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squishy
Mountain climber
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Mar 13, 2018 - 08:49am PT
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The drone community totally burned that dude who dived the airplane, threw him under the bus and turned him in...that sh#t was lame...
Not like this stuff..good clean drone fun is where it's at..everyone will be a kook because you old farts put up a fight to a new way to surf the sky.. "That blasted automobile scared my horse! get off my lawn!"
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jun 18, 2018 - 10:59am PT
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Kite + camera = DRONE in CA State Parks
At least to a certain law enforcement ranger at Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park it does.
I was KAPing at sunset at Point Cabrillo last week (KAP = kite aerial photography), a place I have KAPed nine times in the past, when at about the end of my session a Park Ranger paid me a visit to advise me that drones are illegal in California State Parks. She was the law enforcement ranger, with a pair of handcuffs and a Glock on her hip, and an AR-15 mounted in the shotgun rack of her truck. She meant business. When she saw me, she activated the flashing blue lights on her truck, which is never a good sign.
No big deal, I thought. I don't own any drones.
But she insisted that any aerial photography is a "drone" to her, and she's The Law in those parts.
I showed her my rig, which she photographed from several angles, including angles which captured both the rig and kite in the same frame, as it hung right in front of her face, while I explained its use and how it's not a drone. She was having none of my explanation. She told me again that drones are outlawed in California State Parks, and that I had to stop what I was doing immediately, or risk being issued a citation.
"Citation for WHAT?" I asked. "Illegal drone", she replied.
"This isn't a drone. I don't have any drones." That went nowhere.
I asked if it's legal to fly a kite in her State Park. She replied in the affirmative. I asked if it's OK to take photos in her State Park. That too is legal, she said.
"Then how come I can't do two legal things at the same time, without the police telling me to stop?" I asked. Because "drones are illegal" was her response.
I asked if she had a copy of the text of the law she was trying to enforce with her. She answered by asking me if I was a lawyer. That's another bad sign. I think the police ask if you're a lawyer when they realize that the tool they brought with them isn't the right one for the job they want to do.
(I've been asked by the police if I was a lawyer so many times in the past that my standard answer is "Are you?" We then establish that neither of us are lawyers, and we get back to discussing whatever it was we were talking about before the cop changed the subject.)
I didn't give her the standard answer, because I was still trying to be nice, even though my frustration level was climbing. I replied that I was interested to read the law because I wanted to be in 100% compliance with all rules and regulations at all times. If something's illegal, I don't want to do it. She took my phone number, and promised me she would look up the law, and get back to me on how the law prohibited KAP. She never called. I never expected her to call.
I was flying almost 700 feet away from the scenic and historic Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, and over a hundred yards downwind from any other building or public access road, so this wasn't one of those times when my camera was within a few yards of a lighthouse. Didn't matter to her. She's highly trained, and she knows a drone when she sees one. And she saw one suspended from my kite line!
As she left, she told me "I won't be citing you right now", but that I needed to quit immediately. I was finished anyway, whether she was there to congratulate me on another successful KAP outing or there to take me to jail. I told her so much, and also told her I intended to start up again the next morning at first light.
Later that evening, as I was attempting to get shots of the lighthouse using a normal tripod, the lighthouse docent - Laura - paid me a visit. As we were talking, she mentioned how she had to call the Ranger to deal with "some yahoo flying a kite" earlier. That yahoo was me (I've been called worse) I said.
Turns out, a visitor had seen me KAPing, and had also seen at least one of the dozens of "NO DRONE ZONE" signs plastered all over everything at Point Cabrillo, and told Laura about a drone flying. Laura took a look out the front door of the lighthouse, and because she had no idea of KAP, and kite string is a tough thing to spot from 200m in fading light, she assumed "drone" and called in the cops.
That was my fault, for failure to communicate ahead of time.
The next morning - I was staying overnight at one of the rental units on the lighthouse grounds - Steve, the HMFIC of Point Cabrillo Lighthouse paid me a visit to tell me that everything I was doing was OK. I wasn't out of line at all. Steve and I had met several times over the years, and he was hip to what we do. Steve even knows Cris B. (ringleader of CA KAP, and retired professor of architecture at Cal Berkeley) so KAP is nothing new to him. "For crying out loud, we SELL kites at the gift shop inside the lighthouse" he said.
