2 men facing Federal Charges for stadium flyover

[Lister]

The recent Padres Dodgers playoffs game was delayed by the presence of a Mini 3 hovering in the outfield, quite close to the ground. Hopefully this idiot will be caught and penalized severely. This kind of behaviour harms us all.

 

[Robert Prior]

I always get a chuckle when I see this in the bathroom, but it's truly a scary thought that maybe they NEEDED to put this on the bottles !!

They do. I took a class in law while at uni, which being intended for engineers focused on contracts and liability. A lot of those warning labels, even the bloody obvious ones, are there either because someone did that and won a lawsuit, or the company wants to avoid a lawsuit.

My prof's comment was that the legal standard is that you must display a warning about a danger if the 'average person' wouldn't realize it, and that legally (based on case law) the 'average person' is a suicidal idiot. (Prof was an experienced lawyer.)

 

[BobaFut]

The recent Padres Dodgers playoffs game was delayed by the presence of a Mini 3 hovering in the outfield, quite close to the ground. Hopefully this idiot will be caught and penalized severely. This kind of behaviour harms us all.

I don't mean this as a defense, but I think the idea that you need a license and a decent understanding of federal laws and regulations to use a "gadget" you can pick up at Best Buy on a whim is really foreign to people (particularly Americans). There are obviously situations where anyone with half a brain should know what is or isn't permissible or appropriate (like the middle of a baseball game), but a lot of rules and regulations around drones are not self-evident.

 

[davery87]

The recent Padres Dodgers playoffs game was delayed by the presence of a Mini 3 hovering in the outfield, quite close to the ground. Hopefully this idiot will be caught and penalized severely. This kind of behaviour harms us all.

Was at the game, and my son & I spotted it early on: it came into the area behind center field and flew/hovered at various points over the outfield stands for about 5-10 minutes before rapidly flying to where it came from, like Sport Mode fast. I thought the authorities had sent it on a Return to Home, but no - it returned about 2 minutes later and the operator really got into seeing what they could get away with: it turned out quite a lot. They flew over the seating areas along left field, in some cases quite close to the seats, before then moving out over the field. Play went on for at least 5 minutes before it descended to about 30 feet above ground, hovering behind 2nd base. It was then the players and umpires saw it and stopped play. Eventually, they were going to have the 2nd baseman try and throw a ball at it (it was that close) and since TV and everyone else was aware of it, the pilot rapidly climbed and left the area.

Totally boneheaded and careless on the part of the pilot - that's what gives drone operators a bad time and bad press! As both a personal owner/pilot and also a military drone operator & Counter-UAS specialist, I was surprised that MLB and stadium security did not have an Aeroscope or other C-UAS system in operation at the stadium for this playoff game on national TV.

Couple of video links of the latest bonehead game stopping incident:
A drone causes a delay in the top of the 7th inning of the Dodgers vs. Padres game | FOX Sports

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[MAvic_South_Oz]

A lot of those warning labels, even the bloody obvious ones, are there either because someone did that and won a lawsuit, or the company wants to avoid a lawsuit.

1992 was probably the start, Liebeck v. McDonald's.
Probably why most drive thru coffee is now barely a 'warm hot' too.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

There are obviously situations where anyone with half a brain should know what is or isn't permissible or appropriate

It's almost a case of 'common sense' should possibly be removed from general use and replaced with 'intermittent sense'.

 

[Lister]

It's almost a case of 'common sense' should possibly be removed from general use and replaced with 'intermittent sense'.

I submit "NON-sense". No sensible person would do that.
It's going to make flying much more difficult and much more intensely regulated.

I dearly hope they catch that idiot.

 

[Robert Prior]

1992 was probably the start, Liebeck v. McDonald's.
Probably why most drive thru coffee is now barely a 'warm hot' too.

Waaay before that. I went to uni in the early 80s.

 

[AnzacJack]

I saw this one when i was visiting the states. Made me laugh

Alway remember to poke air holes on baby boxes

 

[karlblessing]

Sadly, I suspect as the popularity of drones increases we'll see more and more of these reckless events. Like the nimrod who decides to purchase and carry a firearm without a shred of training, too many people look at these drones in less than a serious light.

Earlier this week a co-worker expressed interest in buying one because they "look like fun". Can't argue that point, but when I started to tell him some of the things he needs to do (registration, TRUST, learn about airspace, etc.) he was shocked. I'm pretty sure he's decided to stick to golf but it just illustrated how many people leap before they look.

Just my 2 cents...

Had a few people ask me if I could show them the ropes on their new drones and I ask if they've registered it yet or taken the trust test and they're like... You have to do all that?

I guess after seeing that some people will just immediately fly them where ever they are, the dji nanny software starts to make more sense.

