so this is kind of embarrassing but i was out last weekend doing some hiking and brought my mini 2 along, found this really nice overlook and just launched without really checking anything because i was excited and the view was incredible. got some great footage too

got home and looked at the map after and realized i was pretty close to what might be a national park boundary, im not 100% sure if i was inside or outside of it honestly the trailhead parking was like 2 miles back. national parks are no fly zones right? or is it more complicated than that

im not sure if i should be worried or if this is the kind of thing that just happens and nothing comes of it unless someone sees you and reports it. nobody said anything to me out there, no rangers nothing. just been sitting with this for a few days

national parks are generally no fly zones yeah, managed by NPS and they have pretty strict rules about UAS, but the enforcement situation is... complicated. unless a ranger saw you launch and got your info, its unlikely anything happens from a single flight where nobody confronted you. that said its not a reason to keep doing it, NPS takes this seriously and fines can be significant if you do get caught.

the thing that would help you know for sure is pulling up the B4UFLY app or even just google maps with the park boundary overlay and comparing it to where you were standing. if you were outside the boundary in adjacent national forest land then its a completely different situation, NFS rules vary by district and some actually allow drone flying with a permit. worth figuring out just so you know for future trips to that area

honestly the amount of people who fly in or near national parks without knowing is probably huge, the signage at trailheads isnt always obvious and the apps dont always make it super clear either. not saying it's fine to do, just that you're probably not the only one who's done this by accident. check where you actually were and if youre inside park boundaries just dont do it again, thats pretty much all you can do at this point