Hello all, I just purchased a Phantom 3A and was looking for other people on Long Island to chat with. Find new cool places to fly, rules and regs and whatever else floats your boat.

Is it me or is the whole damn island covered with airports on the B4UFly app? I've cross referenced them with Goggle Maps and a bunch of the "helipads" are private homes. I was down flying at Gilgo last week but was wondering where else it was cool to fly. Has anyone contacted a local tower for authorization?

I would talk to some local hobby shops, or neighborhood forums.

State parks do not allow flying over their parks.

County Parks do not allow flying over their parks.

Town parks do not like flying over their parks.

Many people you will meet (especially the Idiots Party supporters) will assume you are doing something bad flying around and will make idiotic faces at you.

Other than those issues, you are Free to fly!

If you have a boat, then it is a lot easier.  Just make sure you set the Home Point by the shore first; you need to repeat this for each battery.

I've been over the water quite a bit but was looking for a park or some place to fly. Didn't Bethpage State Park have an RC aerodrome at one time? Anyone know if you can fly there?

What MD_Icarus wrote jives with everything I have read. Add in the numerous airports (not to mention the new NextGen approaches which have commercial flights at lower altitudes all over Long Island) and I don't know how people fly here at all. That said, there are plenty of videos from flyers, so they are apparently doing so safely and without repercussion.

There is a facebook group "DJI Pilots Long Island" - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1459929110936067/   Folks there might have better localized information for you.

There was and is an RC field at Bethpage State Park. Last I looked, there were several restrictions:
- AMA membership
- local club membership
- permit fees ($40? - in addition to the parking fee)

I believe they use the Polo Field for flying. That would explain the restrictions since other groups also use that field (soccer, polo, etc.). Knowing the outrageous rates BSP charges for that field (up to $3000/day), I'm surprised a flying club can afford it.  Reach out to these people: http://www.longislandelectricrcairplanes.com/bethpage.php  who should have more detail.

Interestingly, that field is within 5 miles and  under the ILS approach for Republic Airport. I find it ironic that NYS would like to ban flying in their state parks, but one of the few where it is allowed is where it is most likely to interfere with real air traffic.

Suffolk County supposedly passed some legislation a while back which makes it illegal to fly over or near any county property. Haven't heard of it being enforced, but it is something to research before you start flying. I haven't seen any formal restrictions passed for Nassau County (that doesn't mean there aren't any). Depending on where you are, you may or may not have problems. I have flown in a Nassau County park without any issues. But I was also there running an event for which I had a permit, and the circumstances were controlled. If a random visitor showed up and started flying around the same place, there would be a problem.

Make contact with the regulars on that FB group. They seem to have a good handle on the local places where you won't run into problems.

Thanks for the info JRM. I've been fooling around with the ultralights, but this is my first jump into the big leagues. Don't want to cause a problem but obviously want to be able to use the thing