so this happened last weekend and its been kinda bugging me. i was out at one of the state parks here in colorado, not a national park just a state one, and i had my mavic air 2 up for maybe 20 minutes before a ranger came over and told me i couldnt fly there. i showed him that i had my part 107 cert and he said that doesnt matter because the state park has its own rules. i honestly didnt know that was a thing. i thought if the FAA said i could fly somewhere that was basically it. ended up just packing up and leaving because i didnt want to make it a whole thing but now im wondering if he was actually right or just guessing. like can a state park actually override the FAA

yeah unfortunately the ranger was right, or at least partially right. there's this whole thing called the Huerta v. Haughwout case and some other legal stuff that basically means while the FAA controls the airspace, they dont necessarily control the land use. so a state park, a city park, a private property owner, they can all say no drones even if the airspace itself is legal to fly in. its two seperate things basically. colorado state parks specifically have had a drone ban in place for a while now unless you have a special permit. part 107 just means youre legal in terms of FAA regulations, it doesnt override local land use rules. annoying but thats kind of how it shakes out.

this is exactly why i always look up the specific park rules before i go anywhere. national parks are a flat no obviously but state parks vary so much by state its honestly a nightmare to keep track of. some states are totally fine with drones in state parks and others are not at all. i got turned away from one in georgia once and the ranger there honestly didnt even know the actual rule, he was just going off some printed sign from like 2019. might be worth emailing colorado parks and wildlife to get the actual policy in writing for future reference