Where Can Drones Fly? Legal Limits Are Up In the Air - Polidicks

[URL="http://www.npr.org/2014/08/10/339181964/where-can-drones-fly-legal-limits-are-up-in-the-air"]NPR Link[/URL] [quote=NPR]They're available online and in stores, some for less than $100. But whether and where owners are allowed to fly those drones falls in a legal gray area. In an open field at Bergen Community College in New Jersey, students fly drones they built in class. One model looks like a beach-ball-sized spider. It has six arms with blades on each and can shoot hundreds of feet into the air within a second. [B]Mechanical Baby Birds[/B] Students have mounted a camera to the drone and programmed it to take pictures every few seconds. They're using the drone to create a 3-D map of the campus. "It's like our baby," says Mariia Alibekova. "Like a little baby bird flying in the sky. I feel like a bird mama." Students can park their "bird" in the sky, leave it hovering and then make it come back home on its own. FAA regulations say drones shouldn't be flown above 400 feet. Higher than that, drones start to interfere with the national airspace. They can't be flown within a few miles of an airport, and they can be used only for fun — not for commercial purposes. NYPD spokesperson Brendan Ryan says individuals could potentially be charged with reckless endangerment in New York City if, for example, an individual with a camera flies a drone into a stadium. [B]The Wild West Of Drones[/B] Bill Dickey manages Pilotage Fun and Hobby in Manhattan, a store that sells drones. He says unmanned aircraft are flying all over the city. Dickey says slate workers send them drones over buildings to take pictures of their work. "It's been a great thing for my business," Dickey says. "I think the drone industry is the industry for our era." The FAA fined one resident more than $2,000 for flying a small drone off a building in Manhattan, after it bumped into other buildings and landed on a public sidewalk. Peter Kalaitzidis, an Air Force veteran who owns drones, says they need to be taken more seriously. "Everyone is doing these high, elevated shots, and they're failing," Kalaitzidis says. "You can go on YouTube and see epic crashes all day, every day." That's why lawmakers are calling for more regulations. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called New York City the "Wild West of drones" and said the devices threaten citizens' privacy. The FAA is expected to issue more regulations in the fall. But Manhattan lawyer Brendan Schulman says existing laws already protect against the types of illegal acts someone might commit with a drone.[/quote]

I would prefer not to have a drone crash on my head.

The civilian use of drones is incredibly useful for many things. Farming, animal monitoring/conservation, fire fighting, scientific data collecting, package delivery, you name it. Though there does need to be rules about how, where, and when you can use them. I don't think the concern for privacy outweighs the good they can be used for when the right rules are in place.

The media needs to stop referring to RC planes / *copters as drones. That said, the UK law on this seems pretty reasonable, as soon as you put a camera on an RC plane it becomes a small surveillance platform and cannot be flown over people / vehicles that aren't in control of the pilot and it cannot be flown in controlled airspace. Seems pretty reasonable really. [editline]10th August 2014[/editline] Also the privacy issue isn't an issue IMO. Taking a photo through someone's window for example is questionable no matter how you do it. You don't need to write a new law every time a new way of murdering someone becomes clear so why do you need new laws for a new way to invade someone's privacy?

[QUOTE=Jsm;45649710]The media needs to stop referring to RC planes / *copters as drones.[/QUOTE] The media loves its buzzwords.

I can see rc plane and drone regos on the horizon tbh

[QUOTE=Jsm;45649710]The media needs to stop referring to RC planes / *copters as drones. That said, the UK law on this seems pretty reasonable, as soon as you put a camera on an RC plane it becomes a small surveillance platform and cannot be flown over people / vehicles that aren't in control of the pilot and it cannot be flown in controlled airspace. Seems pretty reasonable really. [/QUOTE] No that really isn't reasonable. If it is flown on public property then you have the right to take pictures of people even if they don't consent since they are in public. Having a camera in your hand makes it no less of a surveillance tool than a camera hovering hundreds of feet above your head.

[QUOTE=toaster468;45649783]No that really isn't reasonable. If it is flown on public property then you have the right to take pictures of people even if they don't consent since they are in public. Having a camera in your hand makes it no less of a surveillance tool than a camera hovering hundreds of feet above your head.[/QUOTE] The only issue I can see is if you lose control and it crashes down. Though that shouldn't be a huge issue if they're drones manufactured for commercial use (packages, etc)

[QUOTE=toaster468;45649783]No that really isn't reasonable. If it is flown on public property then you have the right to take pictures of people even if they don't consent since they are in public. Having a camera in your hand makes it no less of a surveillance tool than a camera hovering hundreds of feet above your head.[/QUOTE] I should have clarified, it seems that is a safety matter and not a privacy one. Especially as in the UK its been proven a few times that you have no right to privacy in a public place (unlike say, France where you can sue people for taking your photo). I think the problem is people flying using FPV and not being aware of their surroundings and being a risk. Personally I think there should be a way for people to prove to the CAA that they are not incompetent and be allowed to fly near people. If I remember rightly some years ago someone was killed here by an RC plane so the CAA are a bit jumpy about anything remotely controlled. The actual regulation in question: [quote](a) over or within 150 metres of any congested area; (b) over or within 150 metres of an organised open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons; (c) within 50 metres of any vessel, vehicle or structure which is not under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft; or [/quote]

[QUOTE=OvB;45649796]The only issue I can see is if you lose control and it crashes down. Though that shouldn't be a huge issue if they're drones manufactured for commercial use (packages, etc)[/QUOTE] RC planes and helicopters hardly ever lose control unless you switch the stabilizers off to do tricks, and even then you only need to turn it back on with a switch for it to instantly regain control even before the power dies it tells you 5 minutes in advance on most hobby planes, and many helicopters and planes(unless they're angled in a dive) float down slowly even without power planes are overall pretty safe, and if they're large enough to hurt you by landing on you, that guy most likely has been flying planes long enough to decide "i'm going to spend 500+ dollars on this" since if you mess up with those you're going to have to make some pretty expensive repairs

[QUOTE=OvB;45649687]The civilian use of drones is incredibly useful for many things. Farming, animal monitoring/conservation, fire fighting, scientific data collecting, package delivery, you name it. Though there does need to be rules about how, where, and when you can use them. I don't think the concern for privacy outweighs the good they can be used for when the right rules are in place.[/QUOTE] I feel as though if people really cared about their privacy than they'd stop making a big fuss about drones and start making a bigger fuss about the NSA.

I was at a crowded outside concert in downtown Austin, and there was like 2 or 3 of these flying around the whole time, with LED's and such. Kept wondering what it would be like if one ran out of power/lost connection and went crashing into the crowd. Or about the potential privacy issues some might have had. How much does the average consumer one weigh?

i will fly my goddamn airplane wherever the fuck i like, because it's a [I]toy.[/I] fuck goddamn this whole thing makes me angry. [editline]10th August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;45649606]I would prefer not to have a drone crash on my head.[/QUOTE] because that's a problem. if that happens you need to be mad at the dumbass pilot not the [I]entire[/I] hobbyists group. just because joe "i can't fly worth shit" crashed his heli into a group of people, doesn't mean i can't fly my goddamn plane in a park.