How many cops does it take to ticket a drone operator at Daytona Bike Week?

[dirkclod]

I couldn't tell what it was that it matter's .

 

[Gordo.]

Sorry its just not common sense to have a drone in that environment .. just asking for trouble

 

[JSKCKNIT]

Do you know if you guys were outside Daytona International Airport's airspace? Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's main campus is in Daytona. They're the ones that released a study several months back about many drones violating the airspace. I wouldn't be surprised if after the study, they trained/educated local law enforcement on drone laws.

Drones Pose Increasing Risks to Aircraft, Study Confirms

 

[Coskier]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's main campus is in Daytona. They're the ones that released a study several months back about many drones violating the airspace.

Drones Pose Increasing Risks to Aircraft, Study Confirms

My alma mater, albeit the Prescott campus.

 

[FMR]

While at Bike week this guy was busted for flying his drone.. not sure what they ticketed him. You can see the drone by the cars..

Good deterant for flying a Drone in a heavily populated area.
Drone guy should know better **

 

[AJupstateNY]

While at Bike week this guy was busted for flying his drone.. not sure what they ticketed him. You can see the drone by the cars..

I have friends at Bike week and been watching all the video from Daytona, and of all of them, one had some drone footage fright over Main Street area and was thinking this might not go too good and other had person walking around down Main St and he was wearing a DJI drone backpack. Don't if same as doing the flying but again thinking this may no go well!

 

[AJupstateNY]

When I was a prosecutor we constantly had to keep telling law enforcement officers not to come to the scene of a minor offense just because they were in the area where another officer was writing a ticket or making an arrest (obviously if there’s a dangerous situation backup is warranted, but that’s not what we were dealing with). The problem comes when they’re still in the pre-arrest investigation stage, at which point Miranda doesn’t attach and incriminating statements are admissible without Miranda. But when there are a lot of officers around for what otherwise seems like a minor issue, it gives defense lawyers a lot of ammunition to claim the the suspect was under arrest in a constitutional sense (“not free to leave”) before he was formally under arrest and Mirandized, potentially requiring the suppression of evidence that would otherwise be admissible if the original officer’s curious colleagues hadn’t also wanted a look. We lost some cases because of this sort of thing.

But a Bike Week LEO are in groups of two, three or four on the Main Street area, plus bike and motor offices in the area.

 

[BD0G]

These officers are just waiting for anything to pop off at an event like this because everyone knows bikers are all in gangs and are criminals (this statement is very sarcastic- I ride and I am not in a gang nor a criminal)

 

[Bob4131]

In addition to flying over the people, I would have been concerned landing into such a populated area. But it raised a question in my mind, can local law enforcement write a ticket for a FAA violation or would they merely collect evidence and forward it to the FAA?

 

[deleted member 877]

In addition to flying over the people, I would have been concerned landing into such a populated area. But it raised a question in my mind, can local law enforcement write a ticket for a FAA violation or would they merely collect evidence and forward it to the FAA?

Great question to which you could receive half a dozen different answers. Then take a lucky dip on which one/s are correct.

 

[HVYMTL]

These officers are just waiting for anything to pop off at an event like this because everyone knows bikers are all in gangs and are criminals (this statement is very sarcastic- I ride and I am not in a gang nor a criminal)

You are correct about them just waiting.. If you do any of the following you'll get a ticket.. Rev your engine, have blue lights on your bike, not wearing eye protection, and if you do a burnout well you might get a free ride with a set of shiny bracelets ..
It's almost no fun going to bike week and Biketoberfest any more, and I've been going for years. I've been disappointed the last few years because of the Lack of Vendors. I'm not sure if city of Daytona has raised their vendor fees, or if sales aren't worth the vendors time anymore.

 

[Prmath]

Question....... say that I am flying the drone from the beach area shooting photos. After 15mins, instead of bringing it back to me, why not fly it a mile away to the Walmart parking lot and land it out in the parking lot on a landing pad beside my waiting buddy and his truck.
How would the LEO’s know Where I went?

