Skydio slammed for sharing illegal drone footage in Yellowstone National Park
Apr 8, 2019
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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Drone manufacturer Skydio recently published footage of a person gliding on rollerblades at Yellowstone’s West Thumb Geyser Basin boardwalk. Using a drone is illegal in national parks, so the footage put the California-based company under investigation. What’s more, inline skating on national park boardwalks is forbidden too, so this aerial footage sparked tons of negative comments online.
DPReview reports that Skydio published the video to promote its “true follow-me” feature. It sure looks impressive, but the company chose a rather wrong place and subject to promote it. As I mentioned, both using a drone and inline skating are illegal in national parks, and Skydio did both. But it’s not all Skydio was slammed about.
It seems that Skydio was aware that the location wasn’t appropriate for those activities. So, according to DPReview, the company geotagged Iceland as the location of the video, not Wyoming. The post was reportedly viewed over 10,000 times in one week, but users were quick to figure out that the location didn’t match the geotag. In the end, the video was removed from Skydio’s account.
According to the same source, Instagram users reacted to the misuse of the geotag, calling Skydio “dishonest.” However, the video reached Yellowstone National Park law enforcement rangers. Park spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said that “they are aware, and they will investigate it.” She added that it’s “important to recognize is that there are so many incidents of drone use that we deal with. Visitors using drones in Yellowstone is a problem.”
With drones getting more and more accessible, their number is on the rise. And as we all know, not everyone is respectful of the rules, nature or other people when flying them. According to DPReview, there were around 40 registered illegal drone flights in only in Yellowstone, in 2018 alone. Those who get caught were fined in most cases, and fines can go over $1,000 per pilot.
[via DPReview]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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6 responses to “Skydio slammed for sharing illegal drone footage in Yellowstone National Park”
“Skydiots”
The information in this story came from the Jackson Hole News&Guide, not DPReview.
Of course Yellowstone doesn’t want drones flying over the park. It might find even more evidence that the volcano is about to blow. Thanks to satellites and drones we now know there’s a geothermal formation that’s killing the trees over by Tern lake. I understand that they don’t want to cause mass panic among the public. Kinda like how they’re dancing around the fact there’s a huge volcano under the ice in Antarctica that’s melting the ice.
The entire southwest is sitting atop a volcano!
Can someone clarify a couple of points in regards to the legality of flying in national parks; it is my understanding (I think the source was Drone University) that the national park had or were revisiting their prohibition of drones. Yes, I know that Air Map and others indicate them as prohibited today, and for the moment I abide by this and others should as well. However, it seems reasonable that without cause for national security or safety of other aircraft or protection of endangered ecosystems (protected wilderness areas) that one federal agency can supersede the mandate of the FAA to regulate the skies. This is what protects municipalities and states from setting their own rules that impede commercial and recreational aviation. I know the courts have ruled that parks cannot prevent drones from flying above but can prohibit them from landing and taking off from government managed property. I know in this case it is likely that Skydio may have even broke this rule depending how far they were in the park and how reasonale would it be that they flew in from elsewhere. However, hypothetically if they had launched from outside the park would it have been illegal (aside from what they were photographing which was another issue)? I understand that some will point out that disrupting the quietness of nature itself is a reason for prohibiting drones which is a reasonable argument but a also a different topic. I guess I am basically asking the question did and does the national park administrators have a legal leg to stand on in regards to the basic part of this article: flying over a national park with no wilderness restrictions. I appreciate the experts providing insight.
Their footage should be the evidence needed for law enforcement to send them a big fine for using a drone illegally in YNP