So my guess as to why we are not allowed to fly drones commercially is because like everything else we would try to do as "Free American Citizens" that is highly regulated, we stand to make $$$ and that threatens the powers that be.
Simple solution, if someone causes damage or disrupts any sort of business, military, federal or state function...they are responsible for said damage/disruption. Fine them THEN, not when they are trying to make a life for themselves or feed their families. When threatened with fines and jail time, good people usually stay away from actions that end in those results.
The options for us as entrepreneurs and explorers are dwindling by the day and here is this new and exciting technology that is about to be taken away from us before we even understand it. Where does it stop from here? Flying cars, teleporting devices, new toasters and microwaves will all be owned and regulated only by the wealthy policy makers. We are talking about the same government that is making it illegal to feed the homeless in cities and taking the religious values that built this country out of everyday life. I am not preaching here..but if you did not notice, this country was built on the concept of being free. Free from religion, banks, monarchies, tyrants, corporations pretty much FREE! Not hard to understand...
Do not stifle the rest of our hopes and dreams and hobbies and FREEDOMS because it threatens the system. I think we can all agree the system is flawed right now anyway. Please do not tell me that is because we have too many freedoms. Go to Russia or Cuba or somewhere away from my beautiful country so we can get back to what made us the USA.
What the FAA and federal government are doing here is flat out wrong. Along with multiple other instances going on in the world right now that are just plain wrong. For the sake of argument I am trying to stay on topic and just express my feelings that I should be allowed to try and create a new business for myself devoid of an oppressive government or federal agency.
I am causing harm or damage by taking a video of my house that a want to sell...give me a break.
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Hi
I just wanted to know if Canada will be the same dilemma. Since I haven't heard anything from FAA Canada yet.
Amen
We are slowly losing our freedom to agencies. We are supposed to be governed by the people we elect so if they get out of line we can vote them out. However now we are controlled by agencies like the EPA and IRS of which we have no control over. It's WAY out of control.
The media is way off base about toy helicopters [ aka droves ] and freaking people out so of course the governemnt will step in and pass insane regulations. I've had people come up to me asking about if I had a camera and of course I said yes sometimes but it's not worth it most of the time all you see is tree tops and roof tops. Because of the misinformation people think we have Nasa quality camera's and can look in people windows. lol It's just stupid. Regarding safety and full size aircraft that too is blown out of proportion as birds and ducks or geese are far more of a threat and how ofter have you heard of a crash from that. All that is required is some common sense but that's not what the government will do based on years of observations on other issues. Remember there is never a problem that doesn't exist the government can't step in and tax and mess up.
Richard,
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your statement that the safety concerns for drones and full size aircraft are blown out of proportion.
To begin with, you asked if anyone has heard of a crash from an aircraft hitting birds and ducks or geese:
- Yesterday a Moroccan Air Force F-1 crashed after hitting birds.
- Last year a USAF Pave Hawk crashed after hitting birds, killing 4 crew members.
- In 1960 Eastern Airlines Flight 375 crashed after hitting birds, killing 62 people.
- In 1995 an AWACS crashed after hitting birds, killing 24 people.
- In 2004 KLM Airways Flight 1673 crashed on landing after a single bird severed a cable in the nose landing gear bay.
- In 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson river after hitting birds
According to the USAHAS website, "Since 1995 there have been over 69,000 wildlife-aircraft strikes recorded by the United States Air Force (USAF) that killed 23 aviators, destroyed 12 aircraft, and caused more than $400 million dollars worth of equipment damage."
But back to the topic of this thread, yes, UAVs pose a serious threat to aviation. Look at what a single bird did to KLM 1673. A "toy helicopter" could do the exact same damage. There are numerous pieces of delicate equipment that can be damaged by small UAVs: Pitot-tubes, windscreens, AOA indicator vanes, engines, landing gear, antennas, etc.
Here's an example of what happens when an aircraft has a midair with a small UAV. They didn't crash, but they came very close to doing so. Only the exceptional airmanship of the crew saved this 130. Granted, an RQ-7 is a little bit bigger than the drones you're referring to, but they will absolutely still punch a hole through the leading edge or windscreen of an aircraft, or take out an engine.
I'm sure this will be an unpopular statement, but your post demonstrates exactly why there needs to be regulation on drones. It's frightening that you think that a small UAV (or a bird) won't cause severe damage to an aircraft. I'm not saying ban people from having drones, but a certification process involving at least a short training course would go a long ways.
Excellent post with nice supporting links, thanks.
Note the crash between the C-130 and the RQ-7 drone mentions the poor situational awareness of drone pilots. This is something everyone operating FPV should be keenly aware of. Just because you have a FPV perspective view does NOT mean you have good situational awareness. In fact, you do not. Flying FPV beyond line of sight is playing a very risky game of Russian Roulette. Doing so at night is even more dangerous and irresponsible.
Worthy warnings to all responsible drone pilots.
Your correct of course it's a concern. My point was how blown out of proportion it is in the media. I'm not an anarhcist we probably do need to look into regulations but it shouldn't be based on media hype. The fact is the odds of a small quad being involved in a mid air collision at 5000-30,000 feet is almost nil. But if you were to listen to the hype driven media it's amazing it doesn't happen every day! They need to be restricted in some way around airports sure... But other than that I think it's an overblown issue that soon some politician will run to 'craft' legislation to boost his / her poll numbers but also based on nothing more than what he saw from the bubble headed bleach blonde on the news who doesn't know a damn thing about it but will sure make it entertaining. Like the one news caster I saw that said the sun is 93 million feet from the earth not long ago.
Of course any legislation based on the media hype cannot be good. The media knows nearly nothing about aviation at any level, and the hype shows this.... (thinking back to a newspaper account of a Cessna 172 overtaking and crashing into the trailing edge of the wing of a 727 over San Diego...) But also keep in mind these fears are fueled by people with drones doing stupid things... the story I just heard on the radio about "hover drones" preventing firefighting aircraft from doing their job. If we, as a community cannot regulate our own activities, others not involved will gladly do it for us, to our detriment. How likely such events are plays no part, only the perception it could happen.
I've noticed the same ignorance with firearms. Fully auto, semi auto,,,, a flint lock,,, hey whats the difference right? lol
It pretty clear what serious commercial UAV operators are deciding to do right now. Learning everything they can about the FAA regulations so they can file a well-prepared exemption request that will be granted. They'll be making real money flying UAVs soon.
Complaining about the regulations is another decision option.
Everyone here is free to consider the desired outcome and then decide.
Most businesses know nothing of the regulations.
I've met a few people in the past month or so, all using drones for their business. Photographers, real estate agents, and a construction company. None of them are "in to" them, the way I am, so don't read the news or forums about them. I've asked if they've looked in to the FAA regulations, and they all have no idea... Only one of them cared. One said "lets see them try to regulate me" and the other said "I'd like to see how they expect to enforce that".
I think it's safe to say most businesses using drones do not have a license, and won't for a very long time. They honestly don't know anything about the process.. they just buy a tool to use for their business, and use it.
To force companies to go through this process to use a simple tool will kill all the small businesses using them, and then only "serious commercial UAV operators" will be allowed to use them. And that is not fair, in any way. They're simple tools and people running construction or whatever businesses shouldn't have to get a pilot license or anything to use a tool on their own job sites.
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