Hope this topic hasn't been discussed at length, and I just didn't see it...
I thought it may be useful to provide some basic info about drones and drone law to elected county and city leaders so they were better prepared to deal with any knee-jerk citizen demands for "drone laws".
To that end, I scheduled an information presentation to the Mayor and Council in the city where I and 35,000 other people live 25 minutes south of the Atlanta airport. The goal of educating them about drones, drone uses & capabilities, and current federal & state regulations is to head off local ordinances that would be un-necessarily burdensome to responsible pilots. Since most were quite unfamiliar with drones, I also sent requests to DJI for the loan of two of their drones and a pair of goggles as visual aids (still haven't heard from DJI). I didn't include any flight demos, but offered to meet with and allow any Council member to observe, then fly, my Mavic Pro.
During my pre-brief to the City Manager, he learned that his crew was operating their drone outside of some existing FAA rules. I kept the tone purely informative, without any condescending tones. My accompanying slides depicted the growth of drones, their many uses, and extracts from the Code of Federal Regulations that assign management of the national airspace solely to the FAA. I also highlighted the existing constraints that Part 107 pilots follow, such as mandatory line-of-sight observation.
The presentation was well-received, and the City Manager followed up with a request for a copy of the briefing (I included references for all facts, regulations, and Supreme Court decisions). He also alluded to using me as a local resource as issues arise.
It seemed like a win for our side - an effective way to build positive rapport with those empowered to control our lives. Anyone else doing this? What's your experience been?
I thought it may be useful to provide some basic info about drones and drone law to elected county and city leaders so they were better prepared to deal with any knee-jerk citizen demands for "drone laws".
To that end, I scheduled an information presentation to the Mayor and Council in the city where I and 35,000 other people live 25 minutes south of the Atlanta airport. The goal of educating them about drones, drone uses & capabilities, and current federal & state regulations is to head off local ordinances that would be un-necessarily burdensome to responsible pilots. Since most were quite unfamiliar with drones, I also sent requests to DJI for the loan of two of their drones and a pair of goggles as visual aids (still haven't heard from DJI). I didn't include any flight demos, but offered to meet with and allow any Council member to observe, then fly, my Mavic Pro.
During my pre-brief to the City Manager, he learned that his crew was operating their drone outside of some existing FAA rules. I kept the tone purely informative, without any condescending tones. My accompanying slides depicted the growth of drones, their many uses, and extracts from the Code of Federal Regulations that assign management of the national airspace solely to the FAA. I also highlighted the existing constraints that Part 107 pilots follow, such as mandatory line-of-sight observation.
The presentation was well-received, and the City Manager followed up with a request for a copy of the briefing (I included references for all facts, regulations, and Supreme Court decisions). He also alluded to using me as a local resource as issues arise.
It seemed like a win for our side - an effective way to build positive rapport with those empowered to control our lives. Anyone else doing this? What's your experience been?
