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Drone Pilot Busted After Aircraft Spotted Near Washington Monument

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By NPT Staff - October 9th, 2015

Though the flying of unmanned drones has been banned in national parks for some time by the National Park Service, and by federal law in Washington, D.C., that hasn't stopped pilots from trying to skirt the regulations or the law.

Early Friday morning agents of both the U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service responded to a drone flying in the vicinity of the Washington Monument. It marked the ninth time this year that a drone was spotted in the restricted air space of a Greater Washington area national park site, according to the National Park Service, and the 26th time since 2013.

Officers from both agencies made contact with the operator after he lost control of the drone and it landed on the Ellipse. The U.S. Park Police issued Howard Solomon III, from Washington, D.C., a citation and confiscated the drone and other equipment used to operate it.

Secret Service agents located the F182 6 Axis Quadcopter on the Ellipse, just inside the entrance at 16th St. and Constitution Ave., and turned it over to the Park Police.

Federal law prohibits flying all unmanned aircraft, more commonly called drones, in the heavily regulated Flight Restricted Zone around Washington, D.C., including from private property inside the FRZ. Additionally, launching, landing, or operating unmanned aircrafts is prohibited in all areas administered by the National Park Service.

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