In San Francisco (Pleasanton/Dublin) for a few days...anywhere safe to fly?

Othan1 · Oct 19, 2015

I'm here for work and drove from San Diego just to fly on the way. Now I need some safe places to fly here...

Anyone have any advice on where I should go that would impress those back in SD?

zobiwu · Oct 20, 2015

there is no legal place to fly in the SF area, sadly, except for fort funston if no other aircraft is flying (basically at night?).

most people end up flying illegally in the area though...
if you go south in the bay area, theres spots an hour or two away such as baylands.

Jman44 · Oct 20, 2015

There are many drone meetups at Caesar Chavez park in Berkeley. Its right on the bay, but you might have to follow their rules. You can see San Francisco, bay bridge and golden gate bridge from there, although they are far away.

Othan1 · Oct 20, 2015

Jman44 said:
There are many drone meetups at Caesar Chavez park in Berkeley. Its right on the bay, but you might have to follow their rules. You can see San Francisco, bay bridge and golden gate bridge from there, although they are far away.

Hmm. I might do that. I'm a member of the AMA so maybe I can pretend to be normal a bit.

Totally unrelated...There are many drone enemies here. Trees everywhere! EVERYWHERE! Much different than the desert of San Diego. Oh, and did you know that if the P3P goes upside down, it will try to dig itself through the Earth? Not that it's related.../whistles innocently

virtue · Oct 20, 2015

zobiwu said:
there is no legal place to fly in the SF area, sadly, except for fort funston if no other aircraft is flying (basically at night?).

most people end up flying illegally in the area though...
if you go south in the bay area, theres spots an hour or two away such as baylands.

Really? No place? I was there just this weekend, and was aware of limitations over the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, stadiums, Oakland/SFO airport, but otherwise I thought it was basically 'normal rules'. I flew from Fort Mason out over the bay for shots of the city, and of the finish line of the Nike Half Women's Marathon (from over water, not over the runners). I flew from a park to Coit tower, for a shot with the city skyline in background, and from a park on Nob hill for a high, closer view of the city, including the TransAmerica Tower. Also got the Palace of Fine Arts. Good some good ones.

Tashier · Oct 21, 2015

Seriously? Nowhere to fly in SF Bay area? I don't live there but visit often and would probably have just flown anywhere except the obvious airport, stadium. Why not Alcatraz, Golden Gate, Golden Gate park, Angel Island, Treasure Island (like DJI does) etc??? How would someone be aware of all these restrictions?