I've been asked to contact an FBI agent tomorrow since he has some questions regarding my drone flying.

[james_mav]

Long story short - I take pictures for someone who uses them in City Council meetings in their fight against a large company that conducts illegal operations. The FBI saw my pictures, questioned my neighbor how they were obtained & they were forced to rat me out. Ha HA.

I mainly take off from my residence & fly over the business after hours & on sundays when it doesn't endanger any employees or the business & I doubt they've ever spotted my drone while I was flying. It looks like the FBI is concerned about my flying since the business is located on the Mississippi River & drones have the potential for being used in terrorist attacks against ships.

I'm a hobbyist, my drone is registered, however I don't keep a copy of the registration on me when I fly nor could I locate mine if I was asked. I spent the $5 tonight & re-registered since I know I'll be talking to the FBI tomorrow.

The main point of my post is to advise others to register their drone if they haven't done so & keep a copy of the registration on you when you're flying. The FBI is apparently trying to contact anyone who flys a drone & make sure they are registered. The potential fines are huge including jail time so it makes sense to spend the $5.

 

[abtocmeptb]

Id advise you to find old registration. Cause I bet my last cent new registration means nothing to them. All they gonna push is were you flying over that property unregistered or not.

 

[tcope]

If you were registered you'd be able to find your registration on the FAA site. The FBI does not simply attempt to contact people to confirm they are registered. That is outside their charge. The _FAA_ would contact you about that.

 

[Meta4]

Id advise you to find old registration. Cause I bet my last cent new registration means nothing to them. All they gonna push is were you flying over that property unregistered or not.

New registration or old registration won't mean anything to the FBI.
Registration would be the last thing they would have any concern about.

 

[WithTheBirds]

This is analogous to telling the teacher the dog ate your homework. It’s a very simple story to be caught out on, I wouldn’t even try it on if you have any doubt as to if you had an earlier valid registration.

 

[dirkclod]

Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. If it was really bad they
wouldn’t want you to call. They would be knocking on your door.

 

[james_mav]

Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. If it was really bad they
wouldn’t want you to call. They would be knocking on your door.

Id advise you to find old registration. Cause I bet my last cent new registration means nothing to them. All they gonna push is were you flying over that property unregistered or not.

I've got my old registration numbers under the hood of my Mavic but didn't have the paperwork so I took the easy route & re-registered instead of trying to find the papers. The FBI might want to make sure I'm a U.S. citizen at the worst.

 

[dirkclod]

I just had to renew mine and the date goes from when I first
registered to 2020. Does yours say when you first did.

 

[james_mav]

I just had to renew mine and the date goes from when I first
registered to 2020. Does yours say when you first did.

I went ahead & figured out how to access my original Certificate of Registration since a few posters thought the FBI would want this.

My original certificate was issued 12/2016 & expires in 2020. My new one expires in 2021 so at least the $5 is good for another year.

I'll post on the thread tomorrow if the FBI is trying to help drone users or use some scare tactics.

 

[dirkclod]

Good luck and will be waiting to hear what happens.

 

[dirkclod]

I do find it strange the system didn’t pick up you were already registered. Are your FA #’s the same.
I am just curios why I am asking.

 

[BigAl07]

Long story short - I take pictures for someone who uses them in City Council meetings in their fight against a large company that conducts illegal operations. The FBI saw my pictures, questioned my neighbor how they were obtained & they were forced to rat me out. Ha HA.

I mainly take off from my residence & fly over the business after hours & on sundays when it doesn't endanger any employees or the business & I doubt they've ever spotted my drone while I was flying. It looks like the FBI is concerned about my flying since the business is located on the Mississippi River & drones have the potential for being used in terrorist attacks against ships.

I'm a hobbyist, my drone is registered, however I don't keep a copy of the registration on me when I fly nor could I locate mine if I was asked. I spent the $5 tonight & re-registered since I know I'll be talking to the FBI tomorrow.

The main point of my post is to advise others to register their drone if they haven't done so & keep a copy of the registration on you when you're flying. The FBI is apparently trying to contact anyone who flys a drone & make sure they are registered. The potential fines are huge including jail time so it makes sense to spend the $5.

I don't know that it will matter to the FBI (they have bigger fish to fry) but... you admitted you were taking picture for "City Council Meetings".... that's very much well outside of Hobby/Recreational operations. You can't HOBBY for someone else and you sure aren't a hobbyist when obtaining images for a 3rd party in their plight against a local company. Even if no money changed hands you're operating well outside of Part 101/336 and by that you're in violation of Part 107 rules.

I think worst case is this will get turned over the the FAA an DOJ for investigation and potentially some "educational moments" going forward.

Good luck and keep us posted. Who knows, you might get lucky and the FBI won't even know the difference between Hobby/Commercial ops and you'll be good to go.

 

[Mr. Salty]

I wouldn't talk to the FBI without talking to a lawyer first. A brief consultation wouldn't cost much and could even be free.

 

[BigAl07]

I wouldn't talk to the FBI without talking to a lawyer first. A brief consultation wouldn't cost much and could even be free.

VERY good advice!! Keep in mind they aren't there to protect you... all it would take is one slip up and you've started down a very slippery slope.

 

[Chip]

Long story short - I take pictures for someone who uses them in City Council meetings in their fight against a large company that conducts illegal operations. .. The FBI saw my pictures, questioned my neighbor how they were obtained & they were forced to rat me out. ..

What kind of illegal operations?

Conducting surveillance by drone over private property and sharing footage with state or local governments can raise serious search and seizure issues under state and federal constitutions.

 

[packnrat]

GET a lawyer before you talk to the fbi. Or any police agency.

Forget numbers. If that is a issue, the faa would send you a bill.

Cover your six.

And living in ca I have never heard of a drone attack by anybody trying to blow up a ship.

 

[Chip]

If you have not already done so, check your state drone law asap. There are a few states that expressly prohibit private party from using a drone to conduct surveillance. Idaho comes to mind but I know there are others.

US Drone Laws (2017) - Drone Laws by State

Request for interview is serious business. Especially if you do not know the reason or the exact matters at issue. Being less than 100% truthful to the FBI can be a crime. Please be cautious. Unless you are confident you know if and when to end such an interview, consider again:

I wouldn't talk to the FBI without talking to a lawyer first. A brief consultation wouldn't cost much and could even be free.

 

[Shakes1118]

If you have not already done so, check your state drone law asap. There are a few states that expressly prohibit private party from using a drone to conduct surveillance. Idaho comes to mind but I know there are others.

US Drone Laws (2017) - Drone Laws by State

Request for interview is serious business. Especially if you do not know the reason or the exact matters at issue. Being less than 100% truthful to the FBI can be a crime. Please be cautious. Unless you are confident you know if and when to end such an interview, consider again:

The FBI does NOT investigate state statute violations that would be up to state law enforcement. In other words, the FBI isn't investigating a privacy concern, to they are more likely investigating a federal criminal statute.

Talk to a lawyer.

 

[Kilrah]

They might very well simply be interested in the images for their investigation and in need of direct contact with the author for validation purposes. Doubt they are contacting you with the intention to go after you - but it could end up that way if using them requires checking that they were taken 100% legally, they find out that for some reason they can't be considered as such e.g. becasue of having been taken for a specific purpose without the proper licenses or authorisations, and they have no choice but to report you following that finding.

 

[Meta4]

For all the people who think the FBI might be interested in whether a drone is registered or such trivial issues, have a look at this website and find out what the FBI actually investigates:
What We Investigate