ok so this has been bugging me since the weekend. i was flying out in what i thought was just a national forest area, not a national park, and a ranger came over and told me i couldnt fly there without a permit. i checked before i went and the airspace was class G, totally uncontrolled, no LAANC needed or anything, so i figured i was good. i didnt even know national forests had drone rules separate from the FAA airspace stuff. is this actually a thing or was the ranger just being overzealous? im not trying to get anyone in trouble just genuinely dont understand how there can be a no-fly zone in class G airspace

yeah this trips a lot of people up. FAA airspace authorization and land use rules are totally separate things. class G just means you dont need air traffic control permission to fly ? it says nothing about whether the land manager below you allows it. national forests are managed by the US Forest Service and they absolutely have the authority to require permits or ban drone use in certain areas, and a lot of them have done exactly that especially in wilderness areas or places with sensitive wildlife. its annoying because the airspace apps dont really show you land use overlays in any reliable way. some do now but its inconsistent. moral of the story: always check with the specific forest service district before flying, their websites usually have info on it or you can call them.

ugh i ran into the same thing at a state park last year. cleared airspace, assumed i was fine, got asked to land immediately. the ranger was actually pretty chill about it but made it clear it was a blanket ban for the whole park. i think a lot of people including me just assume airspace = permission to fly and it really doesnt work that way. kind of wish the FAA app or aloft had better integration with these land use restrictions because right now its basically two separate research jobs before every flight