Aulani/Oahu with a drone

[halfmonkey]

I'm thinking about getting a drone and using it while vacationing in HI. I just started looking into this as I've seen some awesome footage on you tube and thought that having a drone would be cool because it would give some different perspectives of us while we're hanging out around the island aside from the selfie sticks and tripod shots.

I'm looking at the DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Does anybody have a drone they use while vacationing? Can you share your thoughts, tips, and tricks? Suggestions on a good drone? Tips and tricks about traveling and flying on a plane with a drone? I know you have to register your drone with the FAA. I live in CA and so if I register it in with my home address in CA, is there a problem with me taking it to HI and flying it there?

Again, I'm just starting to look into drones so please forgive me if I missed something or didn't ask something that maybe I should be asking. Thanks.

 

[kyton]

Just keep in mind most people hate them! We have stayed next door to Aulani at the Beach Villas. In between there is a huge empty parcel of land that will eventually be the new Atlantis Resort. We watched a man flying a drone there - not even near the beach - be fronted by the security guards and told to move on.

Privacy is the most important factor - people are relaxing on the beach / poolside - they don’t won’t stones flying above them “spying” on them for the want of a better word.

 

[halfmonkey]

I definitely recognize that people don't want to be "spied" on and it's not like I'm going to fly the drone at head level and buzz around people's heads and faces. My goal is to use the drone to take pictures of my family from different angles that I wouldn't have been able to get using a selfie stick, tripod, or asking another person to take our group photo. I would also use the drone to capture landscape shots that again I wouldn't be able to get with my camera in hand.

As far as people are concerned, I'm not interested in taking videos and pictures of random people that I don't know and if they get bothered by a drone flying in the air that isn't focused on them, then I'd have to say that they're probably just bitter people that don't understand what being in the public means. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public. Again, I'm not saying that I'm going to be taking pictures/videos of people. I would launch the drone and the done will take pictures and videos of my family. If someone happens to be in the background, well then they happen to be in the background. I just want to use it to capture my kid boogie boarding at the beach from the air. Such an awesome perspective. We're going to the Kaneohe Bay sandbar and seeing the videos on You Tube, I think it would be awesome to capture some videos and pictures from the air to give a different perspective. Again, my thought in using the drone is to capture different perspectives that I wouldn't otherwise get with using my camera in hand.

Of course, I'm not saying that I wouldn't respect people's "privacy" in public but at the same time, they are in public and to say that a drone might annoy someone, well I don't know what to say to that. What is there to annoy someone if the drone is taking off and has nothing to do with the person next to you? Maybe a little bit of a buzz? I don't get it. Like I said, I can see if someone is flying a drone at head level through a crowd and people are having to duck because the drone would otherwise smack people in the head for example but if a drone is a few hundred feet in the air out in the ocean taking pictures and videos, what is there to be annoyed about?

I found this website, https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map that seems to provide a pretty good layout of where you can't fly. It also list some warning zones but you can still fly in those areas so it seems that Oahu doesn't have too many no fly zones.

 

[kyton]

All I can tell you is we have been holidaying twice yearly on Oahu since 2011 and I could count on one hand the times I’ve seen drones being flown. The vast majority of those are on a Friday night videoing the HHV fireworks. I’ve never seen them on the beach at Aulani or Waikiki (the stretch between Outrigger Reef and HHV).

Ko Olina is a private gated community hence the security guards bring ever present.

You may not think of it as an invasion of privacy but you only have to see how drone threads blow up on other travel forums to know that people dislike them.

 

[kyton]

There are specific Hawaiian regulations regarding drone usage. The ones in particular interest for you are the fact that drones are prohibited in any Hawaiian State Parks as well as they are prohibited to be flown over groups of people, ie beaches.

https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Part_107_Summary.pdf
http://registrationfordrones.com/hawaii-drone-registration/
http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/administrative-rules/

 

[LYSE]

We went years ago but I was flying my drone out over the water looking back towards the beach for a picture and talking about my setup with the Disney photo pass guy when security (not Disney security) shut us down, the CM reffered to the community security as the fun police that makes up rules on the fly.

 

[glennbo123]

We were at puu_o_kila_lookout_and_overlook on Kauai and the beauty before us was so breathtaking that I can't even describe it. It was so awe-inspiring that I noticed that people were actually whispering, something I'd only encountered on hallowed ground such as at the Alamo or the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It was that beautiful. Just after I made that observation to myself, someone fired up a drone behind us and sent it aloft with a loud and very annoying buzz. Someone went over to the man and told him that they were illegal, and to his credit he brought it down right away, but the damage had been done for everyone enjoying the overlook at that moment. Don't be that guy.

 

[TagsMissy]

I don't have issues with drones, but there's a time and place for it. Be cognizant and be courteous to those around you. The buzzing sound is annoying; if it's a quiet area and there are others about then use your common sense and don't be a nuisance.