Police showed up my house within 15 minutes of flight today

[BigAl07]

Big Al, it appears the FAA has a different opinion than you. You initially stated flying from indoors was not legal - ever, but that is not in the FAA regulations - period.

@Bob4131
Did you even read my post that you quoted? I stated very clearly that you "could" maintain VLOS in very narrow and specific way.

I can assure you that your odds of following all of the Safety Guidelines while flying from inside most residences is going to be impossible except for a very narrow field of vision.

Every scenario is not "in the regulations" and thankfully so. But following the regulations to a "T" pretty much removes the potential for flying from Indoors unless you're situated close to and looking out the window and only fly straight in and in such a manner you keep the aircraft in your LOS at all times. Every foot away from the window you get your field of view is dramatically decreased.

 

[ajkm]

Does the OP ever actually state they were flying from inside a house?

“The police were at my house ringing the doorbell 15 minutes into my flight and while my drone was still in the air. I was inside my house the entire time.”

There are just too many issues in this story even to begin to unpack it. Entirely irresponsible, and if you need to ask what’s wrong with being inside your house and looking at the device screen, then there is little point in trying to provide education, imho.

 

[Stacy]

"Congress, appropriately in my opinion, decided to be proactive for once."

?

When big business (Amazon) gets involved, all supposed restrictions for protection will magically disappear. Once the lobbyists start greasing palms and campaigns, drone flights will suddenly be "safe and minimally annoying".

The benefit for the hobbyist (and commercial operators), besides far fewer restricted areas (likely below 400 feet) will be the proliferation of Amazon's (and many other players) technology. Vastly improved obstacle avoidance, far better flight times, huge leaps in the AI, and a myriad selection of payload options.

Unfortunately, the unique and amazing talented fleets of bicycle messengers that ply the city streets may be out of business.

But I will be able to pop my proof (or whatever) onto a drone and the client will get it in a few minutes.

I would imagine certain elevations (say between 300 to 400 feet) will be devoted to drone traffic similar to how certain bands and wavelengths are reserved for communication. Certain elevations could actually be reserved for particular headings to minimize the risk of collisions. If they are all going roughly the same direction at a certain altitude, the risk of collisions would be greatly reduced.

All this bantering about rules and and laws is premature with a technology and potential usage that is growing by leaps and bounds at an incredible rate. Government (fueld by big business) will be rewriting this stuff almost constantly.

JMHO.

 

[Stacy]

“The police were at my house ringing the doorbell 15 minutes into my flight and while my drone was still in the air. I was inside my house the entire time.”

There are just too many issues in this story even to begin to unpack it. Entirely irresponsible, and if you need to ask what’s wrong with being inside your house and looking at the device screen, then there is little point in trying to provide education, imho.

I think some ppl are missing the point that cops showed up at his house. That's a fairly disproportionate response to an errant drone flight. I went up to 1,000 feet the other night (software glitch? . Should I expect a visit?

 

[BigAl07]

I think some ppl are missing the point that cops showed up at his house. That's a fairly disproportionate response to an errant drone flight. I went up to 1,000 feet the other night (software glitch? . Should I expect a visit?

You should get one!

 

[Davros007]

All

Once it started to become apparent that sUAS were going to be a big thing, the FAA was tasked with integrating them into the NAS. That included the full range of anticipated issues, from figuring out how to assure collision avoidance with manned traffic to problems of law enforcement against flying vehicles that are difficult to track or deal with. This is not some campaign to penalize poor recreational flyers, even though a segment of that community seems to feel that it's all about them.

Drones will continue to get better; bigger, faster, longer range, more autonomous, and there will continue to be increasing numbers of them in the skies. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the problems of traffic deconfliction and law enforcement will grow accordingly. But you want to wait until these are a real problem before addressing it? Can you imagine the criticism that the bulk of the population, who are not stuck in this self-indulgent bubble, would level at the FAA if they took no action until they had a nice long list of accidents and issues to justify it? Congress, appropriately in my opinion, decided to be proactive for once.

All good - as long as we present as a solid group that won’t take no for an answer. Example - if you want everyone to have access to non-assault semi auto rifles, fight to have access to full-auto military weapons. Then concede to what you really want. NEVER rely on politicians to decide on their own!
We also need to recognise that what we fly now will be the “horseless carriage” of the drone future, like you say. Probably considered dangerous and crazy in 100 years haha

 

[ICHOTT]

see & avoid? What is wrong with flying out of your window and looking at the screen of your cell phone to guide your flying?

Staying by a window is warmer, and gives you extra height.

Do you think I'm really making this up? What is there that makes it seem not believable. I agree that counter terrorist task force coming to your door 15 minutes after taking off is very surprising. But no so much when you see that they have the DJI Aeroscope.

Do you know what is meant by VLOS and the legal implications of not adhering to it?

 

[sar104]

All

All good - as long as we present as a solid group that won’t take no for an answer. Example - if you want everyone to have access to non-assault semi auto rifles, fight to have access to full-auto military weapons. Then concede to what you really want. NEVER rely on politicians to decide on their own!
We also need to recognise that what we fly now will be the “horseless carriage” of the drone future, like you say. Probably considered dangerous and crazy in 100 years haha

I agree with the sentiment in principle, but I think that it is important sometimes to step back from the "what I want" myopia. Just because you want something doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea, or going to be acceptable within the broader constraints of society.

