Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National Parks

Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by thinkmassive on Friday June 20, 2014 @03:08PM (#7922301)

It seems like this need would naturally lead to very small camera drones specifically for this purpose. Probably pocket-size and, eventually, inexpensive.

I know that lifting a camera and battery requires a sufficient amount of thrust, but if flight was limited to one minute then it could probably be very small. Wind might be an issue, but flying insects have been around for a while. Engineers will figure it out.

Hopefully the long term regulations would permit such small personal drones with a very limited flight time.

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by snowwrestler on Friday June 20, 2014 @03:14PM (#7922336)

And if the battery runs out? The drone falls onto some rock climber 1,000 feet below.

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by maxerickson on Friday June 20, 2014 @03:22PM (#7922379)

Are there tourists lookouts that are above popular climbing routes? Seems a little contrived to me. What if a tourist drops a can of soda?

I guess if people really can't stand not having such shots the thing to do would be to license some people to use the drones and make sure they avoid doing the most horribly dangerous things (maybe they could use tethers or something).

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by snowwrestler on Friday June 20, 2014 @04:11PM (#7922618)

> Are there tourists lookouts that are above popular climbing routes?

Definitely. In Yosemite both Half Dome and El Cap have hiking trails to the top and are very popular for climbing.

There's an old joke in climbing when you top out among the hikers: "Wait, you mean there's another way up this thing??"

Edit to add: even though a falling drone would probably not actually hit a climber, I don't think anyone wants the base of El Cap littered with smashed little drones.

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by maxerickson on Friday June 20, 2014 @04:28PM (#7922713)

Yeah, I don't think people need to be commonly operating drones in these areas (I'd still probably be okay with allowing them on Tuesdays or something like that).

On the other hand, I don't think there needs to be special rules for every potential type of litter.

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by ajuhasz on Friday June 20, 2014 @04:08PM (#7922605)

I agree this is a bit of a stretch as an example, but yes people do drop stuff on climbers. Still an interesting story and maybe a good sign that even the smallest objects (drones or boulders) can lead to a runaway effect on a cliff. Thankfully though, it does have to be a "one in a million" coincidence to hurt someone.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/rock...

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by baddox on Friday June 20, 2014 @04:21PM (#7922679)

What if your brakes on your car fail while you're driving to or through the park?

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Re:Unmanned Aircraft to be Prohibited in America’s National ... by radley on Friday June 20, 2014 @04:20PM (#7922672)

You mean like dropping a penny?

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