Pile on and Tell Me Why I am Wrong

[Felix le Chat]

Remember I said START TOO.
There will be an active and very lucrative!! market for new and used replacement drones and Parts!, .
The value of my parts stash climbs daily. lol
We will see. Without DJI around many will start to learn that this stuff aint cheap nor easy.
But the Whole point was that the Government would have had a steeper hill to climb to get this all done if they didnt have all the idiot pilots to point to!

"...

"... But the Whole point was that the Government would have had a steeper hill to climb to get this all done if they didnt have all the idiot pilots to point to!..."

Fair point, but about five years too late - that horse is a dot on the horizon, so locking the stable door and having the groom police the yard is a redundant action.

Decisions have already been made - being watchful and informing on 'malfeasants' won't make a jot of difference.

 

[glocke12]

Long story longer.

I am still trying to get my stuff together. When my brighter tablet arrives, I look forward to getting more time in.

Meanwhile, there is a guy where I live. He has every form of social media that I know about; probably more. On them, he puts up some kind of impressive imagery:
His signature clip is his drone apparently flying up, up through a cloud bank (he calls it 'fog'), and panning around.
He has a clip essentially called a morning over our local dam. One that we used to be able to drive over until the TVA decided that was a Bad Idea and started enforcing some boundaries.
There's some footage of him apparently flying around one of our state parks (I'll save you the google, not lawful unless the Park Manager gives him permission).
He has footage of him flying over some schools, and flying around a school football game.

I had a couple of my friends poking me and telling me, man why aren't you doing that? So, it bugged me.

This week, I saw in our local facebook parks and rec group them fellating him over his coverage of the annual Christmas parade. His video apparently shows him operating above the parade route and where people are standing on the sidewalks.

(I know none of you are reading this far, so I'm just venting at this point).

I simply asked in the forum, how much trouble it was for him to get his waiver. He gave me a thumbs up... then blocked me. So I went and looked, he doesn't have any FAA waivers under the names I would expect. He doesn't have his dba name registered with the state, but he has had his 107 for about six months.

I am not going to snitch him out to the authorities, which is why I am not naming him here. Tell me why I am wrongly salty for him doing things I'd like to do, and he just does them. Not my business, right? (I ran across the Christmas stuff when my wife asked me why I wasn't doing things like that. That and a couple of friends mentioned seeing his drone at the parade).

I'm sure my response isn't going to be popular, but some of the rules involved are ridiculous and if someone can get away with violating some of them that doesn't involve potential damage to persons or property, I've no problem with them being broken, such as the no flying in state parks rule. We have that in Pennsylvania and I get around it by setting up outside park boundaries and flying into the park. I won't setup in a park but I have friends that do that. Walk back to a fairly remote spot, do a quick stealth flight then get out of dodge.

Flying over crowds without a waiver is just dumb and the liability involved isn't worth the risk.

Flying up through a cloud bank ? Not smart at all due to the moisture damage that the drone could get, not too mention it messes with the sensors.

I wouldn't get salty over what this other person does and wouldn't worry about what other people do. It sounds like up till now he's been lucky in not having anything happen, but his luck will run out.

Also, good on you for not being a snitch. There is nothing worse than people in a community that rat each other out.

 

[Cafguy]

There is nothing worse than people in a community that rat each other out.

Sure there is!! I would say not even having that community any longer is.... Don't you think we have a big enough black eye in the U.S. and do you really wish to tell the public that we cannot look out for their safety and our own as a profession or hobby because "we don't want to seem like snitches"?
That is a grade school argument that will only lead to us all losing a hobby and maybe even a profession in the long run.
We are already on thin ice as far as airspace goes, thanks to all these places that want to fill the skies with Delivery Drones!
It won't take much more and we will all be inside flying in warehouses! probably AMA warehouses. lol

 

[glocke12]

Sure there is!! I would say not even having that community any longer is.... Don't you think we have a big enough black eye in the U.S. and do you really wish to tell the public that we cannot look out for their safety and our own as a profession or hobby because "we don't want to seem like snitches"?
That is a grade school argument that will only lead to us all losing a hobby and maybe even a profession in the long run.
We are already on thin ice as far as airspace goes, thanks to all these places that want to fill the skies with Delivery Drones!
It won't take much more and we will all be inside flying in warehouses! probably AMA warehouses. lol

Not liking snitches is not grade school mentality. It is something that is guided by moral principles, and something that I feel deep inside of my psyche. I literally feel physically repulsed at the idea of being a snitch. It's quite simply not something I have control over.


I understand and respect your point of view. I just personally could not bring myself to snitch on someone for any reason except for whats listed below:

1) Their actions are extremely egregious, repetitive, and put others at extreme risk time and time again. Even typing that out makes me feel like a dirty snitch but I probably would end up reporting them if they didn't listen to reason.

2) My knowledge of their actions puts myself in danger of facing criminal charges.

Reading the OP again, the only thing that I really see as an issue is flying over the parade, flying over football games, and flying over schools ( thats borderline if not outright creepy assuming they are filled with school aged children ). Those are legit issues, and 100% are things I would never think of doing.

Everything else listed ? I really don't have a problem with. Heck, I've even been tempted to send one of my drones straight up and than straight down when we've had extremely thick, low lying fog just to get some footage from above the top of the fog bank but did not because I was afraid of damaging my drone.

 

[Cafguy]

I don't look for violations and preach to the pilot and NO I will not rerport every little thing that I see. I mean I myself have flown BLOS a few times, and I do Fly my Mini Whoops in my backyard around the swing set SOLO and thats not really legal per say........LOOK---If you are doing something that could cause harm to the public then Sorry but those things need to be reported and I will cooperate with the FAA in that situation without any feelings of guilt! It is my belief that if we conduct ourselves as professionals in the eyes of the public, Maybe....Jusy maybe Daddy will let us keep playing with our toys. Its not looking good at the moment Tho.

 

[Droning on and on...]

One of my favorite quotes comes to mind: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Running a red light at rush hour can kill someone. Doing so at 3 am when there are no other cars as far as you can see in all directions is no risk at all.

Same with drone rules. Reporting someone for a completely innocuous violation smacks of old communist reporting on parents for trivialities.

 

[Dronecation]

It won't take much more and we will all be inside flying in warehouses!

I think what Hank970 previously said here:
"I'd be willing to bet that a chorus of drone operators "ratting" to the FAA about every infraction they perceive would be more likely to result in additional restrictions than would random complaints from citizens, many of whom are either completely oblivious of our activities or, if they see a drone in flight, couldn't care less."
is extremely pertinent! Something you should seriously consider before snitching.
Nobody is waking up to newspaper headlines about drones imbedded in peoples heads!

Happy droning in 2026 and hopefully 2026 is a snitch free year....lol

 

[Dronecation]

Not liking snitches is not grade school mentality. It is something that is guided by moral principles, and something that I feel deep inside of my psyche. I literally feel physically repulsed at the idea of being a snitch. It's quite simply not something I have control over.
I understand and respect your point of view. I just personally could not bring myself to snitch on someone for any reason

Period- Kudos! A man with a backbone and decent moral compass!