Own a drone, go to West Virginia

[TimMc]

I was in Babcock State Park in West Virginia Thursday. The posted drone regulation was friendlier and smarter than any I have seen in the National Parks or the Wisconsin State Parks. Babcock allows drone flying from 1-3 PM and asks you to avoid flying over people and buildings. Talking with a park ranger , he commented that they try to accommodate everyone.

After hearing a simple no everywhere else , these guys came off a lot better. Hopefully drone pilots will respect the accommodation.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice - sounds like a sane approach.

Oregon State Parks is currently holding sessions on how to structure their approach to drones and happily at least one of the members on the board is a very active commercial drone pilot and advocate. The public comment period just ended so they will be taking up the issue at upcoming meetings. They are leaning towards an approach acknowledging that drone flying is a legitimate recreational activity with potential no-fly zones near wildlife sanctuaries although there are plenty of commenters screeching for a no way, no how, no where result. Washington went that route and have prohibited drones being launched/landed/controlled from any State Park land without a permit which requires 6 months advance notice.

 

[JimFox]

That’s great news Tim!

Utah in most of their State parks just has you fill out a simple permit for $5 and you are free to fly it at anytime there. Certainly worth $5 to me.

where I am at in SoCal, it’s a basic no fly zone for 100’s of miles around me.

 

[Beth]

west virginia's state park system is really nice all around, so i'm not surprised to hear that they're taking this approach. meanwhile in delaware, 1/3 of our state is under a large, strict tfr nearly every weekend for the next 142 weeks. our park system won't even consider drone changes until then.