Keep in mind that there was no anger or bad vibes during this entire exchange. Everyone spoke with a respectful tone and respectful language.
Interesting conversation I had with a port authority cop here in NE Philadelphia near the Tacony Bridge. Long story short; there's a small fishing dock on the south side of the bridge. I flew from there, I was on my second battery when the cop pulls up and says, "You can't fly that here!" I asked why and he proceeds to say, "Homeland Security".
I replied, I'm not going to or trying to give you a hard time but that's not true! I'm sure you may not know any better so let me explain why I'm not breaking any rules. I'm on the outside edge of the 5 mile radius of the NE Philadelphia airport so I'm good there (I actually pointed to where I would be inside the 5 miles had I launched from a different location). The FAA hasn't designated this bridge or any nearby areas as NFZ's and if they were, my software wouldn't let me launch so I'm good there, now what's this homeland security bulletin you're talking about? He simply replied, that's what they told us.
The officer then said, you can fly it out there, (and pointed further down the river and towards the city). I then reiterated that I wasn't doing anything illegal and I wasn't going to give him a hard time because he was misinformed. As I continued to point out what the rules were and as the conversation progressed I could see the officers authority shrinking in respects to "this" situation because he didn't know enough and he realized he didn't know enough.
All the while, the Mavic was hovering and had reached 25% battery life so I landed and left. I had captured all the footage I needed from that location anyway.
The officer ends the conversation by saying, "Yeah I see all the videos on youtube and I just bought my son a small one." I was like, great! Now you have to brush up on the rules because as the hobby progresses you're going to run into many more people that are informed.
Interesting conversation I had with a port authority cop here in NE Philadelphia near the Tacony Bridge. Long story short; there's a small fishing dock on the south side of the bridge. I flew from there, I was on my second battery when the cop pulls up and says, "You can't fly that here!" I asked why and he proceeds to say, "Homeland Security".
I replied, I'm not going to or trying to give you a hard time but that's not true! I'm sure you may not know any better so let me explain why I'm not breaking any rules. I'm on the outside edge of the 5 mile radius of the NE Philadelphia airport so I'm good there (I actually pointed to where I would be inside the 5 miles had I launched from a different location). The FAA hasn't designated this bridge or any nearby areas as NFZ's and if they were, my software wouldn't let me launch so I'm good there, now what's this homeland security bulletin you're talking about? He simply replied, that's what they told us.
The officer then said, you can fly it out there, (and pointed further down the river and towards the city). I then reiterated that I wasn't doing anything illegal and I wasn't going to give him a hard time because he was misinformed. As I continued to point out what the rules were and as the conversation progressed I could see the officers authority shrinking in respects to "this" situation because he didn't know enough and he realized he didn't know enough.
All the while, the Mavic was hovering and had reached 25% battery life so I landed and left. I had captured all the footage I needed from that location anyway.
The officer ends the conversation by saying, "Yeah I see all the videos on youtube and I just bought my son a small one." I was like, great! Now you have to brush up on the rules because as the hobby progresses you're going to run into many more people that are informed.
