Homeowner Claims Airspace Up To 500 ft Above His House - Legal?

cderoche · Jan 27, 2018

ac0j said:
If he doesn't own the air above his house, would that mean he couldn't add a second level to his home, or put up an antenna tower?
I know in certain large citys there has been transfer/sale of air rights above a structure to anther person. There was even a movie about it. Don't remember the name, but Christina Aguilara, and Cher where in it.
But at any rate, If he doesnt want you flying over his house, why would you want to?

I think all of it is relative, if you own a three story house or Trump Tower a certain amount of space should be yours above it. I think a tower or say large apartment building would be able to claim a bit more than a single story dwelling. Its all what type of location you're at I would think. I can hover over my back yard at low altitude all day long and none of my neighbors would have a problem with it. But if I lived in an apartment complex that's a whole different story. Or even a man who owns a large piece of acerage or farm land. 400 feet up flying over the subdivision is probably pretty cool most places, but constantly flying over some guy's 50 acres you may want to keep moving and go even higher if you can. Easiest way to stay outta trouble is try to think what a reasonable person would think of what you're doing. I don't care what Mad Max down the road thinks, the guy who yells at the garbage truck for coming too early, etc etc. But a logical reasonable average person.

cderoche · Jan 27, 2018

ac0j said:
You dont have to have a sign. If you are on or using property that does not belong to you, you are trespassing.
The sign is just so stupid people know that they will be prosecuted. Mailmen trespass every day, but the property owners dont fight it because he is doing a service for them.

"Trespass to Land"
In modern law the word trespass is used most commonly to describe the intentional and wrongful invasion of another's real property. An action for trespass can be maintained by the owner or anyone else who has a lawful right to occupy the real property, such as the owner of an apartment building, a tenant, or a member of the tenant's family. The action can be maintained against anyone who interferes with the right of ownership or possession, whether the invasion is by a person or by something that a person has set in motion. For example, a hunter who enters fields where hunting is forbidden is a trespasser, and so is a company that throws rocks onto neighboring land when it is blasting.

Every unlawful entry onto another's property is trespass, even if no harm is done to the property. A person who has a right to come onto the land may become a trespasser by committing wrongful acts after entry. For example, a mail carrier has a privilege to walk up the sidewalk at a private home but is not entitled to go through the front door. A person who enters property with permission but stays after he has been told to leave also commits a trespass. Moreover, an intruder cannot defend himself in a trespass action by showing that the plaintiff did not have a completely valid legal right to the property. The reason for all of these rules is that the action of trespass exists to prevent breaches of the peace by protecting the quiet possession of real property.

In a trespass action, the plaintiff does not have to show that the defendant intended to trespass but only that she intended to do whatever caused the trespass. It is no excuse that the trespasser mistakenly believed that she was not doing wrong or that she did not understand the wrong. A child can be a trespasser, as can a person who thought that she was on her own land.

Where I live if you don't have a sign you have to told to leave the premises to constitute trespassing. I agree the signs are for stupid people! lol Common sense should tell most people. This is a airspace argument, different area altogether. I should sue Google, NASA, and every airliner I see pass over my house. There needs to be a defined lower limit above said property.

cderoche · Jan 27, 2018

MarkNix said:
Say what? I fly over my neighbood homes on a daily basis! I have to if I want to get to the mountainside I watch deer at. Quit being so complacent! It's no different than walking by their house on the sidewalk. In fact, it's much less of a deal. Very few homes have windows on their roof tops that allow me to look in from 100 ft in the air. Just about every home has a window facing the sidewalk that's only 30 ft away! I'm getting tired of people acting like these drones need to be hidden from neighbors and other citizens. We went through this same crap when cameras started showing up in phones. I remember my gym even posted a sign "NO CAMERA PHONES ALLOWED IN THE LOCKER ROOMS!" Yeah, we got through that nonsense right? We'll get through this to. Expose your neighbors to the sights and sounds of a Mavic passing over their homes at 20 mph a hundred ft in the air. They'll get used to it. Before we know it, Amazon drones will be setting packages on our doorsteps.

Drones are getting cheaper and better by the day. And I used to be the only one in the whole neighborhood (that I'm aware of) that fly one, after this past Christmas I've seen 2 or 3 more flying around. I think the more of them people see, the more commonplace it will become. I'm sure when banks installed the first CCTV systems certain people were probably appalled that they were being filmed. And now people are perfectly fine with the NSA scanning our every phone call, text, email and even this message to search for terrorist activity (supposedly). In ten years this topic will not even come up much. I can walk down the street and no one cares as long as I'm not jumping the fence and peering into windows. Just watch what you do with the drone and time will show people most flyers are harmless.