Numerous SCOTUS rulings have ruled that anything visible from a public thoroughfare (the NAS is a public thoroughfare) has no "reasonable expectation of privacy".
Did the SCOTUS provide that explicit interpretation of the NAS, and if not, who did if anyone?
Were that the law so precise, and automatic! Fortunately, it is not (none of us would like to live under such a system).
So, whatever/whoever offered this interpretation will have to come to your defense when the state flexes it's jurisdictional muscles over it's laws, which experience shows it most certainly will if an "aggrieved" party pushes the issue. As has happened many, many times to drone pilots violating local and state laws, whether they're valid or not in a jurisdictional question.
That doesn't resolve itself simply by offering it as a defense. It almost always must be resolved by process, which can be lengthy, and expensive.
What the "law" actually "is" is not cut-and-dried, but rather fuzzy. And it can change because of a court decision. Even long-standing law. Consider for example recent developments re: abortion in the US (
NO POLITICAL DISCUSSION PLEASE!!!).
Whether something is legal or not, how the law is interpreted, has more to do with if a party has power, and the resources, to successfully enforce
their interpretation.
Joe Dronie generally does not. A state does. So if the FAA says that the entire NAS shall be interpreted to be a "public thoroughfare" as stated in the SCOTUS ruling, and a state (Governor John Pinette
) says, "NAY NAY!", you're getting convicted under their code, and it's up to you to appeal that and get the SCOTUS to clarify.