Arches National park

[JoeC]

Arches is a great place to fly. Not sure if it's legal, but one of the park rangers watched the fpv with me and said it was cool.


http://youtu.be/mBOYSI5GXf8

 

[Suwaneeguy]

Good video. Didn't the ranger get the word?
As of June 20th, all national parks are no fly zones.

Don't know why, but at 2:08 the video went black for me.

 

[vyoufinder]

Actually I was just checking the regulations and UAVs are NOT entirely banned within Arches National Park. From their page (http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/regulations.htm):

The use of model aircraft (unmanned, under 55 lbs, flown for hobby or recreational purposes within the line of sight of the operator) is prohibited for the protection of the park's environmental and scenic values and for avoiding conflict among visitor use activities.


... So your UAV must weigh MORE than 55 lbs. or it's not legal. Not sure why they want big heavy things flying around as opposed to small ones like most of us fly, but sounds right for an American government entity to make regulations which make no sense. Can you even imagine how 55 lbs. would feel if it were to land on someone?

Legal to fly this one in Arches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F0Q0v7H_9Q

 

[Lithium12.6]

Thank you to post that heavy lift video.
This is what they say:

Model Aircraft
The use of model aircraft (unmanned, under 55 lbs, flown for hobby or recreational purposes within the line of sight of the operator) is prohibited for the protection of the park's environmental and scenic values and for avoiding conflict among visitor use activities.


It clearly says within the line of sight, right?
That means I can fly FPV if I don't see it. Great!

 

[SilentAV8R]

It is NOT legal to fly any sUAS regardless of weight in any US National Park as of June 20, 2014

http://home.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1601

The line that was quoted above means you CANNOT fly in the park

The use of model aircraft (unmanned, under 55 lbs, flown for hobby or recreational purposes within the line of sight of the operator) is prohibited for the protection of the park's environmental and scenic values and for avoiding conflict among visitor use activities.

 

[SanCap]

Sweet! What is the big white square on one of the rock walls as you are going thru the arch at 1 minute 25 seconds?

 

[vyoufinder]

It is NOT legal to fly any sUAS regardless of weight in any US National Park as of June 20, 2014

http://home.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1601

The line that was quoted above means you CANNOT fly in the park

The use of model aircraft (unmanned, under 55 lbs, flown for hobby or recreational purposes within the line of sight of the operator) is prohibited for the protection of the park's environmental and scenic values and for avoiding conflict among visitor use activities.

I think you're reading it incorrectly. It says that unmanned model aircraft UNDER 55 lbs are prohibited and it also only says that this ban is for hobby or recreational purposes only. So this would mean that if you're flying for commercial or other reason OR if your UAV weigh MORE than 55 lbs., then you're not in violation of their rule. Likely not what they intend, but it's what they've written. This is for Arches National Park only and each park has its own rules. In my opinion, Arches has banned exactly the wrong ones. Commercial flyers should be banned if anyone, and big heavy UAVs would definitely seem to pose more of a danger as well as an annoyance, so I am not sure why they only banned hobbyists using normally available size UAVs.

 

[vyoufinder]

It is NOT legal to fly any sUAS regardless of weight in any US National Park as of June 20, 2014

http://home.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1601

The line that was quoted above means you CANNOT fly in the park

The use of model aircraft (unmanned, under 55 lbs, flown for hobby or recreational purposes within the line of sight of the operator) is prohibited for the protection of the park's environmental and scenic values and for avoiding conflict among visitor use activities.

That was the date the superintendant asked all U.S. National Parks to ban UAVs, not the date each park made a rule banning UAVs. He wants this done by March of 2015 if I remember correctly, and is up to each park to make a rule banning UAVs. Arches apparently only banned small ones (under 55 lbs.) and only for recreational or hobby use. People flying for commercial reasons do not fall under this ban. Nor do people flying big heavy UAVs (over 55 lbs.)

 

[vyoufinder]

Here's what will most likely be my only video from Arches (shot before the ban)

http://youtu.be/eEooGAF3vwg

 

[MrKlay]

I thought the use of "Drones" for commercial use is still not legal? So even if you "Use it for commercial use" in their park, it's still illegal.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.