Legality and walking the line......

[SirPluto]

So i just bought my first Mavic and have had a blast with it so far. I've just been playing with it around the neighborhood, but really want to get out and start doing some great filming with it....

There is just one problem. I live in Denver and they apparently hate drones in this town. Can't fly them in county parks, can't fly them in city parks. Can't go west towards the gorgeous mountains because the county over also hates drones. The county to the east only allows them in certain "flying zones." So i'm basically living in one giant no fly zone. I hate flying them in the neighborhood I live in as well, well because people.

The question is where does everyone draw the line between legal and using your best judgement? (Oh i'm sure this is going to start a flame war.) For example, today I went over to one of our parks here in Denver that I would consider more of an "open space" than a city park. It's at least 50 acres. The front 5 acres get used with a soccer field, playground, pavilion, river play space, etc. The rest of it no one even touches. I went there this evening to just check it out as I myself had never really explored all of the park. I literally saw 3 people in an hour and a half.

In the county next to us there is an open space that me and the gf go to all the time to hike. That place is hundreds if not thousands of acres tucked back into the wilderness. Exact same situation, the place is desolate, but still considered a county run open space (no drones.) It isn't heavily patrolled either. I don't think i've ever seen a police officer there.

I'm not trying to ruin drones for the whole world or anything like that. I'm extremely cautious in everything I do and would never go flying over the top of a large group of people at a park on Saturday afternoon. I get the feeling from reading around here that i'm not the only person in here like that. However is there a place and time where we can walk around, make an assessment of the environment we're in and just go for it?

Just trying to get a feel for people's personal thoughts. Everything around here seems to be a relative grey zone when it comes to drones.

 

[Lone Wolf 58]

From everything you have said there would appear to be no logical reason why you should not fly. I would find out what the fines are if caught. I myself with what you have said would go for it and fly. I know I going out on a limb here but what the hay.

 

[JHSlayer]

Aside from living in Denver. A major city, go for it. I'm in fort collins and love all these idiots that think drones are like burning bras. You and I actually have great places to fly. Get outta town and have fun.

 

[TallGear]

The only no fly zones are airports/heliports, military bases, and places with large crowds of people. (That third one is more of a best judgement, not no fly zone.)

A private person tells you you can't fly in an area, tell them to mind their own business.

Private property rights are a bit different. IANAL, but nobody owns the sky above their house, unless I am mistaken.

 

[rhchan84]

My advice is just respect people's personal space. If your in their yard, I'm sure that will upset someone but if your just flying over, I doubt anyone would care that much except be slightly like "wtf" moment.

 

[MisterMavic]

My advice is just respect people's personal space. If your in their yard, I'm sure that will upset someone but if your just flying over, I doubt anyone would care that much except be slightly like "wtf" moment.

Agree

 

[No1much]

Maybe, if you know where whoever is nominally in charge of the space, or park rangers or something, can be found, you might work something out with them, just letting them know you'd like to take pictures or video in the wilderness with your drone and figure out where and when would make both of you comfortable to fly in. And of course, you could always offer to share any great pictures of the area for their website or posters or whatever.

Just a thought.

 

[tcope]

I avoid city and county parks. It's just not worth the time. CO has _plenty_ of BLM land... tons! Fly as much as you want.

 

[Syphon]

I was actually talking to my wife about this the other day. As the government starts making more and more laws that obviously have nothing to do with safety but just have to do with shutting drones down, more and more drone pilots are going to start breaking the rules.

For example, City of Orlando just made a few drone ordinances. One of them was that you couldn't fly over any large gathering of over 1,000 people. I understand that, as people were flying drones over the stadiums and such. But then they went to a new level. They put in rules that you can't fly within 500 ft of any city park, school and something else. Because of the amount of those around the city, almost anywhere you go you are within 500ft of one of those.

As more and more rules start to come into play that is just to please those that wear tin foil hats, drone pilots are going to start ignoring these rules and just making their own assessment of what is safe and what is not.

