ok so im planning a road trip through a few national parks this summer and obviously bringing the mavic. ive heard different things from different people about whether you can fly or not. some guy in a facebook group told me yellowstone is a flat no but then someone else said you can get a permit? i honestly dont know what to believe anymore

anyone done this recently and actually talked to rangers or whatever. just want to know if its worth even trying or if ill be leaving the drone in the car the whole time

national parks are basically a no-go in the US, the NPS ban covers pretty much all of them. yellowstone, yosemite, grand canyon, all of it. the permit thing i think only applies to commercial film crews and even then its complicated. ive driven past rangers who were very much watching for people setting up drones near overlooks

your best bet is flying just outside park boundaries honestly. some of the BLM land around those areas is totally fine and the views are nearly as good. i did a trip last fall around moab and flew on BLM land pretty much every day

yeah what he said. i made the mistake of flying near the entrance of a park once (technically still outside) and a ranger still came over and gave me a whole speech. wasnt even in the park. just be careful and check the actual coordinates on something like UAV forecast or the b4ufly app before you go