.  The FAA should advise you further as to their capabilities under the circumstances.  Be sure to let us know how it goes!

Aloha and Drone On!

I wonder then, since the FAA regulates class G airspace, they can only impose a law that we can not launch it from within the park area.  But if lanched outside, then they have no jurisdiction over the air space?


The current laws address safety and privacy.  I never fly close to people so the next thing they are trying is close to birds!  

And the privacy concern is just nonsense IMO, siche these drones do not have zoom capability.