About Mike Lynch

Mike Lynch is a multimedia reporter for the Adirondack Explorer. He can be reached at mike@adirondackexplorer.org. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter

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Comments

  1. Peter says

    There are regular commercial flights, army helicopters, air force drones, fighter jets and private planes flying over the wilderness. What is the difference?

  2. Matt Carey says

    This was a huge overreaction by the New York State DEC. The DEC does have the discretion to issue a verbal warning instead of writing a citation. The guy was filming a documentary, not dive bombing hikers with his drone.

    • Paul says

      I agree. Nice way to be friendly with our Canadian neighbors. It is odd that it is legal for me to fly right over Mt. Marcy on a Cape Air flight (commercial) and this is illegal?

  3. Mike Lynch says

    DEC manages wilderness areas, so it was the act of launching and landing the drone that is against its regulations. DEC doesn’t manage air space. FAA is in charge of that.

    • Paul says

      I think that the FAA regulates the airspace that is something like 400 feet above the ground. These drones are not in that airspace, that is why the FAA has no jurisdiction with the exception of around airports. And some of the drone rules that the FAA has (for larger drones) do not matter if you are in a “sparsely populated area” – no one lives in the area he was flying his.

  4. Plow Boy says

    I guess when the state police helicopter drops trail/lee-to building materials into a wilderness area that’s no violation of no motors in a wilderness area but double standards are the standard in this country nowadays, but I won’t talk of politics
    think snow. You bad snowmobiler’s

  5. RT says

    Kudos to the DEC for enforcing this – the last thing we need is every other attention-seeking tourist flying mini helicopters in the wilderness.

    Next, we need to get rid of the daily, constant roar of fighter jets from Massachusetts circling endlessly overhead. The Adirondacks should be a place of peace and nature, not a playground for supersonic toys that are not welcome in their own states.

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