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drone police ban?

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I don't think the problem is understanding the words so much as interpreting them and figuring out if and how they're going to be applied to oneself in a given situation. Reasonable people (here, for example) disagree about whether these "guidelines" published by a regulatory agency can be enforced as regulations.

The FAA used the term "Must" as in you Must follow the guidelines ,visual line of sight etc . You could try to interpret to your benefit or argue that they can't be enforced as regulations but "a reasonable person" will see that the FAA was trying to allow the RC community to continue to police itself and follow reasonable rules . They went to great length describing Line Of Sight yet people continue to blatantly disregard that as they ignore most other guidelines .


Canadians did not follow the guidelines and then there was law .
 
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You could try to interpret to your benefit

To be clear, my opinion is that the FAA can call them "guidelines" or whatever else they please but a judge will likely interpret them as being required to operate a drone legally. I think those who try to interpret them as friendly advice that they can freely ignore will eventually regret it.
 
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The rules are simple and easy to find . I really don't see why people have a hard time understanding them .

Getting Started

Must ALWAYS yield right of way to manned aircraft
Must keep the aircraft in sight (visual line-of-sight)
UAS must be under 55 lbs.
Must follow community-based safety guidelines
Must notify airport and air traffic control tower before flying within 5 miles of an airport

The "Must follow community-based safety guidelines" refers to the long standing RC community (AMA) guidelines . Under 400' , don't fly over people etc ...

You lost me at...Must keep the aircraft in sight (visual line-of-sight)
 
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And this is why no forum can try and replace the FAA and other governing bodies both locally and around the world by stating some simple "These are the answers" when it comes to law. In the end the best advice to me is given by the guy who started this thread ....the ignore feature works too :)

Just the nature of forums and as forums go this is one of my favs
 
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To be clear, my opinion is that the FAA can call them "guidelines" or whatever else they please but a judge will likely interpret them as being required to operate a drone legally. I think those who try to interpret them as friendly advice that they can freely ignore will eventually regret it.
I fully agree
 
Perhaps the moderators should start warning then banning people who repeatedly spread misinformation regarding what is legal and what isn't. Just a suggestion.

I have a better idea. We all realize that nobody at this point wants us to fly our drones anywhere and either there are actual laws against flying in most situations or people assume there are rules. So let's all agree on that and how about this forum is meant for people who have questions and want to share experiences. We will all assume that unless the flight is in a place with no people, during the day and on the pilot's own property that a law may have been broken. No need to litter the threads with comment after comment from the drone police.
 
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I have a better idea... ... No need to litter the threads with comment after comment from the drone police.

What about those times when a poster specifically asks about a rule, or even starts a thread about one?
 
I do agree with the OP, I think we should have a sticky with the general rules and link the official links (if possible) with the official rules and mod should refer to that sticky.
That way we avoid having interpretations that can be misleading one way or another.
thats a good idea, but we need to be aware that this is an international forum and rules vary greatly across the globe. And if everywhere is like Australia, those rules are constantly changing. CASA are again making amendments to our laws.
The forums should not be responsible for ensuring everyone is flying within their local laws, but if it does attempt to play that role, the general rules would then need to be kept up to date for each country.
I think a basic statement that people need to be conversant with their own Aviation Authority guidelines is all that should come from this "forum"
 
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Annoying as they may be, you can still just choose to ignore the Drone Police.

If I posted a pretty cool video of me flying over the Sydney Harbour bridge which is in a restricted area & illegal (without prior approval), I feel I would be inviting the attention of the DP and quite possible the authorities, if they were alerted to the post. If I had happened to do something like this, the last thing I would be doing is posting it on a public forum. If I did post it, this probably suggests I have no idea of the rules or don't give a hoot and the DP would edubucate me.

I think it was possibly on the DJI forum & not here, but I recall two standout videos:-
1 a guy flying at 500m over Phiildelphia
2 someone else formation flying two drones on an autonomous litchi mission through Boston CBD at night.
Both were very cool. Particularly the latter, which is one of my Favs. Both may or may not have been legal. Both were effing stupid things to be doing. Both were moderate by DJI to some degree.

Whilst I am not the DP, it does not sit comfortably with me, turning a blind eye to stupidity that may have safety implications. Further it does not sit well giving kudos to people operating in this manner. So I do not know what the answer is.
 
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I agree with all you say. I think the answer would be, if something needs to be pointed out, then do it. That's what forums are for and we all learn. But 4 pages of people saying the same thing is just ridiculous. Show support of a comment by liking it instead of adding 2 cents of the sme stuff. Everyone jumping onboard to sprout their opinions of the broken rules just adds to the notoriety of the OP. This weeks top threads that get emailed out weekly included just this.

If someone posts something stupid, tell them so then leave it. Let's get out of this gang mentality of all jumping in for a bite
 
I agree with you on this getting old and this horse is dead
So I see no sense in keep beating him so this is just.....
CLOSED
 
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