Flying Etiquette

[itsneedtokno]

She cost me the shot on a record-setting throw.


And, yes, I was shooting with my “beast lens” that day.

View attachment 108219

Wicked "reach out and touch it" lens!

That's about the size I use for wildlife ??

 

[VegasFlyer]

Actually, as written, this is a completely unenforceable code. It states:

"§ 18.2-121.3. Trespass with an unmanned aircraft system; penalty.
A. Any person who knowingly and intentionally causes an unmanned aircraft system to (i) enter the property of another and come within 50 feet of a dwelling house (a) to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person or (b) after having been given actual notice to desist, for any other reason, or (ii) take off or land in violation of current Federal Aviation Administration Special Security Instructions or UAS Security Sensitive Airspace Restrictions is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

B. This section shall not apply to any person who causes an unmanned aircraft system to enter the property as set forth in subsection A if (i) consent is given to the entry by any person with legal authority to consent or by any person who is lawfully present on such property or (ii) such person is authorized by federal regulations to operate an unmanned aircraft system and is operating such system in an otherwise lawful manner and consistent with federal regulations."

There a number of issues. First, there has to be intent. (A) mentioned "knowingly and intentionally" and "to coerce, intimidate, or harass another person". Second (B), the operator has to have been informed by the property owner first that they don't want you there.

However, this does not apply to anyone who has registered their drone, or flies a drone under 250g for recreation or hobby. "B. This section shall not apply to any... such person [who] is authorized by federal regulations to operate an unmanned aircraft system and is operating such system in an otherwise lawful manner and consistent with federal regulations." This exempts every 107, 349, 333, or COA operator in the state.

This is another perfect example of politicians writing codes who are clueless to how the thing they are writing about works or is actually regulated. This basically only covers people who fly without registration.

This argument is flawed from the start: "A. Any person who knowingly and intentionally causes an unmanned aircraft system to (i) enter the property of another". I'm unaware of any private property owner who has rights to the airspace above said property. (Of course, flying into someone's back yard is a different story) It doesn't matter if you have your Part 107 or not.

I've had a guy drive up to me on his ATV waving his gun in the air while I was standing on and flying over public property nearly 100 yards from his property line. So, all the talk about how polite we should be and how we should present ourselves will be wasted on the majority; the average idiot neither knows nor cares about UAS laws. Unfortunately, that includes those who run our communities.

 

[WDKZoom]

So?

Just take off and fly straight up to a comfortable altitude for whatever you need to do.

The rules vary depending on where you live- here in the UK we cannot fly closer than 50m to buildings, so I couldn't film my own roof as my house is joined onto each of my neighbours. Maybe it's different where you are, and legal... if so, it might be a good idea to knock on the neighbours door and explain what you'd like to do so they're warned in advance and don't think you are snooping


The point being, "if" the law in the UK or anywhere is changed to "you cannot fly within 50m of a any building" , even if you take off from your driveway and fly straight up to a comfortable altitude whatever that might be.....the "moment" you left the ground, you would be illegal if you are in most suburban neighborhoods. "So" right or wrong, it would be the law and that is the point!!

WDK

 

[PhantomFandom]

The rules vary depending on where you live- here in the UK we cannot fly closer than 50m to buildings, so I couldn't film my own roof as my house is joined onto each of my neighbours. Maybe it's different where you are, and legal... if so, it might be a good idea to knock on the neighbours door and explain what you'd like to do so they're warned in advance and don't think you are snooping


The point being, "if" the law in the UK or anywhere is changed to "you cannot fly within 50m of a any building" , even if you take off from your driveway and fly straight up to a comfortable altitude whatever that might be.....the "moment" you left the ground, you would be illegal if you are in most suburban neighborhoods. "So" that is the point!!

WDK

Well that's one thing, but I base my answers on the location of the person that I am responding to. Your profile says you are located in Sioux Falls, SD, so that is NOT in the UK. If I knew you were in the UK, my response would have been different. Perhaps you can update your profile with a correct location?

