Read this before launching drones in the Adirondacks
By Megan Plete Postol
Flying a drone in the Adirondacks – what is okay and what is not? Many people, locals and visitors alike struggle to answer this question. Flying a drone is illegal in many parts of the Adirondacks, but not all. Let’s break it down.
Motors matter
Most of the confusion around where operating a drone is allowed or not allowed boils down to definition and classification. Drones are defined by the New York State Department of Conservation as “mechanized equipment,” and are referred to in regulations as unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS. So for legal requirements, drones must adhere to the same laws as other forms of mechanized, or motorized, equipment.
Check the signs
The land within the Adirondacks and the classifications it falls under matter too. In the Adirondack Park, it is legal to launch a drone anywhere the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allows, except on state lands classified by the Adirondack State Land Master Plan (SLMP) as “Wilderness,” “Primitive” or “Canoe.”
DEC regulation states: “Public use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment and aircraft will be prohibited,” in a Wilderness Area. Drones are motorized, thus cannot be launched from these areas. Examples include (but limited to) the High Peaks Wilderness Area, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area, and Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area.
The same rules apply to areas classified as Primitive and Canoe Areas. DEC again states: “Drones are motorized equipment and the operation of drones on lands classified as Wilderness, Primitive, or Canoe is prohibited.”
In addition to launching legally, it has to be operated from a legal location. Meaning you can’t launch legally and then follow it as you walk down a designated Wilderness trail.
Any kind of mechanized equipment, which includes drones, under DEC regulations need a permit to operate in the High Peaks, or any other Wilderness Area. Permits are very rarely granted for special circumstances, and more commonly for administrative or emergency use. Administrative use in this instance refers to any drone use by DEC personnel, contractor or cooperator acting on behalf of, and with permission of, the DEC. Emergency use is defined by DEC as a sudden or unexpected event which causes or threatens imminent harm or injury to a person, or there is the possibility of loss of life, endangerment to the public at large, the environment and/or the state’s natural resources.
The DEC’s latest update regarding public policy on drone usage on state lands it manages is from 2021. This policy does not apply to lands owned/ and/or managed by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which has its own regulations, policy and permitting procedure.
Follow the FAA rules
In areas that drones are permitted to fly they must follow the FAA rules for recreational/hobby flights. This includes flying less than 400 feet above ground level, maintaining a visual line of sight of the aircraft at all times, and not flying over people.
The FAA oversees all air space, and you can find out if there are airspace restrictions where you are planning to fly using the agency’s B4UFLY mobile app.
More overview and tips for responsible drone use on state land can be found here.
Due to advancements in technology and the changing needs, DEC projected that this policy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure the direction in the policy is current and compliant with any new legal requirements. There have been no changes this year.
Editor’s note: We removed a sentence about flying over private land. In the Adirondacks and the rest of the state (and country), it is legal to operate a drone on private land with permission, as well as flying over other people’s private land.
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Flying over another private property is not illegal. You do not own the airspace above you.
It is 400′ above a fixed object, building, tower, tree.
I think the article said “more than once” over private property …probably for privacy reasons to keep someone using drones to scan homes.
Sorry, I am confused I am in a plane flying over wilderness areas in the Adirondacks all the time. Why is that okay? Take off and landing I get that but “operation”? Why can Cape Air do it and I can’t?
Let’s put this out there for the ones that want to nitpick a private property owner’s rights as a tax payer. Call your local New York State Troopers. Press harassment and stalking charges! Drone operators don’t get it! You piss off enough people with your mobilized computer operated surveillance system and property owners will figure out the owner and take action!!
I hear #7 shot works well.(s)
No state has control over airspace, period. That airspace is controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration, and for good reason. The only thing that NYS has control of, or can take legal issue with is if a drone operator takes off from or lands on state land where mechanized operation is illegal. The federal government – FAA – controls all airspace, not any state. The issue this article addresses is a person launching a drone from the earth or from their hand while standing on the earth where mechanized equipment is not permitted. A very poor job is done addressing the issues of the federal government’s legal control over airspace.
A person standing just out of the Adirondack Park, who launches a drone can fly over the Park’s “Wilderness, Primitive, or Canoe” areas, so long as they adhere to federal drone rules/regulations and don’t land in one of those areas. The federal government controls the airspace, even over those NYS “restricted” land classifications. It’s really no different than if I fly my Cessna over those lands with restrictions, except for the altitude restrictions that may (or may not) apply to the drone and/or aircraft or, in addition to other general aviation or commercial aircraft regulations.
One thing to consider is that within the “Adirondack Park” most of us have generations of ancestry right here.
We have at times been legislated, ignored and over taxed for more than 100 years now, all the time being “governed’ by outsiders as our lands have been stolen either by state maneuvers to preserve “Forever Wild” lands.
We all know that our children have no chance for a decent job here, and now the pandemic has shown that people with money are buying up everything we cannot afford to.
Not many of us feel like “New Yorkers” so why are we putting up with downstate corruption and greed? Perhaps it is now time for us to begin a discussion; among oursevles to start with about whether or not we want our lands and homes to even be part of New York.