Another Drone Crashes Near White House (roboticstrends.com)

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday October 11, 2015 @02:28AM from the learning-to-fly dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A man has been given a citation for flying a Drone near the Washington Monument and crashing on the Ellipse, a grassy area outside of the security perimeter near the White House South Lawn. Howard Solomon III said he had been trying to take pictures of the monument and that the wind blew the drone across a street that divides the Ellipse from the grounds of the Washington Monument. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Park Police says Solomon didn't appear to be doing anything 'nefarious' but added, hat this was the ninth time a drone has been flown in a national park in the greater Washington area in 2015 and the 26th since 2013.

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Did they realize they were in a National Park? by pollarda · 2015-10-11 02:49 · Score: 3, Interesting

I bet that most of the people flying their drones in and around Washington monuments didn't even realize they were in a National Park. When people think of National Parks, they think of Yellow Stone, Yosemite, etc. out in the middle of the wilderness -- not in the middle of the city. Then there is probably an even smaller percentage that know that flying drones inside National Parks is illegal.
Of course, flying your drone around the White House is plain stupid. With all the security the President gets you know that flying drones around the White House is simply asking for trouble -- no matter the legality.