Its very easy to get your hands on a drone these days. Countless companies are selling inexpensive drones to the masses. While they don’t have the range or killing powers of military drones they’re good for capturing incredible shots from the onboard camera. If you’ve been meaning to head down to the Yosemite National Park and get some great footage through an unmanned aerial vehicle bear are mind that drones are not welcome there.
The National Park Service issued a statement earlier this week that inside the park’s 1,169 square miles drones are not permitted. It justifies the ban by pointing to existing federal conservation regulations which don’t allow use of helicopter, parachute “or other airborne means” to deliver or retrieve a person or object except in emergencies that involve public safety.
The statement comes after an increase of visitors using drones within park boundaries was noticed. It reads that drones can impact the natural soundscape as they can be “extremely noisy.” They obviously impact the wilderness experience for other visitors who probably won’t appreciate a camera-equipped drone buzzing around.
To what extent the Park Service is willing to go to enforce this ban remains to be seen. Presumably drone operators might be warned at first and repeat offenders might even have their gear confiscated. Yosemite National Park is massive, someone would certainly think they can get away with it.
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