Drew Armstrong, a photographer who flies drones on the outskirts of LDS temples to capture stunning images, recently shared a story on social media of why flying drones near temples can cause problems.
While standing outside the Draper temple grounds and flying his drone, Armstrong was asked by the temple site manager to help try and remove a drone that had become stuck. The drone had been stuck near the top of the temple for weeks after crashing. In his Facebook comment, Armstrong mused stated, “The poor guy who crashed his Yuneec Typhoon up there is going to have to pay $10K or something to have scaffolding put up to get it down.”
Armstrong told KSL news, “They are worried about somebody damaging the church’s property, and I don’t blame them.”
Church spokeswoman Irene Caso issued the following statement about flying drones on temple grounds.
“Temples and the grounds that surround them are sacred spaces for worship and reflection, and so we try to preserve an atmosphere of tranquility and peace. For this reason, drone filming is very rarely authorized. If a drone were to crash during an unauthorized flight over a temple, we may offer to retrieve it at the pilot’s expense, but in some cases, this may not be possible.”
The Church can stop those flying drones while on church property, but cannot restrict the airspace if a drone is flown outside temple grounds.
There has been no report yet if the crashed drone has been removed from the top of the Draper temple.
