Please see this warning from the Los Angeles Police Department, sent to the California Association of Realtors. Discussion on helifreak here. More background and discussion here. I'll be talking to the NYT about this tomorrow.
Short form: Amateur UAV use within the usual FAA guidelines (under 400ft, within visual line-of-sight, away from built-up-areas) is allowed, as always. But commercial use requires a COA, which you're not going to get. So there's nothing new here, but it's a reminder that the guidelines will be enforced.
LAPD Warning Against Hiring Unmanned Aircraft Operators for Aerial Photos
Los Angeles authorities have asked C.A.R. to communicate this warning to REALTORS® who hire unmanned aircraft operators to take aerial photographs for marketing high-end properties. Using these devices (also known as drones) for flight in the air with no onboard pilot may violate, among other things, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) policy on unmanned aircrafts, and Los Angeles's local ordinance requiring permits for filming commercial motion pictures and still photographs.
The Los Angeles Police Department's (LAPD) investigation has apparently revealed that aerial photos where unmanned aircraft were observed have appeared on certain real estate sales websites. According to FilmL.A., the LAPD Air Division has issued this warning as it intends to prosecute violators in the near future. FilmL.A. is a public benefit company created by the City and County of Los Angeles to manage film permit activity and related issues.
Under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s current policy, no one can operate an unmanned aircraft in the National Airspace System without specific authority. Operators who wish to fly an unmanned aircraft for civil use must obtain an FAA experimental airworthiness certificate, which will not be issued to an unmanned aircraft used for compensation or hire. Although the FAA allows hobbyists to fly model airplanes for recreational purposes under specific guidelines, that authority does not extend to operators flying unmanned aircraft for business purposes. More information is available from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Notice on Unmanned Aircraft Operations and the FAA's policy.
Comments
I,ll go with Brads answer and add i can play real dumb real well !
People in LA are all talk. If you invent or develop something cool in LA, you better guard your invention, because the buzzard begin to circle and covet (yes, that it no understatement, covet what you have). They believe they WILL get it by some means, and they truly do not have a limit. This is one means by which they take what you have... If you can't read between the lines, I am not gonna spell it out, but LA is all about coveting others property, lifestyle, wives, etc... Sick and sad...
What has happened to our country? I'm moving to Canada this is ridiculous...
One thing at almost 50 yrs old now, I have found out about my self is.... I am very very good at circumventing the intent of the law and very very very good at filling out forms / filling out paperwork....
Well I tried to read the regulations... put in a call to the FAA ... But I like most of you I am more afraid of a 6yr. old kid .... a gas powered helo at the park... than foam electric UAV'S raining down from the sky causing panic in the streets.
No one who ever pushed the limits of anything asked a lawyer for permission first. Not that we should be pushing the limits (or myself specifically), but I have worked for too many corporations who asked lawyers first before doing things, paralyzing the business. I worked for companies who didn't ask first, rather preferred to beg for forgiveness, which always had greater success. This is a corporate motto as we all know now, US Corporations don't really get punished when they get in trouble (if you know the right people to call)...
In my case it meant:
It didn't mean consulting a lawyer, or asking for explicit approval from the regulator - because these things seemed unessiscary based on what I learned from the above. It also informed my opinion about my local "home-brew UAV types".
Hyopthetically, if I did get it totaly wrong and had to explain myself to a judge, I would plead "this is the effort I made to be safe and legal. I'm very sorry if it was inadequate, hopefully the aeromoddelling community can learn from your judgment how to be better prepared. I will certainly not make this mistake again". Hopefully that would be enough for the judge to get their job done without feeling the need to smack me down.
The only way that self regulation works and it is allowed by government is when the stipulations imposed on the individuals or group are up to the standards of the public agencies. For example; The FAA allows for some self supervision to aircraft manufacturers but it is only because the standards of that company meet or exceed what the FAA requires. Outing this individuals would require a massive cooperation from so many making it impractical or impossible. I like what you are saying but, I think it's a sit a wait game now since for the most part we are all over the place in this hobby.
I know there are poeple that play by the rules and those who don't think the rules should apply to them. I couldn't begin to tell you what percentage is good or bad, but there are plenty of people on this thread that appear that they would rather self-interprit the regulations and go on doing what they are doing. My point is that a large gathering for the purpose of speaking out against current and future regulations, I would expect it to attract some of the wrong crowd and I would not want to carry the responsibility of policing and ensuring everyone is following regulations. It's kind of like the Occupy Movement...someone thought it was a great idea to get people together and speak out, and then City Hall gets broken into and vandalized.
So, every home-brew UAV person you know are part of the "good guys". But what does "reasonable effort to comply with the law" mean? "Your Honor, I made a reasonable effort to not rob the liquor store"! You either comply or you don't.
In order to determine the percentage of people that behave badly, you need to know how many people are flying AP/FPV and what the standard is. We KNOW that the current standards are set by local, state and Federal regulations. We can assume that all of this reaction by the FAA, LAPD and Hollywood was not due to 1 or 2 people bending the rules, but what percentage they represent is unknown. Here is a good comparison: we don't see a big and repeated push from the government or any industry reminding us that we can not tie a bunch of baloons to a lawn chair and go for a ride and that's because this only happened a few times and isn't expected to be a continuing problem.
Then it would be better to marginalise irresponsible flyers, publically differentiate them from the mainstream and privately pressure them to adopt safer practices.
Posting vids of safe and legal flights could be a very helpful thing to do, especially if they contributed to a wider discussions about safety.
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