I'm going to give a different opinion so the OP should be reminded this is not legal advice. Flying a drone over the streets of Phoenix that happen to have pedestrians on the sidewalks, people in the alley, residents in their backyard, and people in their cars on the street is perfectly legal and perfectly fine if you just want to record a video of the public in their natural setting going about their day. Just don't hover too long and/or too low directly over crowds of people and you should be fine. For example, if you want to make a video of the cross-streets of Camelback and Scottsdale Rd, maybe fly higher than 150 feet to clear the buildings and orbit to keep moving instead of lingering over the businesses where people are shopping. Just get your LAANC in other places where you need it.It's been pounded into my head throughout my Part 107 course that you cannot fly over people. Certified or not. If you are NOT directly overhead, and you have a malfunction and it drifts over to the the people and someone gets hit, you will be charged for flying recklessly. So you really want to plan on any 'malfunction' and consider what the drone will do. Also, just as @Rip questioned above, are you licensed? (Part 107 certificate). I'll bet you this would not be considered a recreational flight. Remembering that getting paid has nothing to do with it. Recreational means you are just having fun flying around, obeying the rules / guidelines. The big question is... when you left your house with the drone WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE FLIGHT. If you intended to go to a public area, with the intent to get footage to 'Make a Video' of the streets of Phoenix, with intent to upload / post it,....I would say you crossed the line of recreational. Even flying over your neighbor's yard to check the rain gutters on their house for them is not recreational. The intend of that flight was to do exterior house inspection. Sounds nit picky, but them's the rules. Counter point.... who's gonna' know? Probably no one. But my instructor also pounded into my head..."Don't be THAT guy". Also... no flying over moving vehicles. (You CAN, however, wait for traffic to subside and scoot across the street.) I'm interested in hearing from others on this.
with intent to upload / post it
For anything over 250 grams it is a big time no no to fly over people and occupied vehicles
I'm pretty certain that the weight of the drone is not the only consideration whether it's legal to fly over people/moving vehicles.
it all depends on the category that the drone falls into.
And yes the category is related to weight but that's not the only consideration. It also has to do with the prop protection being in place while still being in the required weight class at take-off.
Right now there are very few drones that fall into category 1 that makes OOP/OOMV legal.
so whether it's less than or greater than 250 grams is not the deciding factor because the rules also allow drones over 250g to fly over people too as long as the other requirements of the category are met.
unless it's designated as a category 1 thru 4 you can't fly over people.
Those are part 107 rules, does not apply to recreational pilots.
"weight alone has no bearing on whether it's legal to fly over people."Assuming that is true then the recreational pilot still needs to abide by the rules of a CBO.
And as far as I know there are no CBO's that allow for flights over people or vehicles. regardless of the weight. So no recreational flyer is legal to fly over people regardless of drone weight.
So my statement still stands...
weight alone has no bearing on whether it's legal to fly over people.
Keep in mind Phoenix has a large airport in the central-south town area. Be sure to check the B4UFLY app or other to be sure you are not in controlled airspace. This would apply for both recreational and commercial use.If I wanted to film in a public area to make a video of the streets of phoenix would it be legal to fly with pedestrians nearby?
Same details from link in post #5.
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