Hesitant to fly in Florida

[Phochief]

I live in Port St. Lucie Florida and am considering buying a Mavic 2 drone, but after days of reading about all of the FL restrictions and possibly opening myself up to privacy lawsuits, and lack of places to fly has prevented me from taking the plunge. I’m a Nature and Landscape photographer (retired photojournalist), and would only be flying and photographing as a hobbiest. I understand the FAA rules and would abide by them, but it’s the FL laws, county and city ordinances that worry me. I’m retired and don’t want to constantly worry about lawsuits, or that an LEO will charge me with some drone crime.
Am I worrying too much? Are any Florida drone pilots running into problems?
Some advice from Florida hobby drone pilots would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
David

 

[Shakes1118]

David,
I am in Port Saint Lucie too. I just passed the 107 knowledge test the other day after about two hours of studying. I have been flying drones for about six years, since my father and I started building Arduino quadcopters.

Here's my two cents on Florida laws:
Know where you are flying and what the law says.

934.50 - Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act - Effective July 1, 2015
Basically you cannot use a drone to photograph or record individuals with a reasonable expectation of privacy, or of private property without consent. It also places limits on law enforcement use of drones

"A person, a state agency, or a political subdivision as defined in s. 11.45 may not use a drone equipped with an imaging device to record an image of privately owned real property or of the owner, tenant, occupant, invitee, or licensee of such property with the intent to conduct surveillance on the individual or property captured in the image in violation of such person’s reasonable expectation of privacy without his or her written consent.”

For someone to prove ”intent to conduct surveillance," you would probably need to be doing something to substancially show you you wanted to watch someone in a private location and violate someone's privacy. The current laws have not been challenged in court, so abiding by them is probably wise.

Note on Federal vs State Laws:
Federal airspace laws take precedence over state drone laws. If a state or local law directly conflicts with FAA regulations, the state or local law is likely to be invalidated.

So, you can't be completely oblivious to your location or what you are filming. But, as long as you're not up to something completely fishy, you should be just fine.

Many interesting sites exist to explore the legalities of drone use in FL.:
Know Your Florida Drone Laws [Avoid Trouble and Fly Safe]
Florida - Drone Laws, Rules and Regulations

I'm not sure this was helpful or not, but happy flying.

 

[Phochief]

Shakes......thanks for your perspective and links. I'm going to try and send you a PM too.

Thanks,
David

 

[Phochief]

Hi all,

I’d still love to hear from any other Treasure Coast Florida drone pilots about flying in city or county parks? Any problems? Do you contact someone first to make sure it’s ok? Also, is there any liability insurance available in our area?

Thanks,
David

 

[PalmSunset]

I am traveling and staying on Clearwater Beach in April, and will be there for 6 days before driving over to Orlando for another 5 days.

I have brought my MA and all accessories with me before to Clearwater Beach, as we visit 2-3 times per year. I've had no issues with TSA when we've flown. I'm registered with the FAA, currently studying for my 107.

I have viewed many videos on YouTube from other pilots that are local and those that have visited the area, and I do not see anything malicious that would cause authorities to question the intent of the pilots.

In my past trips, I have brought the MA along with the intent to fly, but the weather prevented it every time- either too windy or rain.

I invested in Litchi and have been building and planning waypoint missions in preparation for my visit. I currently have 2 batteries, and have ordered 3 more just for this trip. (We're going to celebrate my girlfriend's 50th birthday, and we have about 40 people flying in from around the country. I plan to use the early morning hours to take advantage of clear breaks in weather and would also like to catch a few golden hour/sunset flights in the evenings- again, all preplanned waypoint missions.

I have read the regulations and requirements and know that where we're staying is within certain fly zones of heliports and an airstrip in Clearwater. My intention is to contact each of them individually to report my flight(s).

My question is, if I want to fly 4-5 missions in one day, do I need to call each of them prior to takeoff of each mission? Or can I just call and say "I'm staying for X days and will be flying XX missions with a max altitude of XXX" and have them just give blessing for the duration of my vacation?

 

[mroyusa]

Hi I am in PSL and just bought a Mavic Air 2. Starting a drone photography for real estate soon. Is a privacy letter required for all neighbors when shooting a nearby property? Any rules in Port St Lucie I should know?

 

[Phochief]

Hi I am in PSL and just bought a Mavic Air 2. Starting a drone photography for real estate soon. Is a privacy letter required for all neighbors when shooting a nearby property? Any rules in Port St Lucie I should know?

