Best Legal Locations to Fly a Drone

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
So as many of you know, I am thinking about getting the DJI Mini 2 drone in a few months. As I mentioned in another thread to Jeffrey one of my concerns is that it feels like there is no place left to fly a drone. Some of that might come from my being in Southern California, but knowing National Parks are off limit, I was really wondering what locations are okay, and maybe some of your favorite places to fly a drone.

So if you guys could help me (and other drone users out) by sharing some of your favorite places to fly a drone, it would be appreciated. :)

@Jeffrey @Jim Dockery @Brian @Nilo Photography (hopefully I didn't miss anyone)

Thanks!
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Well I know you can use them at Skyline and Cowdung Road, Also Marlboro point. I suspect not at Dead Horse though, but it's a state park, would have to check.
 

Brian

Well-Known Member
Download the app B4UFly. You can just select a point and see if you can fly there. It's ran by a company called Kittyhawk and with the FAA.
 

Nilo Photography

Well-Known Member
You can fly it in Echo Park as long as you fly above 150 Ft when flying above people and don't fly above 400 ft. Set you altitude tp 400 ft to give you warning.
 
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JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map

is the map provided by DJI

works well here, hopefully in your area too
I couldn't get it to show anything outside of the default area at first. Then at the top of the map I saw it then displayed the data from the Spark Drone. Changing that to Mavic Air 2 for example, then it started to show restricted zones. So anyone trying this, make sure you change the type of Drone.

Tim, this will be so helpful. I need to save the link to this map. At least I know it's here for reference. Thanks!
 

Jim Dockery

Well-Known Member
No detailed beta about CA, but most forest service land is ok. Up here in WA I have to watch out for the many Wilderness areas, which are not marked out in the field, I check this map before I go. Of course you can't fly within 5 miles of an airport - make sure to check if there is a small one in the area (the rule isn't just for big airports).
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
No detailed beta about CA, but most forest service land is ok. Up here in WA I have to watch out for the many Wilderness areas, which are not marked out in the field, I check this map before I go. Of course you can't fly within 5 miles of an airport - make sure to check if there is a small one in the area (the rule isn't just for big airports).
Thanks for those tips Jim.
 

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
I am a newbie, and am suffering from this same problem. As stated, from what I can tell so far, national forest is OK, but wilderness areas are not, and of course national parks and many if most state parks and city parks are not it seems like. Biggest issue I see is that all the apps try to cover FAA regs, but have no info on local ordinances. And then of course, even if you are somewhere legal you may annoy someone who does not know the restrictions and then have problems.

Also in my very limited experience so far I find AIRMAP to be more comprehensive than B4UFly as far as showing where to fly. You can utilize LAANC (Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability) from AIRMAP (and perhaps B4UFly too?) for access in some restricted airspace, but in my case that is almost never an area I care about flying anyway. The apps are not the most obvious to understand - lots of nuance to the way they work and the displays IMHO. Hopefully I will get more comfortable with them.

ML
 
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