okay so this is partly a cautionary tale and partly just me still kind of shaking my head about it. was out at the south rim last week, knew you cant fly in the national park itself so i drove out to this pulloff just outside the boundary, checked it on the map, looked fine. launched no problem, got maybe 2 minutes of footage and then the wind just absolutely slammed it. like out of nowhere. i was fighting the sticks the whole way back and it was throwing low battery warnings because it had been working so hard just to hold position.

made it back but it landed like 40 feet from me in some scrubby bushes and i had to go find it. the footage actually looks insane though so i dont even know how to feel. the thermals out there are no joke, the canyon basically creates its own weather. if anyones planning to fly near there just be really careful about time of day, i went around 2pm which was probably the worst possible choice

yeah early morning is the only way at places like that. like before 8am the air is usually way more stable and the light is better anyway. glad you got it back, losing a drone in the canyon would be a bad day

the NPS rules are actually pretty strict and the boundary thing is tricky because on the map it looks clear but some of those pulloffs are still considered part of the park depending on how the road easement works. not trying to lecture you, sounds like you did your homework, just something to double check next time because rangers have ticketed people even in spots that seemed outside the boundary. had a friend deal with that in Utah, different park but same situation