so this has been bugging me for a while and i finally wanted to post about it. i was flying at a state park in colorado last summer, had my part 107 cert, drone was registered, thought i was totally good to go. ranger came up and told me drones are banned in all colorado state parks and gave me a warning, almost turned into a fine. i genuinely had no idea states and localities could layer their own rules on top of FAA stuff. i always assumed the FAA preempted everything below it. is there a reliable way to check before flying somewhere new or is it just kind of a mess you have to figure out each time

yeah this trips up a LOT of people including people who should know better honestly. the FAA controls the airspace but it doesnt control land access or use policies. so a state park, county park, national park, whatever can absolutely ban drones from their property even if the airspace above it is totally legal to fly in. its kind of a weird legal distinction but courts have mostly upheld it. national parks have had a blanket ban for years, most state parks have their own policies and they vary wildly. colorado is pretty strict about it. theres no single database that covers all of this which is the frustrating part, you kind of have to check each parks website or call ahead if youre not sure. airmap and aloft help with airspace but they dont always reflect land-based restrictions

same thing happend to me in a county park in virginia, nobody told me there was a local ordinance. i think a lot of pilots just dont know this is even a thing. the part 107 cert doesnt really teach you about state and local land rules, its all focused on airspace and safety. kind of a gap in the training imo