 

[BD0G]

Well, thats a good question. The moment you flew from the beach and dropped low enough to land it where your buddy was waiting in the Walmart Parking Lot to pickup your Mavic there would be this big Walmart building within line of sight. The Mavic would disconnect from the remote controller at that point and initiate a RTH. Then it would fly back to you and land at the beach where you took off from.

Line of sight is needed for a good strong signal.
One could fly up and over the beach at a greater altitude as long as there was a clear line of sight , but not fly down behind any major obstructions without the risk of loss of signal.

Now if there were no obstructions between where you took off and the spot that you flew to then a careful observer (police) would be able to see what direction you flew towards and could radio in to other units the general area to respond based on the direction that you flew. Granted this would have to be a well coordinated effort by Law Enforcement.

Law Enforcement knows of the existence and wide spread usage of drones to photograph and take video of well publicized events and I am sure they receive briefings prior to the event on what to look for and how to handle such events.

 

[Bob4131]

Question....... say that I am flying the drone from the beach area shooting photos. After 15mins, instead of bringing it back to me, why not fly it a mile away to the Walmart parking lot and land it out in the parking lot on a landing pad beside my waiting buddy and his truck.
How would the LEO’s know Where I went?

I think it may be wise to sometimes avoid notice of the general public since some folks over react. But I think your intent is to do something wrong and then try to get away without being caught - not something to encourage.
To answer your question: If they saw you with your controller, in theory they could get a search warrant , take your controller and download your flight data and photos. They would then be able to use that in court.

 

[BD0G]

Photo downloads. Sure the police could probably figure that out , but if they wanted the flight logs they would have to post here on the forums to figure that one out. LOL.

 

[Prmath]

My question was answered. Thanks for the responses

 

[STUFF2C]

In years past whenever bike week and spring break would overlap the police presence was much higher (the good old days). Bike week was always the first full week of March. A couple years ago for some reason they pushed it to the second week, there is more overlap with spring breakers. Being the biker crowd is much more sedate than years ago, they may not need as much policing... time will tell. Most of the time you need to be doing something pretty stupid to get police attention, this may be the case here considering the show of force.

 

[Photo Booth]

Perhaps he was ticketed for flying his drone over groups of people? I assume there's a large number of people that attend Bike Week?

From the FAA's page for recreational drone pilots:

Step 2: Review the Rules
It is important to review the rules for flying your drone, prior to your first flight.

• Fly only for fun or recreation
• Follow the safety guidelines of a model aircraft community-based organization
• Fly at or below 400 feet when in uncontrolled airspace (Class G)
• Fly within visual line-of-sight, meaning you as the drone operator use your own eyes and needed contacts or glasses (without binoculars), to ensure you can see your drone at all times.
• Never fly near other aircraft.
• Never fly over groups of people, public events, or stadiums full of people.
• Never fly near or over emergency response efforts.

The second to last one (I tried to bold it).

Mark

 

[Kenneth Coe]

Well, I just read a whole laundry list of what he MIGHT have done. However, apparently, we really don't know what he MIGHT HAVE BEEN guilty of and/or what he was accused of. For that matter, we really don't know if he was actually ticketed for anything. And whatever the offense might have been, we don't know if he will be convicted of anything. Yet, I read post after post about flying over groups of people, populated area, etc. It's entirely possible that he was arrested for having fun. And please, none of the old nonsense like "if he wasn't doing something wrong, they wouldn't have detained him". At this point, we all know better than that. It certainly sounds like the people in the area didn't think he did anything wrong.

Bottom line, let's not convict this guy and castigate him here in the forum until we know if he really did anything wrong.

 

[Photo Booth]

Until the guy in question or someone that knows the specific details shows up here and reveals them, speculating on what MIGHT have happened is all we can do.

I simply SUGGESTED what might have been the cause for the police stepping in. I wasn't criticizing the man nor even assuming that flying over a group of people was the offense. It was nothing but a logical guess.

Mark