 

[2nckayakers]

From the beginning I have tried to follow the rules. I live within 4 miles of a regional jet port and I called them to let them know that I would be flying (pretty much anytime I was home) over my house and the adjoining properties. The airport manager basically didn't care. She said if you had not called we would never have known you were flying. (until heaven forbid there was some fly away and the Mavic hit a plane).

I have been other places where I needed to notify other airports and couldn't get up with anyone so I left messages and they never called me back. The only ones I ever had call back were the Marines when I asked about flying in a Restricted Area. BTW, they were absolutely the greatest to work with and I didn't have a problem at all getting authorization.

Now let me say this, I try to be as safe as I can with my Mavic. I try not to do anything really risky with it as my wife wouldn't let me fork out another $1000 if I crash and burn. Almost all of my flights are VLOS and less than 400 feet.

Almost being the key word in that last sentence. I do push the boundaries from time to time. It isn't uncommon when I am flying around my house ( in the country) that I get out of VLOS. I have flown above 400 feet on several occasions. I have flown over some highways in transit and I have flow over some people (less than 10) that were un protected. When I am supposed to notify someone and can't get up with them or they didn't return calls, I still fly. We had a fire at an apartment down the street this morning and guess what the first thing was I did? Yep, 5 am, pitch dark and I flew the Mavic from the house down to the fire and started a POI sweep around the whole scene. So there I flew in the dark and I flew around emergency personnel. (which I knew every one of the guys working that fire and they even asked me to hover over certain areas and take some pictures for them and run some video).

I don't have my 107 certificate and I am just flying for fun right now. But, I am not flying over hundreds of people at the fair, parades or festivals. I am not flying 4 miles away from my fixed location trying to set the ever further reaching distance record. I am not buzzing the tower at the local airfield or trying to fly through the girder bridge during rush hour traffic and slamming my Mavic into cars. I am very respectful of people's personal spaces and I am not trying to spy on anyone outside their windows.

For the most part I think the Drone Community is made up of people who try to fly safely. We try to be respectful. We try to educate others and get them interested in what we are doing, and show others how much fun they too can have. Where to fly, when to fly, how to fly basically boils down to "use common sense and be safe". The problem is we have that small percentage that have no common sense. That don't know or care to know the rules. That the drone they have is the first one they have ever had and rather than practicing and honing their skills in a wide open space, they chunk it out the window of their high rise in the city and head off like it was just a video game.

That small percentage are the ones that will ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[geigy]

I'm in the same boat, still struggling on a couple of levels with the VLOS rule. This is the wild west. Avoid standing out in the open and attracting people, and if there is any question, avoid putting the name of the park or other public facility in any youtubes that you post, and you'll be more or less in the center of the pack of other drone flyers.

So far there are no technological infrastructure in place to detect, jam, or capture our drones. Enjoy while you can. You mentioned this, but safety and respect for others need to be central. Make an effort to educate yourself on how to minimize the danger to people and property at all times while we try to live in this time of ambiguous and silly laws and rules.

 

[dirkclod]

This is the wild west.

Afraid not anymore . Pretty sure I saw an horseless carriage coming down the dusty trail geigy

 

[ds55]

Mavic air will not take off because my house is in a restricted area (1 mile from county airport) Trying to override it but can't. All I want to take is pictures of my house.

 

[FL450]

It doesn't make sense at all. If you are a private pilot you go wherever you want with a similar knowledge level of a 107. Pass through a delta, no problem, one radio call and it's done. Seems to me a 107 license and a registration really don't do as much for you as they should. I'm a retired professional pilot planning on taking the 107 test very soon.

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

Private property rights are a bit different. IANAL, but nobody owns the sky above their house, unless I am mistaken.

You absolutely own the sky above (and below) your property. But there's such a thing as "air rights". There's Supreme Court case law on it.. interesting story.

 

[Drone_guy]

Mavic air will not take off because my house is in a restricted area (1 mile from county airport) Trying to override it but can't. All I want to take is pictures of my house.

Try this.