Before I took off the following morning, I left both Steve and Laura a couple sacks of California avocados, to kind of let them know I'm not sore with either one of them. And I also left them a few of my cards, with a link to my Flickr page. Lighthouse Laura follows me on Flickr now!
Lesson learned? Communication is key. BEFORE I launched a kite, I should have said something to the docent at the lighthouse about what I was doing. I should never assume just because I've been KAPing somewhere for a decade that anybody else there knows what I'm up to.
The Ranger? She's a lost cause. If she didn't grasp the concept when illustrated for her, she never will. She wrote in her report that she observed a "drone tied to a kite". If she wants avocados, she has to buy them herself. I've been contacted by all kinds of police / security types while KAPing - local cops, county sheriffs, State Police, Highway Patrol, port security, rangers, Border Patrol, etc - at least a dozen times in the past. And every one of them gave me the green light once they saw what I was doing. This one was different.
My biggest regret is that I wasn't snapping pics of her while she was photographing my rig. Next time, I'll try to remember.
That's OK. I got the shot I really wanted:
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nafod
Boulder climber
State college
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Jun 18, 2018 - 11:56am PT
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More than a few drone operators think that by tethering it, they can pretend it is a kite and can skip the FAA drone rules. Not.
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perswig
climber
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Jun 18, 2018 - 01:19pm PT
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If she wants avocados, she has to buy them herself.
Damn skippy.
The UAV uber-pervs have probably queered the pitch for you kite guys re: the general populace, as now we/they are sensitized to worst-case scenario stalking and could hold each user group in similar suspicion. Might explain the cop's response?
Dale
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jun 18, 2018 - 01:43pm PT
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The FAA rules the skies. They have a different opinion.
If California wants to ban kites in State Parks, they can do that. But with exception of sensitive wildlife habitats, they have yet to make that move.
Thanks, Mr Milktoast. It helps that we're a small community. I know practically everyone who does this, and I can't burn my own bridges without screwing people I know and admire - people who I've met and shared meals with.
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chip_brazuca
Social climber
Mato Grosso
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Jun 18, 2018 - 02:03pm PT
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Drones são uma besteira
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jun 18, 2018 - 06:07pm PT
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Chaz, Chaz, Chaz, the only thing you say to a cop is "No, Ma'am", or "Yes, Ma'am.".
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Jun 18, 2018 - 06:17pm PT
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My Lawyer tells me to not even say that.
But you got make a decision sometimes. Do you want to be like Jesus? Or do you want to be like a lawyer? Because you can't do both at once.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Jun 18, 2018 - 08:33pm PT
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More than a few drone operators think that by tethering it, they can pretend it is a kite and can skip the FAA drone rules. Is that so.
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nafod
Boulder climber
State college
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Jun 19, 2018 - 05:48am PT
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Is that so. Not sure if they are thinking 'kite' specifically, but I run a drone program and we have sites that would require waivers to fly at. Constantly get folks saying, "Hey, if I attach it to a tether..."
You can put up a big netted enclosure and zorch around in that, as it becomes indoor flying with no FAA restrictions. The tether idea makes sense since it'd have the same effect of keeping the drone from running off willy-nilly, but the FAA says no.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jun 19, 2018 - 06:20pm PT
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hey there, say, chaz... oh my... :O
say, ;) is there anywhere, or, anyone that can make a 'legal'
ruling on what you ARE actually flying, and thus,
letting you have a 'proof' of 'whatever' paper, to show the
police or rangers, :O
just that-- ohmy, i love your kite photos, and, don't want
anyone 'messing' with you, :(
love them avocados, :)
say, odd side-note...
avocado...
almost sounds like:
abogado...
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EdBannister
Mountain climber
13,000 feet
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Jun 19, 2018 - 07:26pm PT
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waiting for the first fire fighting drones...
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squishy
Mountain climber
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Jul 17, 2018 - 02:50pm PT
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waiting for the first fire fighting drones...
Federal firefighters in California have been testing and using drones to spot smoke for years. there's been firefighting drones out working for a long time now...problem is that the public is still hung up on them so it's not widely known..fear is a hella of drug..
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jul 22, 2018 - 10:04am PT
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Grass fires: another reason to ban drones.
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