 

[WDKZoom]

Well that's one thing, but I base my answers on the location of the person that I am responding to. Your profile says you are located in Sioux Falls, SD, so that is NOT in the UK. If I knew you were in the UK, my response would have been different. Perhaps you can update your profile with a correct location?

I am not in the UK or Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls is my mailing address because they are friendly to travelers like myself that need a mailing address and some place I can call home legally. So again, wrong. I am a full time RV'r traveling the country trying to see all 50 states, 11 more to go.....my point again was simply that if that were the law of the land, any land, a lot of us would not buy a drone period though in my case not that much of a problem because my home for the moment is where ever I drive it too weather it be some place out in the country (no homes for miles) or some nice RV park!!

 

[PhantomFandom]

I am not in the UK or Sioux Falls.

Um OK, except your post specifically said "here in the UK" as shown below...

The rules vary depending on where you live- here in the UK

So again, wrong.

You keep changing the story so nothing I said was wrong. Your post (shown below) mentioned being 50' from your neighbor's property "in suburban America". As such, there is no issue with taking off in that situation.

Most residential homes in suburban America are so close together that if you take off from your front porch you are most likely within 50' of your neighbors property line and his or her dwelling.

 

[WDKZoom]

Well that's one thing, but I base my answers on the location of the person that I am responding to. Your profile says you are located in Sioux Falls, SD, so that is NOT in the UK. If I knew you were in the UK, my response would have been different. Perhaps you can update your profile with a correct location?

Instead of looking for what you think might be errors in my post, perhaps oh should read the whole thread. The OP said he was “here in the UK” not I.

The thread also said the rule in the UK was going to be that you can’t fly within 50m of a building. That’s certainly a lot of space as compared to the last home I sold which was a 5 bedroom 2700 square foot home but still from the property line of my neighbor was 50’ feet, not meters away as are most track homes in Southern California which is why I left to RV looking for another places to live. That’s much closer than what OP said of course .....but it was my comparison in that if the UK says 50m will be the law and the US wanted to adopt something similar than again we would never be able to fly from our own back yards if you want too.
If you have any more discrepancies in my words perhaps you should do a complete read and stop trying to nit pick at something you think I said was wrong.

WDK

 

[BigAl07]

Let's not get personal here. It will NOT end well. Be nice or refrain from posting and do NOT attack another member. Here's an exert taken directly from our Community Guidelines which we ALL agreed to abide by:

14. We take the "be nice" rule VERY seriously! We do not tolerate discourtesy or disrespect.

 

[WDKZoom]

Let's not get personal here. It will NOT end well. Be nice or refrain from posting and do NOT attack another member. Here's an exert taken directly from our Community Guidelines which we ALL agreed to abide by:

Absolutely, though misunderstandings should certainly be cleared up.

WDK

 

[dronerdave]

I was using my drone to take a picture of solar panels my company put on a roof, as I often do. And a lady came out of the neighboring house in a huff demanding what I was doing with the drone. I was polite and de-escalated the situation and explained what I was doing. She was eventually ok with it. I asked her why it bothered her so much and she said, it's just weird to fly a drone in a residential area even implying that it is illegal to fly drones in a residential area (as far as I know, it's not).

Now, I understand why people get concerned. But I was wondering 1) if anyone has had issues with others confronting them about their drone and how they handled it and 2) generally, what are the actual rules about flying a drone in a residential area? When do random people in the area have a right to maybe call the cops?

I usually try to avoid city type recreational flying where I might be accosted by both those who feel they're an authority of some sort or an uneducated person from law enforcement. I also doubt the lady knew anything about airspace but South San Francisco is a fairly busy area when looking at a sectional. Are you able to legally fly where you were?

Even if I can legally fly in populated areas, I do as suggested, fly straight up to avoid actually being over peoples homes. I do fly at altitude to capture some views if my gut tells me to do, but avoid lower level flights. Just make sure you are actually flying under FAA rules. If a nut case appears, I move on or try to educate them. A lot of people take on a different attitude if you are calm, cool and collected but there are those hellbent on stopping you for a host of reasons, mainly which is due to our wonderful media here in the US.
That is my Flying Etiquette.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Absolutely, though misunderstandings should certainly be cleared up.

