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Guilty verdict in third Yellowstone Park unmanned aircraft case

Posted by Thomas J Coyle III on October 4, 2014 at 11:30am

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by Press • 4 October 2014

Three cases regarding the use of unmanned aircraft in Yellowstone National Park have resulted in three convictions.

Donald Criswell of Molalla, Oregon, had been charged with violating the ban after he flew his unmanned aircraft over the crowded Midway Geyser Basin and close to bison on August 19.  On Thursday afternoon, October 2, he pled guilty to the charge of violating a closure and was fined $1,000 plus court costs.

In late September, Theodorus Van Vliet of the Netherlands entered a guilty plea in connection with an August 2 incident where his unmanned aircraft crashed into Grand Prismatic Spring.  He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay over $2,200 in restitution.

Earlier in September, Andreas Meissner of Germany pled guilty to charges arising from operating an unmanned aircraft which crashed into Yellowstone Lake near the West Thumb Marina back on July 18.  Meissner was sentenced to a one year ban from the park, was placed on one year of unsupervised probation, and was ordered to pay over $1,600 in fines and restitution.

All three successfully prosecuted cases arose from well documented violations of the prohibition of the operation of unmanned aircraft along with other violations of park regulations or impacts to park resources.

Full article here: Yellowstone Hobby UAS Incidents

Tags: park, yellowstone, aircraft, unmanned, violations
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Comments

  • Jonathan Hair October 4, 2014 at 5:16pm
    Have there been any convictions in national parks outside of Yellowstone?
  • T3
    Ted Van Slyck October 4, 2014 at 5:16pm

    For the record I have no intention of flying somewhere that will draw negative attention to our hobby....or in a National Park. I was merely wondering where National Park service jurisdiction actually stops. The topic has been discussed at length in the "not over my property" and "reasonable use of your land" discussions however. 

  • squilter October 4, 2014 at 4:55pm

    I believe the wording is that you cannot take-off or land in a national park.  You should be *technically* safe if you just fly over (and don't crash).

  • T3
    Ted Van Slyck October 4, 2014 at 3:58pm
    Does anyone know if there is an altitude restriction or operator location restriction? Because soon enough commercial drones will be high in the sky above the parks whether they like it or not. They certainly do not have jurisdiction over the high altitudes over parks. I am not sure where their jurisdiction stops, if they have any legal jurisdiction over the airspace over the parks in the first place.
  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III October 4, 2014 at 12:02pm

    This should come as a word of warning for anyone thinking that they can get away with flying their hobby sUASs in National Parks.

    Regards,

    TCIII Admin

This reply was deleted.