Do you have your Part 107 unmanned pilot certificate? I'm not an attorney, but I'd just recommend not hovering at low altitude over other people''s property. If you're shooting commercially, you probably won't have any problems, however, just remember that Florida has strict Surveillance & Privacy laws. I don't know how other commercial drone pilots handle it, but I would probably make an attempt to let neighbors on the sides of the property know what you're doing. There's nothing that specifically says you're required to send neighbors a privacy letter.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I've flown in NE/SW Fl, CFL, S.Fla, and a ton offshore/beaches and never had any issues. There's vastly more places to fly then the latter. Flying near populated areas requires knowledge of rules/regs and good timing (early morning being the best). The #1 issue I have in Fl are the afternoon showers and high winds that precede them that roll in each day but as you know if you don't like the weather in Fl wait 15 min.

Fl is a UAS flying paradise, a ton to see and discover both land/sea/coast.

Your concern over the privacy laws is a bit overblown. If you use common sense and avoid doing something like hovering at low altitude over people/private property no one is going to be bothered. In fact, in the 3 years of flying I've never heard a single complaint from the public. It's always fascination and friendly conversation.

I'm not 107 certified but I'm a professional aviator.

 

[mroyusa]

I don't plan on doing any surveillance or anything illegal. I will have my license soon as this virus is over, i think all testing has stopped right now.

 

[Ty Pilot]

My wife is a photographer and does a good bit of real estate here in Orlando so I have been doing all of her aerial imagery for the last three years since getting my 107. My basic routine is to first check the airspace at the location and if it is clear we will set a date confirming with the realtor and homeowner (if the house is occupied). I make sure to have some form of communication with one or both of them; either as an email or text, confirming they want us to do the aerial on the given date. At that point I just ask them to tell the neighbors that we'll be there and flying for less than half an hour on that date.

When I arrive I make sure I understand the property boundaries and have clear access all around and when flying I never step off the property and make sure I never fly over any neighbors' property unless I am given permission which; happens fairly regularly. Many times the neighbors like to watch and just want to ask questions so I oblige as much as possible to have a good relationship. I have only once had a negative reaction - a neighbor I could see was watching me very closely turned on his sprinklers bordering his property at the exact moment I was walking between the houses but for the most part no problems in over three years operation.

If the police are ever called, I can show clear evidence that I am a certificated and insured pilot, working for a photography outfit, hired by a realtor/homeowner to shoot the given property and I can then show all of the shots from any flight and it's clear what my subject will have been. Fortunately I have not had this happen and I hope it never does.

 

[mroyusa]

Thanks for the tips, I added a cool feature on the new site I am building right now for people to contact and send a map of the area they need drone service in. Please check it out tell me what you think, this site is not public yet but here is link to check out the map feature added to my contact form.

 

[Thomas B]

Thanks for the tips, I added a cool feature on the new site I am building right now for people to contact and send a map of the area they need drone service in. Please check it out tell me what you think, this site is not public yet but here is link to check out the map feature added to my contact form. Draw Service Area – Precision Drone Services

Website looks good
When this site and your business go public you will need to disable the link in your post.

 

[mroyusa]

oh yea sorry took the link out im not a spammer i hate those guys, i would cut their hands off. Site is in progress for the next few months. studying for the part 107. Excited I wish they did the test online.

 

[mroyusa]

For anyone else living in Port Saint Lucie, where is a good spot to go flying? Can't find any local info on the PSL website about local laws either.

 

[mavictk]

I am not a lawyer so this is not legal advice. Please read Florida Statute 330.41 which could be reasonable interpreted that the state, and not local jurisdictions, have the only say on drone laws in the state of Florida - see 3(a) and 3(b). Also included in 330.41 are those area considered critical infrastructure by the State of Florida which Florida says you cannot fly near ( I am being intentionally vague here).

Once you read 330.41 and believe you understand it don’t think that local governments or law enforcement understand or want to comply with the law. Their lack of understanding the law will cause you trouble but not them.

For example county parks should be available for flying your drone, according to 330.41 but your county may disagree through ignorance or obstinance. Note that state parks don’t allow drone operations from their grounds but, remember they are state operations.

The bottom line that Florida is a drone friendly state for now.

I hope others will chime in to correct my errors

 

[solidhouse]

I’m in Brandon, Florida. The only trouble that I’ve had it the HOA complaining that my drone and threatening to find me for it.

What’s I’ve found is that the less people that see or hear the drone, the less trouble that I have. What I now do is run a weed eater while taking off and landing the drone. Also, not hovering over people and houses. I haven’t any trouble in 6 months now.