Drone threats to be shot by shotgun down.

[TheKittenCrew]

So I was flying my drone around and I'm returning it home and I hear my neighbors shouting trying to find the drone, she keeps yelling all shoot it down! And her man is walking around with a shotgun and see it land in my yard and walks up to the fence. I live on 5 acres so I was far away and ignore him. I than take off flying again. From what I know shooting drones down is illegal and is treated like shooting at an aircraft. I flew well above 100 ft and 200 ft, from what I remember people own 91 or 95 feet of air space above there property. I live in CA, any one have drone laws I can print out so when crazy people want to shoot me or the drone I can give them paper of the printed law?

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum.

Shooting down a drone is covered by the same laws and penalties as shooting down a manned aircraft.

FAA controls the airspace in the U.S. from the ground up.

FAA DroneZone will have the info.

Assuming you or the drone are FAA registered and the drone displays that number.... You may want to have a discussion on a calmer day.

sll this and more info can be found in many forum threads. Use the search function.

 

[TheKittenCrew]

The drone is a dji mavic mini and from what i understand it doesn't need to be registered since it only ways 249g my other drone is a dji spark and its not registered. When if comes to the search function I seem to be disabled in that area, I came up with other posts about drones being shot down but nothing with threats and having a shotgun out or how much a person owns in air space above there property. "People don't go nuts when filmed with a phone camera but they go nuts when it's a drone, they don't even understand that there own government spys on them and there upset with me "

 

[Thomas B]

The drone is a dji mavic mini and from what i understand it doesn't need to be registered since it only ways 249g my other drone is a dji spark and its not registered. When if comes to the search function I seem to be disabled in that area, I came up with other posts about drones being shot down but nothing with threats and having a shotgun out or how much a person owns in air space above there property. "People don't go nuts when filmed with a phone camera but they go nuts when it's a drone, they don't even understand that there own government spys on them and there upset with me "

Register the drones... $5 each... might give you a
stronger position.
Here’s a search of the forum shoot down drone:

Search results for query: Shoot down drone

mavicpilots.com

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Besides all that Thomas B posted, be sure to follow the FAA drone rules for hobbyist (or part 107 if applicable).

Also, be sure to respect other peoples privacy when flying overhead, some cities / local govco have their own rules / laws regarding privacy, find out what relates to your location.

Most places (in general) you can overfly, not loiter, etc . . . CA though, nothing would surprise me there if they had really 'special' privacy laws.

Follow the FAA and local city rules, and don't give the uneducated any 'ammo' (no pun intended) to report you to the FAA or local law enforcement.

 

[Meta4]

From what I know shooting drones down is illegal and is treated like shooting at an aircraft.

It's most unlikely it would be considered the same way, even though people here seem to think it would.
Law enforcement are only going to treat it as damaging your property, not like shooting down a real plane.

from what I remember people own 91 or 95 feet of air space above there property.

People don't own airspace at all, but keeping well out of their way is always a good idea.

I live in CA, any one have drone laws I can print out so when crazy people want to shoot me or the drone I can give them paper of the printed law?

I don't think you'll find any laws that specifically say it's an offence to shoot a drone and drone flying regulations aren't going to make any difference to angry neighbours.
Just keep out of their way in future.

 

[old man mavic]

@TheKittenCrew first off welcome to the forum
just because you are flying over your own property ,does not mean that your neighbors have to be happy about it ,maybe they have had a bad experience with a drone or drones in the past, and they think you are trying to film them
and even though you have said you dont need to register your drone that does not mean you dont have to follow the rules for flying your drone
your best course of action would be to go and talk to the people concerned ,and try to come to some agreement with regards to the drone being flown where you live, is it worth starting a war over, only you can answer that,

 

[eaglesurfing]

Welcome to the forum and enjoy.

You can use your drone to take pics of him and the shotgun just in case you have to call the police.

 

[sar104]

18 U.S. Code § 32 - Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities

 

[cgmaxed]

So I was flying my drone around and I'm returning it home and I hear my neighbors shouting trying to find the drone, she keeps yelling all shoot it down! And her man is walking around with a shotgun and see it land in my yard and walks up to the fence. I live on 5 acres so I was far away and ignore him. I than take off flying again. From what I know shooting drones down is illegal and is treated like shooting at an aircraft. I flew well above 100 ft and 200 ft, from what I remember people own 91 or 95 feet of air space above there property. I live in CA, any one have drone laws I can print out so when crazy people want to shoot me or the drone I can give them paper of the printed law?

Sounds like something you should have called the police immeditely for. While you waited you could have recorded the shotgun guy with your drone

 

[cgmaxed]

The drone is a dji mavic mini and from what i understand it doesn't need to be registered since it only ways 249g my other drone is a dji spark and its not registered. When if comes to the search function I seem to be disabled in that area, I came up with other posts about drones being shot down but nothing with threats and having a shotgun out or how much a person owns in air space above there property. "People don't go nuts when filmed with a phone camera but they go nuts when it's a drone, they don't even understand that there own government spys on them and there upset with me "

I've made that comment numerous times. It's so weird, you can walk down a beach, pretend your on your phone, but have the video recorder on and record everyone and everything. Everyone sees the cell phone and just assumes you not filming. They see a drone and they think the camera is on and recording 24/7. For me, I just look around with my drone and most of the time never record anything. However, people still get paranoid, call police and I end up being asked by beach patrol to stop flying my drone (even in legal areas), regardless that the camera isn't even recording. People are still very nervous around drones. Cell phones are much more a threat than drones will ever be.

