so this is kind of a rant but also genuinely asking because im frustrated. drove like an hour and a half to this state park to get some fall foliage shots, checked the airspace beforehand on two different apps, both showed it was clear. get there, set up, ranger comes over within maybe 5 minutes and tells me i cant fly there. says the park has its own no fly policy that has nothing to do with the FAA airspace classification.

i didnt even argue because i didnt want a fine or whatever but i came home feeling kind of cheated? like how are you supposed to know about ground-level restrictions that dont show up anywhere on the standard airspace maps. is there a resource for this or do i just have to call every single place ahead of time

ugh yeah this is one of those things that catches people off guard and its genuinely annoying because the apps only show FAA airspace data, they have no way of knowing about local ordinances or individual park rules. state parks in particular are notorious for this ? a lot of them added drone bans a few years back and just... put a sign up at the entrance if youre lucky. some dont even do that.

honestly calling ahead is the only real reliable way, i know that sucks to hear. some parks have it listed on their website under the rules/regulations page but you have to go digging. national parks are a straight no across the board unless you have a film permit which is a whole other thing, but state parks vary wildly by state and sometimes even by individual park management. sorry that happened, that drive would have made me miserable

this exact thing happend to me at a reservoir last summer. airspace was totally fine, even had my LAANC auth on my phone ready to show, but the land management agency that ran the reservoir had banned drones like two years prior. the ranger was actually pretty cool about it and didnt fine me but yeah, wasted trip.

i now just shoot a quick email or make a fast call to wherever im going if theres any doubt. takes 5 minutes and saves the headache. not a perfect system but i havent had it happen again since i started doing that