I'm 65 years old. I've always believed, among other things, that the majority rules - and pretty much lived by this saying most of my life - even if I'm in the minority. I'm here to tell you I recently learned, this is NOT the case in most circumstances. A FEW (citizens) can, and will, dictate what drone pilots can do. It's a harsh reality - but a FEW that are concerned about their privacy, or see a drone flying around and report it leads to new city / county laws that will be put in place to limit the legal flying areas. Fly near a crowd - which is where we would like to fly - as the crowd is there looking at something neat, or something we'd like to take a video of, but for sure, you'll get reported - as the buy above indicated in his beach flying. LOOK at all the Drone VIDEO's - they are taken in isolated places - because that's the only place they can fly with out being hassled. Heck, I'd like to take a drone video of a soccer game (nope), take a video in Rocky Mountain National Park (nope), at some of the great regional parks in CO (nope). Any 'neat places', (nope). Limitations are concerning for us all.
"a lot of you have fears, that your hobby and/or passion is some type of fault.", while not at fault, a few pilots that push the bounds ruin it for the rest - and for sure, it'll get worse before it gets better.
"its exploration, knowledge of new tech, great discovery.", Sure, in the backwoods far away from people. New technology - look at the 'fly away' posts - what happens to those drones? where to they end up? Someone finds them, reports it to the police, and another county law gets put in place. This is why LOS is so important and knowing where your drone is at all time. Why do we need a 4 mile flight distance? a 2 mile flight distance. Set up drones with geo-fences and limit flying to LOS only - then MAYBE the laws change - but doubtful.
"we have been given something to explore, learn and share." - but the FEW will kill this as they are worried about their security - not saying I agree with that, but it's a fact. The FEW will dictate how we fly.
"if you own a drone, there is a responsibility you have to own. if you fly, and choose to bend rules you have to be accountable. and dji is cracking down, they will enforce the "rules"" - DJI has to, if not they will go out of business. The fewer places to fly, the fewer drones will be sold. DJI must help enforce the rules before tighter and tighter regulations get put in place.