 

[Reginald E Johnson]

I have several Rules in Drone Flying! Never let them see you take off or Land! If you adhere to those 2 Rules, Life will be so much easier flying your Drone!

 

[cgmaxed]

I have several Rules in Drone Flying! Never let them see you take off or Land! If you adhere to those 2 Rules, Life will be so much easier flying your Drone!

You are right about that. I've experimented with the 2 different scenarios. Let them see and don't let them see. When you let them see,, they call law enforcement and you are then asked to leave for something like disturbing the peace. They know where you are so you get attacked , even though you are flying legally. If they don't see, they may call, but no one knows where the pilot is. Then you can fly legally, all you want, without harassment.

 

[cgmaxed]

It's most unlikely it would be considered the same way, even though people here seem to think it would.
Law enforcement are only going to treat it as damaging your property, not like shooting down a real plane.

People don't own airspace at all, but keeping well out of their way is always a good idea.

I don't think you'll find any laws that specifically say it's an offence to shoot a drone and drone flying regulations aren't going to make any difference to angry neighbours.
Just keep out of their way in future.

The FAA claims and it is written. It is a federal crime to shoot down a drone. as it is considered a legitimate aircraft.

"The FAA considers unmanned aircraft of any size to be covered under Title 18 of the United States Code 32, which describes “sabotage to include destruction of any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.” Violation of this code carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. In other words, it’s illegal to shoot down any aircraft in the U.S., including a drone, according to federal law. And lest you decide that simply jamming or intercepting control of the offending drone might be more your style, know that the FCC considers any form of “jamming” or otherwise interfering with radio transmission to be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934. Between these two federal laws, most anti-drone technology on the market (including net guns and jamming guns) could put you into some legal hot water."

 

[Meta4]

The FAA claims and it is written. It is a federal crime to shoot down a registered drone. as it is considered a legitimate aircraft. Note: it must be registered.

I've read that many times here, but still not seen any evidence that suggests anyone is going to consider shooting down a <$1000 drone in the same way they would deal with shooting down a real plane.
I'm pretty sure law enforcement would have a good laugh at anyone suggesting they should.

Can you point to where the "FAA claims and it is written"?

 

[cgmaxed]

I've read that many times here, but still not seen any evidence that suggests anyone is going to consider shooting down a <$1000 drone in the same way they would deal with shooting down a real plane.
I'm pretty sure law enforcement would have a good laugh at anyone suggesting they should.

Can you point to where the "FAA claims and it is written"?

"The FAA considers unmanned aircraft of any size to be covered under Title 18 of the United States Code 32, which describes “sabotage to include destruction of any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.” Violation of this code carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. In other words, it’s illegal to shoot down any aircraft in the U.S., including a drone, according to federal law.

 

[Meta4]

"The FAA considers unmanned aircraft of any size to be covered under Title 18 of the United States Code 32, which describes “sabotage to include destruction of any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.” Violation of this code carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. In other words, it’s illegal to shoot down any aircraft in the U.S., including a drone, according to federal law.

That's great.
It's quoted all over the internet as well as drone forums.
But can anyone point to a case where it's been treated the same as a case involving bringing down a real plane?
(Or point to an FAA source for the quote)

 

[cgmaxed]

That's great.
It's quoted all over the internet as well as drone forums.
But can anyone point to a case where it's been treated the same as a case involving bringing down a real plane?
(Or point to an FAA source for the quote)

Here's one: Man shoots down drone, gets hit with felony charges in Minnesota

But they didn't use the FAA law to charge him. The article states the FAA law hasn't actually been used in a drone case . Yet.

 

[Meta4]

Here's one: Man shoots down drone, gets hit with felony charges in Minnesota

But they didn't use the FAA law to charge him. The article states the FAA law hasn't actually been used in a drone case . Yet.

There's a big difference between an individual FAA employee saying ... that shooting down a drone is illegal under the same federal aviation laws that make it illegal to shoot down a crewed aircraft, and someone actually being dealt with in the same way for shooting down a drone.

As it happens he was charged with criminal damage to property and reckless discharge of a weapon within city limits.
And that's the most likely outcome if anyone else commits a similar offence.
Law enforcement people aren't going to be as excited about it as many enthusiastic drone forum members are.

 

[cgmaxed]

There's a big difference between an individual FAA employee saying ... that shooting down a drone is illegal under the same federal aviation laws that make it illegal to shoot down a crewed aircraft, and someone actually being dealt with in the same way for shooting down a drone.

As it happens he was charged with criminal damage to property and reckless discharge of a weapon within city limits.
And that's the most likely outcome if anyone else commits a similar offence.
Law enforcement people aren't going to be as excited about it as many enthusiastic drone forum members are.

Yeah, I noticed. Also seems like the feds don't want to get involved in minor drone shooting cases anyway. Looks like these cases will stay in the local dispute realm for a while.