so this happened a few weeks ago and ive been meaning to post about it. was at a pretty well known park out west, wont say which one, and i had done my research ahead of time, checked the airspace on aloft, nothing was flagged, figured i was good to go.

pulled out the drone at a trailhead parking lot which i thought was outside the main restricted zone and within like two minutes a ranger rolled up and told me drones are banned throughout the entire park regardless of airspace apps. apparently the NPS has its own rules that operate completely separately from FAA airspace and it doesnt show up on those apps at all. i genuinely did not know that and felt pretty dumb. she was cool about it and didnt fine me since i hadnt actually taken off yet but still

just wanted to share because i thought i had done everything right and still almost got caught out. always look up the specific park service rules separate from the airspace check

yeah this trips up so many people, the NPS thing is completley seperate from FAA authorization and pretty much every national park in the US bans drones by default unless theyve issued a specific permit. the airspace apps dont show it because its a land use rule not an airspace restriction. annoying but thats how it works

oof glad she let you off. i had a similar thing happen at a state park actually, different rules again from national parks. its like every level of government has its own drone policy and none of them talk to each other. i just email ahead now if im going somewhere i havent flown before, takes like 5 mins and saves the headache