 

[Dronebow]

I was just watching the home security video from when someone else answered the door at my house. These guys were running around and were all out looking for who is flying the drone. It was just ridiculous as this was before the parade.

They were acting like I just shot someone and were trying to find me. I have to work all day tomorrow so I can't post the video until probably this Tuesday on you tube.

This is probably the craziest police response to a drone you will see on you tube.

This all seems a bit crazy on the side of law enforcement to me. It may have been answered already but were you in violation of any FAA laws at the time? And if that answer was no or even not likely, what could local law enforcement even do to you??

If the parade was posted as a TFR, then Ok, but you stated it was 2 hours earlier. LEO's shouldn't really care about VLOS or max height or distance... They may only care about flying over people when there are large crowds, which does violate FAA rules anyway. But I'm really perplexed on what they were enforcing and why they were enforcing it. Not only that, but do they even have legal rights TO enforce it. We are talking federal law here, not local laws.

Anyway, curious on how this plays out.

 

[Thomas B]

This all seems a bit crazy on the side of law enforcement to me. It may have been answered already but were you in violation of any FAA laws at the time? And if that answer was no or even not likely, what could local law enforcement even do to you??

If the parade was posted as a TFR, then Ok, but you stated it was 2 hours earlier. LEO's shouldn't really care about VLOS or max height or distance... They may only care about flying over people when there are large crowds, which does violate FAA rules anyway. But I'm really perplexed on what they were enforcing and why they were enforcing it. Not only that, but do they even have legal rights TO enforce it. We are talking federal law here, not local laws.

Anyway, curious on how this plays out.

FAA has empowered local law enforcement to act as “first responders” and posted instructions on the FAA site for them.

 

[Dronebow]

FAA has empowered local law enforcement to act as “first responders” and posted instructions on the FAA site for them.

That's all fine and good but "what" were they enforcing?? Or were they just using this as an opportunity to hone their skills in finding drone pilots but making it look like official business??

 

[Thomas B]

That's all fine and good but "what" were they enforcing?? Or were they just using this as an opportunity to hone their skills in finding drone pilots but making it look like official business??

Here’s the page with all the info from FAA...

Public Safety and Law Enforcement Toolkit

www.faa.gov

 

[Dronebow]

Here’s the page with all the info from FAA...

Public Safety and Law Enforcement Toolkit

www.faa.gov

Good info. I appreciate it. But my question still stands. What legal issue were they investigating? It's not lawful for the police to show up at your house and harass you for driving your car when no law has been broken. If the parade had not started, there's no TFR and I doubt they were concerned about VLOS or distance, why were they there? In fact, if this was a mini at 200', how did they even know??

If this is the way things are going to be, that's fine and it's good we know what to expect. But we must also know our rights and be willing to stand up for them. I would have had a few questions for those officers had they shown up to my door, I think. That's my $.02.

 

[Thomas B]

Apparently there was a TFR.
Best quick details provided by OP in posts #1 and #13x

 

[Dronebow]

Apparently there was a TFR.
Best quick details provided by OP in posts #1 and #13x

Hmm.. Ok, I went through most posts trying to figure out if there was actually an issued TFR but never found confirmation. If it was, then certainly the actions of the LEO were justified. This is why it's important to check!

 

[BigAl07]

It's also important to know that often times the TFR goes up slightly ahead of the actual "Event" to allow for people to be congregating etc ahead of the event.

I have NOT looked into this one to verify one way or the other.

 

[Dronebow]

Here’s the page with all the info from FAA...

Public Safety and Law Enforcement Toolkit

www.faa.gov

I went through the documentation in this public safety toolkit and it appears that the FAA is advising local law enforcement to document and report incidents to them.... only. IE.. Although the LEO's can certainly track a drone to the operator and approach the operator, what they told this guy about issuing some "citation for wrecklessness" seems to be completely outside of what the LEO's can do. I wonder how many LEO's want to bird dog for the FAA on stuff like this unless their department is specifically telling them to?

Anyway, I think it's good to download the information and familiarize yourself with it. The FAA is certainly not handing their power over to the LEO's, more like asking them to be their eyes and ears and report anything that the FAA needs to follow up with.

 

[WanderDawg]

I think some ppl are missing the point that cops showed up at his house. That's a fairly disproportionate response to an errant drone flight. I went up to 1,000 feet the other night (software glitch? . Should I expect a visit?

So the takeaway is that you guys are really upset about the concept of accountability.

 

[WanderDawg]

I went through the documentation in this public safety toolkit and it appears that the FAA is advising local law enforcement to document and report incidents to them.... only. IE.. Although the LEO's can certainly track a drone to the operator and approach the operator, what they told this guy about issuing some "citation for wrecklessness" seems to be completely outside of what the LEO's can do.

You're assuming that he did nothing reckless while flying, which given his vague story and reticence to give details is an awfully generous assumption.

 

[OurAngryBadger]

You're assuming that he did nothing reckless while flying, which given his vague story and reticence to give details is an awfully generous assumption.

Yes, really the police can arrest you for anything they want. Whether or not it's proven you broke any laws on your court date is, another story.