Which is exactly what I was doing, without any personal attacks or rude language. To that end...

Instead of looking for what you think might be errors in my post, perhaps oh should read the whole thread.

In fact I did, and was one of the very first responses to the OP. Please see Post #4, which was a direct response to the OP and answered his questions.

The OP said he was “here in the UK” not I.

OP means "Original Poster" and in this case that is @Danny A from San Francisco, USA. That is not in the UK and he never said he was from the UK.

You are the one that used that term "here in the UK" in your own post. As it turns out, you just copied that from someone else's earlier post (not the OP BTW), without acknowledging that those were someone else's words. That does make it hard for anyone to know who said what. As it stands, that post of yours does make it look like they are your words and that you said you were in the UK.
If you clearly refer to whose words you are using and whose post you are responding to, then there would be no confusion on anyone's part.

top trying to nit pick at something you think I said was wrong.

Believe me, if I was nit-picking, you would know it. Just responding to your statements and pointing out what I saw as inaccuracies.

 

[timlyg]

I have never run into issues with bystanders/neighbors. I have had 3 incidents with some form of "authority figure" and in each case I simply agreed, landed, and moved on. In each of those 3 cases, the authority figure was wrong, and I followed up with the proper agency in writing. That way if I run into any issues with that authority again, I have documentation.


The only items of concern are:

• Airspace in the USA is controlled by one and only one entity, and that is the FAA. If you are authorized to fly in that airspace then you are fine and it doesn't matter whether it is residential, commercial, industrial, etc... Check the airspace and make sure you are flying legally.
• The land from where you take-off and land. You should not be using private land as a launch point unless you have permission of that land owner. Otherwise you are trespassing. If it is public property you are generally fine unless that jurisdiction has some ordinances against using public property for take-off and landing. Know the ordinances in your area!
• Are you breaking any other non-drone-related laws like invasion of privacy, disturbing the peace, etc... As long as you are not using your drone to illegally surveil someone, I think you are generally safe. Know the laws in your area!
• Many will disagree but if you are taking pictures of solar panels that your company installed, the intent of that flight would not be "purely recreational", in general. As such you would need a Part 107 license in order to do so.

Citizens always have the right to call law enforcement. What the police do is another story. If they have any idea of the laws regarding drones then they would pass that on to the caller and move on. If they do respond and come out to the site, be cordial, explain the situation, and move on if the officer requests you to (even if he is wrong).

I guess my question is, where does it consider as air space? Above 10ft, 20ft, 100ft of a person's head? roof? private property ground level?

 

[Vic Moss]

I guess my question is, where does it consider as air space? Above 10ft, 20ft, 100ft of a person's head? roof? private property ground level?

There is no "official" airspace. But the FAA claims control from the "blades of grass" and up. But there has been no court case actually defining that.

 

[Drgnfli]

I am not in the UK or Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls is my mailing address because they are friendly to travelers like myself that need a mailing address and some place I can call home legally. So again, wrong. I am a full time RV'r traveling the country trying to see all 50 states, 11 more to go.....my point again was simply that if that were the law of the land, any land, a lot of us would not buy a drone period though in my case not that much of a problem because my home for the moment is where ever I drive it too weather it be some place out in the country (no homes for miles) or some nice RV park!!

First of all I love my MP! But if I had known that there was all these BS regs about flying over roads, people, houses, buildings, schools, cars, etc, etc, etc., (manned A/C can) I probably would not have even thought about buying a drone. Trouble is I did & decided to do my best to learn what is legal & what is not. Once I had 'secured' my place in my neighborhood by showing my FAA registration, basic rules & regs printouts & LAANC permissions to cops & neighbors, I haven't been confronted again. P.S. My "next" door neighbors love my MP...

 

[BigAl07]

Ok gang... this thread has officially derailed and gone into the ditches and is now
CLOSED!!