Fox 59 Story "Drone Invasion"

[bwframe]

Interesting story with a cool reference to the Indy drone club meetings. Also a naive Purdue professor suggesting licensing should be required inferring similarities to LTCH. Lots of questions on these contraptions..

[video=youtube_share;QLVzreTzbUM]http://youtu.be/QLVzreTzbUM[/video]

 

[nascarfantoo]

Privacy is my biggest question. Probably be the courts that tell us. I do know that if I know one is watching my property, even for fun, I will not be happy. Wouldn't be happy if I thought a neighbor was watching thru binos either.

 

[Lebowski]

Privacy is my biggest question. Probably be the courts that tell us. I do know that if I know one is watching my property, even for fun, I will not be happy. Wouldn't be happy if I thought a neighbor was watching thru binos either.

They're horrible spying devices. Here is a list of things that are readily available to anyone that would make spying on random people's mundane and boring lives easier:

• A cell phone.
• A ladder
• A rifle scope
• A DSLR camera
• A ghillie suit
• A van marked, "Flowers By Irene"
• A computer.

I build and fly RC Multiorotors / quadcopters / UAVs, commonly mistakingly called and labelled 'drones'. Most 'drones' are horrible spying devices as they are loud, are equipped with wide angle lenses when they do have cameras that would require them to be very close to a subject to 'spy', have laughably short battery lives. Much easier to just hide in a bush and snap photos of you from a distances with a telephone lense.

Yes, some idiots have done idiotic things with them. No, they don't require any licensing though you're supposed to keep them less than 400 feet to keep the FAA happy. Most the stories you read are from idiots who purchased complete, ready to fly systems like the DJI Phantom who have more money than sense, who have done nothing other than unbox it and go rummage around the neighbourhood without knowing, reading, or caring about general etiquette. Those are the same people flying near airports, hovering over a car accident that may prevent an emergency helicopter from landing and trying to fly it next to a neighbours window to get a glimpse of someone naked or something. You shouldn't fly over people or property without permission and a lot of people in the hobby get pissed off when someone shares their 'epic drone video' when it involves them flying over crowded areas without concern.

I have no idea why it is that quadcopters got labelled drones, while RC airplanes and gliders, that actually LOOK LIKE 'drones' are never labelled as such.

In short:

This is a drone. Your taxes helped pay for this so we can spread terror overseas.

This is a quadcopter. A fun hobby and toy for nerds and geeks.


There is a good thread here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break-room/350491-drone-pilots-fpv-quad-plane-7.html

 

[Lebowski]

Look at what this drone captured over this random Indianapolis neighborhood! You can even rotate the image to see these houses from all directions! Bing Maps - Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions


I'm actually surprised it's called the "Indianapolis Drone Club". Most hobbyist hate that term as much as you'd hate your Ruger 22 being called an Assault Rifle or your (any pistol) a Glock.

 

[warthog]

If they flew it over my property to try to see in a window or some such,
I'd give it a barrel or two of antiaircraft #4 Buck to see how long it stayed in the air.

 

[IndyGunworks]

to what elevation do I have airspace rights above my land?

 

[Leadeye]

I would imagine they will start with existing airspace rules, floors and ceilings, like you will see on a sectional. These give you an idea of how close air traffic can get to the ground in a certain area, the drones will probably have to stay out of there. How close they can get to the ground or structures will be what gets tricky to sort out. I figure if I see one buzzing around the house, the wife will just call the local sheriff and report peepers.

 

[hoosierdoc]

to what elevation do I have airspace rights above my land?

I don't think there's a restrction. People release weather balloons with GoPro systems on them, they go up to like 120,000 feet, burst, and then they go collect them. I'm not sure if you have to notify the FAA when you do that stuff though. They are quite public in showing what they did so I'm guessing it's not a felony.

I'm asking for a Phantom drone for Christmas. I've been good, I promise!

 

[dcr465]

IMHO ... If the aircraft cannot carry & fire a Hellfire it shouldn't be referred to as a "Drone". I assume that we can thank our media for the application of this term. Same people that don't seem to know what an automatic weapon really is!!!

 

[eldirector]

to what elevation do I have airspace rights above my land?

A couple of articles on the topic:
Photographer George Steinmetz arrest: How much airspace do you own?
The Property Rights of Airspace - For Dummies

Cliff Notes:
You have rights up to the public airspace (500ft). You absolutely have control up as high as you can build. Above that, you may have trespass/nuisance rights.

 

[IndyGunworks]

So you literally can shoot a drone out of the sky if its over your property.

 

[eldirector]

So you literally can shoot a drone out of the sky if its over your property.

No.
Folks have gotten fined/jailed for that already.

You can have the operator cited for trespass.

 

[IndyGunworks]

What was the law/code that was cited when they were fined/jailed?

 

[bwframe]

No.
Folks have gotten fined/jailed for that already.

You can have the operator cited for trespass.

The civil disobedience of taking out obvious peepers may be what it takes to bring the privacy issues of this to light. Just sayin'...

I'd much rather isolate the operator and deal with them face to face. I'm guessing those sorts wouldn't be prepared for that?

 

[eldirector]

What was the law/code that was cited when they were fined/jailed?

Destruction of property, I believe. May have been a civil suit. In the article I posted, the hang-glider was arrested for trespass.

To put this in context: if your neighbor parks their car in your driveway w/o permission, you can't empty your shotgun at it. You CAN call LE and have them cited for trespass and likely have it towed.

 

[IndyGunworks]

So will the police confiscate the drone? have it "towed"

What if I am shooting clay birds, and when the police show up there are broken pieces to prove it?

 

[eldirector]

So will the police confiscate the drone? have it "towed"

Dunno. Check https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...rtments-wish-list-determine-assets-sieze.html for INGO's opinions on the matter.

 

[451_Detonics]

honest...I was shooting at the crow when the drone flew into the shot string Officer......

 

[jkaetz]

Lets be realistic here, as with guns, cars, boats, bicycles, skateboards, ATVs, etc... the problem is not with the piece of equipment, it's with the idiot operator. Idiot operators are a fact of life, we have to deal with them after they have been an idiot. We cannot stop idiots from being idiots with rules/regulations/licenses/laws. Most of us agree that we cannot stop crime with these things either so why push for more rules that only effect non-idiots anyway.

 

[Lebowski]

If you shoot one out of the sky you'll be held liable for damages as happened in the past. Airspace above your property isn't owned, it's regulated, and generally speaking you won't find anything floating above your direct property unless you have an idiot neighbor. In which case go talk to him like a person because more than likely he doesn't give two craps what you're doing and isn't 'spying' on you, or taking photos of your property or anything malicious.

For example:

I took this photo over the weekend. This was being flown in a public field. If I were to rotate the craft to face north, this is what you would see:

May look like it's flying over a neighborhood? Well, it's not. I'm in a public place using a public field that borders the edge of this town and the Ohio river. (Yes, I live in a beautiful Indiana town) Besides living in city limits where it'd be illegal to fire a gun, I'd be very disappointed and be giving someone a decent sized bill if they saw this and though, "oh my gerd, a drone. hunny, hide the kidz and grab my shotgun. hold my beer. ima shoot this down!!!"

If someone cared, at all, what you did in your daily life there are so many more practical methods of spying on you, collecting information about you, etc. It'd be cheaper and much more cost effective to just hide in a bush or drive by a house with a camera with a telephoto lense if you were interesting enough to warrant that or just add you to Facebook.