Instagram photo illustrates violation of FAA rules

[KevinD]

There is a ton of great drone photography on Instagram. However, I repeatedly see photos where the drone was obviously flying over moving automotive traffic. Although I considered leaving a comment to point out the rule, I did not because I expect to be flamed for it. (people can get very nasty if policed online by their peers.) Adoring comments suggest that followers don't know the rules. I expect the pilot to know the rules; I seriously doubt that a waiver allowed them to fly above traffic.

If someone violates a clear rule and then proudly posts the evidence on Instagram, seems they're inviting trouble from the FAA.
Has anyone ever heard of a drone pilot getting in trouble because they posted the photo/video evidence online?

(I believe the gist of the moving vehicles rule is this: If an object falls from the sky and smashes into the hood of your car, you're probably going to panic and end in a collision with other vehicles.)

 

[TreeHugger]

Example meant to be attached?
Curious - I fly with my lens zoomed quite often - potentially video could appear different than fact.

 

[KevinD]

(No, I do not wish to copy someone else's photo from Instagram and past it here.)

A common example is flying over a famous bridge with the camera shooting straight down; clearly the drone is directly over the roadway and there is active auto traffic.

Another example I've seen a half dozen times is a photo looking down upon a recognizable hairpin turn, where the forest service prohibits launch/land within 1/4 mile of this road. The rules are listed in detail online and physical signs are posted along the road. I did point this out to one photographer on Instagram, who shrugged it off becuase there was no sign located immediately at the specific location. (Akin to speeding because there was no speed limit sign in the immediate vicinity.) As this is a FS rule and not FAA, pilots don't take it seriously.

 

[TreeHugger]

I can agree - that's bad for our sport.

 

[Giovanni]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

 

[NTCooper]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

I have CROSSED over highways while always keeping that time over pavement as brief as possible and with a purpose in mind totally unrelated to any traffic below. Further, I will always be at least 300 ft. up so as not to create a usual distraction for drivers below. Finally, and for the same reason of driver distraction, I never parallel a roadway unless several hundred, unnoticeable feet away.

I love flying the drone and I enjoy the community of those who do. But like yourself, I recognize that some absolutely love to take a set of rules and then extrapolate further protocols that THEY think all should follow. Let’s just be sensible and enjoy this unique capability.

 

[Giovanni]

Ditto for me, if I need to cross a road or highway I do it quickly and at 300' so it's never a distraction

 

[Dale D]

I have CROSSED over highways while always keeping that time over pavement as brief as possible and with a purpose in mind totally unrelated to any traffic below. Further, I will always be at least 300 ft. up so as not to create a usual distraction for drivers below. Finally, and for the same reason of driver distraction, I never parallel a roadway unless several hundred, unnoticeable feet away.

I love flying the drone and I enjoy the community of those who do. But like yourself, I recognize that some absolutely love to take a set of rules and then extrapolate further protocols that THEY think all should follow. Let’s just be sensible and enjoy this unique capability.

I'd would just like to add that we all live in this very big world. There are tons of other places to fly without endangering yourself or people, cars, etc. Just get in to your car and find the space to fly.

 

[Giovanni]

Dale, where do you live? On mars? I live in the country but you know, they have country roads.
We all do the best to minimize the risk but my God stop preaching

 

[Dale D]

Dale, where do you live? On mars? I live in the country but you know, they have country roads.
We all do the best to minimize the risk but my God stop preaching

Sorry-I did not mean to be preachy. I do not live on Mars. I am a great believer of the term, "live and let live." I live in Miami, a very congested city, to say the least. Still, I try to find isolated places, far from humans. I go out in early mornings, and late nights, I avoid people like crazy. When all else fails, I drive out to the Everglades, (non-National Park side), or down to the Florida Keys, or other uncrowded areas. I plan week-end trips, or look forward to travels like where I am now for 5 weeks in Montana where there are thousands of miles of open areas. In other words, I take it seriously not to fly over tempting targets like our wonderful beaches, stadiums, and downtown buildings. I still manage to find enough space for material for videos.

Why must every comment be so aggressive? This is a learning forum.

 

[hiflyer201]

I would say ..don't ever watch drone photos or videos because you are going to spot some kind of violation in nearly every single one of them. The fact that your looking at the screen to use the camera is a violation of sorts.

 

[mvadventures]

Agree - this is a WONDERFUL learning forum, and I really enjoy the culture of it - helpful, knowledgeable, supportive and forgiving. It's one of the rare places where I would feel comfortable admitting a bone-headed mistake to get some help.
Thanks to all of you for the learning and camaraderie.

 

[Geekser]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

I understand what you are saying, however, my main concern is more about how often and flagrant these types of photos appear on social networks and how that may very well have negative consequences for all of us when the powers that be decide it is time to strictly limit where we or even if we can fly our drones.

It May never happen - but it is very possible that it could. Why take that chance when five minutes of "fame" could ruin the sport for thousands of our contemporaries...or tens of thousands...

We have a lot of freedom now so instead of being passive and just not saying anything, why not work together to police ourselves on flying responsibly ? Just my two cents.

 

[BigAl07]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. .....

You do realize it's been stated many times that the FAA wants to be alerted if there is potential illegal/unsafe activity going on? It's OUR industry to protect and it's also OUR industry to lose if we fail. I have over 4 decades of time invested in this industry and I'm not willing to sit back and let a few Cowboys ruin it for everyone without at least trying to make it a better industry.