 

[KI5RLL]

DJI is not in the paper business. What arrives with the drone is almost nothing and it is printed in gray ink in about 4 pt font. They could easily (I think) make sure you could not fly the drone until you took and passed the Trust Pilot test or some specifications of their own devising. But the emphasis is all fun all the time - flying fast and close to trees, buildings etc. Exciting video, but it only drives more folks to be careless.

It is an endless cycle, Rules are made. Rules are broken without consequence. Rules are ignored. Someone gets offended, hurt or mad. If reasonable rules were made AND ENFORCED we wouldn't have this discussion. If we cannot deal with rule BREAKERS, we will have to contend with the rule MAKERS who will make it tougher for all of us. And the cycle will begin again.

A law not enforced is a suggestion. If suggestions worked we wouldn’t need laws.
All good points you made.

 

[dart106]

Was at the game, and my son & I spotted it early on: it came into the area behind center field and flew/hovered at various points over the outfield stands for about 5-10 minutes before rapidly flying to where it came from, like Sport Mode fast. I thought the authorities had sent it on a Return to Home, but no - it returned about 2 minutes later and the operator really got into seeing what they could get away with: it turned out quite a lot. They flew over the seating areas along left field, in some cases quite close to the seats, before then moving out over the field. Play went on for at least 5 minutes before it descended to about 30 feet above ground, hovering behind 2nd base. It was then the players and umpires saw it and stopped play. Eventually, they were going to have the 2nd baseman try and throw a ball at it (it was that close) and since TV and everyone else was aware of it, the pilot rapidly climbed and left the area.

Totally boneheaded and careless on the part of the pilot - that's what gives drone operators a bad time and bad press! As both a personal owner/pilot and also a military drone operator & Counter-UAS specialist, I was surprised that MLB and stadium security did not have an Aeroscope or other C-UAS system in operation at the stadium for this playoff game on national TV.

Couple of video links of the latest bonehead game stopping incident:
A drone causes a delay in the top of the 7th inning of the Dodgers vs. Padres game | FOX Sports

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The things new rules and regulations are made of.

 

[karlblessing]

I was surprised that MLB and stadium security did not have an Aeroscope or other C-UAS system in operation at the stadium for this playoff game on national TV.

They didn't because that would be illegal. Only the military has authorization to use something like that on any aircraft.

 

[Robert Prior]

They didn't because that would be illegal. Only the military has authorization to use something like that on any aircraft.

Is Aeroscope illegal? It's passive monitoring, not active countermeasures.

Automated license plate readers appear to be legal, given how widely they are deployed. Isn't Aeroscope pretty much the same thing?

 

[karlblessing]

Is Aeroscope illegal? It's passive monitoring, not active countermeasures.

Automated license plate readers appear to be legal, given how widely they are deployed. Isn't Aeroscope pretty much the same thing?

Don't know what an Aeroscope was, but he mentioned C-UAS system, which brings down or disrupts the signal receiving ability of the drone. So anything that actually interferes with the aircraft is illegal (likewise if a player hit it with a ball intentionally, that would also be illegal). And not sure how he would know they didn't have an aeroscope or monitoring at the time since he wouldn't see anything happen.

 

[LoudThunder]

A law not enforced is a suggestion. If suggestions worked we wouldn’t need laws.
All good points you made.

There is an old job I've often fallen back on…

"If God wanted this much permissiveness, he would have given us the 'Ten Suggestions'…"

 

[davery87]

Is Aeroscope illegal? It's passive monitoring, not active countermeasures.

Automated license plate readers appear to be legal, given how widely they are deployed. Isn't Aeroscope pretty much the same thing?

No it's not illegal. Law enforcement organizations use them and other similar systems along with NFL security. Guess MLB doesn't though.

 

[davery87]

Don't know what an Aeroscope was, but he mentioned C-UAS system, which brings down or disrupts the signal receiving ability of the drone. So anything that actually interferes with the aircraft is illegal (likewise if a player hit it with a ball intentionally, that would also be illegal). And not sure how he would know they didn't have an aeroscope or monitoring at the time since he wouldn't see anything happen.

No, such systems are not illegal if used for public safety. And there are multiple systems that just send the offending drone on a Return to Home/lost link flight profile - not drop it out of the sky.

 

[lookout]

1992 was probably the start, Liebeck v. McDonald's.
Probably why most drive thru coffee is now barely a 'warm hot' too.

The temperature regulators on the coffee pots were poor quality. But the whole corporation gets sued over the coffee pots they used.

 

[karlblessing]

No, such systems are not illegal if used for public safety. And there are multiple systems that just send the offending drone on a Return to Home/lost link flight profile - not drop it out of the sky.

You have sources for this?