ok so this has been bothering me for a few days and i need to know if i actually did something wrong or if the cop just didnt know what he was talking about. i was flying at this park, checked everything beforehand, no TFRs, not in any restricted airspace, had my registration number on the drone, the whole thing. cop comes up and tells me im not allowed to fly there because the city has an ordinance against drones in public parks. i honestly had no idea that was even a thing. like i always check the FAA stuff but never thought to check if the city itself had rules on top of that. is that actually enforceable? feels weird that a city can just add restrictions on top of what the FAA says

unfortunately yeah local ordinances are totally a real thing and they can absolutely be enforced even if you're clean on the FAA side. there was actually a whole legal debate about this for a while, like whether the FAA has complete preemption over all drone rules, but in practice a lot of cities and counties have passed their own ordinances and cops will enforce them. some states have laws that prevent localities from doing this but a lot dont. i learned this the hard way in a different city, now i always do a quick search for drone ordinances wherever im planning to fly. its a pain but it is what it is

this is actually really good to know, i never even considered checking for city rules. i always just use B4UFLY and assume that covers everything. gonna have to rethink my process before my next shoot