It will all to a head when one of these drones is linked to terrorism and that will occur in 2015 most likely.

Rvander,
Great to see people still have common sense.
Very well said.

if ya read the article carefully, you can see who is really behind the no room for hobbyist flyers stuff. it is being pushed by the large commercial interest, no so much by the FAA.

"Regulatory Capture" ... I think that's the in-vogue term for what is, essentially, Fascism.

I doubt it...we'll see a civilian incident before we see a military/terrorism indicident.

At the rate people are flying this in/around major airports, I suspect it'll be sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, yes. I can't help but feel the sudden spike in new stories about this isn't coincidental, one of them I read today said something about a near miss in May. May? Not exactly recent. I just hope nobody gets hurt.

I would guess that before we have an incident with full scale aircraft we will see more problems with these in public places, just irritating people, bouncing off cars, chasing bears at the zoos and moose in nat'l forrests.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

With all the attention in the news about drones people are taking more notice.

I have been flying at a local park, usually mid week when it is deserted and regularly for three years with planes, helicopters and more recently Quad copters. I never had an issue with anyone but in the last 3 weeks I have been approached twice by officials, first it was the local Council and second was by the State police.

The Council and the Police both confirmed it was ok to fly at this park and they had no issue with it. The Council officer reminded me not to fly when the park was being used for an organised sporting event (common sense would have stopped me flying on these days anyway)

I assured them I only fly when the park is deserted and they stayed to watch another flight or two and left smiling.

The police were called by a passer by who claimed I was filming "Everybody" illegally with a Drone…

This video was taken 5 minutes before the police arrived… you can see "everybody"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6HTwPfEO5U

You should have told them, that you have the right to film anything, or anybody, out in a public setting. Of course, on the other hand, if that particular person was doing something that he/she, maybe should've been doing within the privacy of their own home, then, oh well...

LOL I agree but there was no need to take that attitude in this situation as they were not asking me to stop.

They were both friendly when they approached and the conversation was very light hearted, even the Police Officer was shaking his head about the ridiculous nature of the original complaint.

(He told me he only attended as he also flew RC and was considering buying a Phantom and wanted to see what I was flying)

Well. some of the nay sayers will always argue that the Government is is against them no matter what. Yes the Faa, NTSB are Government agencies that legislate and write rules that are to be followed, weather you agree with them or not. Follow the Rules, very Simple. The AMA has published many articles about this, and they also wrote rules to abide by. The problem is, some people don't care about Rules, never have never will.

[QUOTE=FLAPHappy;11926991The problem is, some people don't care about Rules, never have never will.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this entirely. I'll add, most of those people don't care enough that they don't want to know there are rules, or other people. How to control it, I have no idea.

Thats an interesting big park. I notice it seems to be elevated, so I'm guessing it is over a reservoir.. The passer-by must ave really good eyes to see your camera on it. Or, I assume everybody who sees someone with a transmitter knows they are up to no good.

I am glad to hear that the officials were very reasonable when dealing with this "incident."

Did the people who complained about your drone also complain about traffic cameras on the highways and interstates, or the multitudes of security cameras that are installed in private businesses and public buildings? What about satellites that photograph us on a regular basis? Laws do vary by State, and I am not aware of any Court precedents that apply directly to the use of drones for photography. That said, I think most legal experts would agree that a a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy when they are in a location that is easily visible from a street or other public area. So, it's hard for me to take action against someone who uses a drone to photograph me while I am mowing my front lawn (assuming the drone is not over my property.) However, it's may be a different story if the drone is used to look down on my back yard, which is completely enclosed by a privacy fence. Even then, the back yard is visible from aircraft that are legally flown in the NAS. Anyone can also check out my back yard on Google Earth. Now, if someone flys a drone 6" from a window and photographs the interior of the house, that probably would be a violation of my privacy, since that vantage point is not accessible from a public area.

I guess I need to give up nude sunbathing in my backyard. Nobody needs to see that. :phehe
Thankfully these things are fairly noisy. For real stealth they need to get the noise down.

For those who may have missed it today. the FAA announced on national news, a decision will be forth coming January 2015. This decision will address the commercial use versus the hobbyist.

Decision? So now the FAA is the judge?

What was said and is there a link?

FAA has the authority to regulate in the name of safety. If they decide to pursue enforcement action, it can go in front of an administrative law judge who will hear both sides and then determine who wins.

The judge makes the decision, not the FAA. The FAA makes regulations and charges not decision's.

It sounds like the FAA intends to announce a new policy that will dictate requirements for the commercial use of UAVs. This has been in the works for some time.

The good news: this will allow for the commercial use of UAVs without a waiver. At the moment, (as far as the FAA is concerned,) there is no way to legally fly a UAV for commercial purposes without a waiver from the FAA.

The bad news: The requirements might be kinda strict. I would not be surprised if the policy required that all UAVs used for commercial purposes be registered with the FAA. Perhaps they will add a new "UAV" category of aircraft, along with training and experience standards needed in order to get a pilot's license for the UAV category. If a new UAV category is added, it may be possible to get the pilot certificate without flight time in full-scale aircraft.

Keep in mind that this decision may not have much impact on modelers who fly for hobby or recreational use. It sounds like the new policy will be focused on the commercial use of UAVs.

The FAA directed them to write regulations, not policy.