@KevinD It's entirely possible the person doing the illegal/unsafe action does NOT know the rules and needs some "education". In my line of work I am daily met with people who have no idea what the rules are and are flying willy-nilly purely because of ignorance. Not every drone operator takes the time to become knowledgeable about the rules and they need to know if they are doing something wrong.

If you know it's a violation (keep in mind that waivers ARE possible while most likely not in place during 99% of the violations) then report it. Also note that there could be some other extenuating circumstances in places (closed set etc) making scenario legal/safe but let the FAA work on that.

I believe we need more reporting, stronger enforcement, and much stiffer penalties for illegal flying but it's VERY hard to prove someone violated the rules intentionally and with the lack of moral integrity it's way to easy to say, "Oh I didn't know this toy drone fell within those AVIATION rules.".

If you see an issue and feel like it's a clear violation of the FAR or a genuine safety concern by all means REPORT IT. Let the FAA do the investifation and it's possible someone might actually learn from it and become a better UAS Operator (Gasp..... do WHAT?)If we can't SELF POLICE then we leave ALL of it up to politicians and lobbyists.
FAA Hotline
Report Issues Related to Aviation Safety or FAA Personnel and Facilities

No matter what we do there will always be "rogue" operators but the fewer the better IMHO for the future of this industry. I have no problem reporting someone, I've been reported, and I've been the one to contact "rogue operators" to perform some "Additional Training" when they were found to be violating the rules.

If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

Many of us do this and it works out very well. Some of us do this very often believe it or not.

I hope EVERYONE in this thread takes the tone down just a notch and remember we are to be NICE and RESPECTFUL when posting/messaging. If you can't follow this mandate then it might be better if you refrain from posting . . . . .

 

[BigAl07]

..... But like yourself, I recognize that some absolutely love to take a set of rules and then extrapolate further protocols that THEY think all should follow.

Please explain which of the Federal Regulations have been extrapolated here? I'm keen to understand more.

 

[DanaMc]

I have CROSSED over highways while always keeping that time over pavement as brief as possible and with a purpose in mind totally unrelated to any traffic below. Further, I will always be at least 300 ft. up so as not to create a usual distraction for drivers below. Finally, and for the same reason of driver distraction, I never parallel a roadway unless several hundred, unnoticeable feet away.

I love flying the drone and I enjoy the community of those who do. But like yourself, I recognize that some absolutely love to take a set of rules and then extrapolate further protocols that THEY think all should follow. Let’s just be sensible and enjoy this unique capability.

Crossing roads, Railroad tracks, bridges is inevitable. The common sense thing is as noted above, stay well above and as undetectable as possible. It’s not being stealthy. It’s being safe.

 

[itsneedtokno]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

I wish more people would follow the rules so other people didn't have to police them.

Ditto for me, if I need to cross a road or highway I do it quickly and at 300' so it's never a distraction

In case you didn't know, some areas allow planes to fly lower than 400 feet AGL. Not policing, just teaching. You still need to be situationally aware, always.

Dale, where do you live? On mars? I live in the country but you know, they have country roads.
We all do the best to minimize the risk but my God stop preaching

Preaching is what my pastor does on Sundays, Dale's trying to teach you something if you would actually take the time to read it.



Follow the rules or don't, I couldn't care less. But don't get upset when people call you out for doing so.

Ever heard the phrase, if your friend jumped off a bridge are you going to follow?


Yeah you can, and you might survive, or you might not.

 

[Little bird]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

WOW !

 

[xunhui]

I wish more people would mind their business, we all know the rules. If you are that interested in teaching the rules, may I suggest becoming a 107 instructor?

I completely disagree with you. This is in part fact why we are now seeing additional regulation being placed upon us. From reckless endangerment to just having no clue as the the laws and regulations. Constructive criticism when done in the right context is a win for everyone.

 

[Lionfish]

Well
Let me ask , how many of you have a driving license , quite a few I imagine .
That license allows you the privilege to drive where ever we so desire .
Does that license give you the place to report all the driving law infractions, I don’t think so , some might disagree and if so do you report every infraction you witness or do you carry on with the day .
I’d say reporting driving issues is mainly a job for the law enforcement agencies.
Also there are people who have no interest in getting their license they are out much of the time doing whatever , they possibly break the driving rules and don’t care .

So then I feel the whole drone thing is the same to a degree , most of us learn the rules , get their license and fly , they stick to the rules occasionally make an error or two here and there (I base this on my own case ) .
But then there are some drone owners who don’t give a rap about the rules , the license etc , they go out to fly and break every rule there is .
So then shouldn’t we allow the law enforcement of the skies to police any rule breaking .
I personally don’t feel looking at online photos/videos gives me the full picture of exactly what went on , so I would leave that to whichever law making body is effected .
I would also say that If I was interested enough to go online and look for badly behaving drones , well in short I don’t have that much time left in the world !! , there must be gazillions of them , much like all the drivers that may speed or get a parking ticket .

I got my drones and license for the enjoyment of flying and I use the knowledge to make me a better pilot .
I don’t use the knowledge to report every photo that I “ think “ may have broken a rule , possibly in a country that I have little or no knowledge about .

So like someone said earlier

Live and let live !!!

That’s of course it’s not effected me and my family’s welfare !!
Then the gloves come off .

These are my thoughts and feelings alone , maybe right may be wrong .

Thanks for reading my post .