There is A Malicious Propaganda War Being Waged Against Multi-Rotor Camera Drones!

Los Angeles, CA—Officials here recently claimed that drone operators endangered lives by halting firefighting efforts.  Angry local politicians vowed prosecution and new legislation to remedy this “huge and life threatening ” problem.

Photographic evidence supporting those reports is non-existent.  You’d think the crew members presumably are all armed with smart phones would have captured images to help identify the drones to assist investigators.  There are no pictures because this never happened!  Needless to say there are no captured drones either.

As for those helicopter pilots making these reports they seem to forget that their massive propeller’s, prop wash would simply blow any little cameras drones away from their aircraft into oblivion.  A near miss happened? Really? 

The high cost of these camera drones makes their owners very protective of their investments.  If they are reckless and crash them, all the the fun is over. Accordingly drone operators police themselves better than any government agency.

New York police helicopter pilots reported a near miss and the follow-up investigation resulted in the false arrests of two youths with a DJI phantom drone on felony charges.

The charges were dropped when the malicious lies of the pilot cops were horribly impeached.  Among things they claimed was the drone was traveling at ridicules, impossible and dangerous speeds when that Phantom could go no faster that 35 MPH.

Cameras on the drones are the ultimate “black Boxes” that document the drones behavior and flight in real time.   The cameras have exposed lies of people claiming their privacy was invaded or lives endangered.  One sad example was the wrongful arrest of David Beesmer who was charged with using a drone to peep into dressing rooms at the Mid Hudson Medical Group building.

Months later after careful examination of the drone’s video debunked the claims of witnesses and ended expensive felony court prosecution.  Bessmer was cleared but only after he spent thousands of dollars for a defense lawyer. 

The drone operators I know can't wait to put their flight's video up on YouTube like I do.  It’s about art, fun, newsgathering, real estate marketing or other positive activities. Activities that are clearly Constitutionally Protected!

I use drones for investigation.  Wow! That sounds so ominous!  The reality is that I found that my drone can get great overhead shots of accident and crime scenes to help defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges and juries better see and understand the layout much better than diagrams and land based images. 

Drones can't see through window glare, curtains or walls. Surveillance is best conducted with much bigger cameras from conventional places on the ground.  Drones that can transport sophisticated telephoto cameras are simply too cost prohibitive. 

You can't get that close up, face shot from more than a few feet away.   

I used my drone in a missing person case to examine some rough terrain I was incapable of searching on foot.  I actually found some property that belonged to the missing subject with my drone!

Pilot after pilot has reported near misses with drones.  These sightings all share the same similarities.  Most glaring is there are no actual collisions, videos or still shots of these rogue drones!

The media needs these drones to slow down the rain of pink slips in every newsroom in America.  The single most expensive cost in any TV newsroom is for helicopter newsgathering efforts.

Are these pilots simply seeking attention?  Or could there be something more sinister involved? 

One thing for sure drones may not threaten pilots by they are sure to take their jobs away.  Why risk life with manned firefighting planes when drones can do these jobs without risking lives?

News and police helicopter pilots know safer drones that only cost a tiny fraction of conventional helicopters that will be replacing them!  These guys are understandably not exactly cheering on this exciting new technology.

Sadly there are those people that simply see a drone in the sky and can’t resist calling 911.  They don’t report airplanes or helicopters, just drones?  Ignorance, fear and loathing are in high gear spurred on by phony drone misconduct reports getting airtime on TV.

Below is a video that resulted in phony claims to police by a woman that a drone was actually peeping into her single story home’s windows!  Months later the woman apparently claimed she was nearly hit by the drone!  The video speaks for itself and is unedited.  The video is complete from take off until landing but for the addition of music on an audio track.

The police investigation and report actually cleared the pilot but local prosecutors charged him as a criminal anyway! 

UPDATED!!! Is The First Amendment Dead In The Town of Paradise Valley Arizona?

UPDATE!!! I'm pleased to report that the town council tabled the drone ban ordinance acknowledging it needed to be studied.  They put off consideration until October at the earliest.  

A half-dozen or so people spoke against the ordinance and nobody supported it.  

I'm glad the council had second thoughts since this was created out of fear and misunderstanding. Frankly I'm proud of their taking the high road.  

As for those of you operating drones in Paradise Valley or for that matter anywhere, please fly safe and be considerate  of others.  

Town of Paradise Valley, AZ—In arguably the most expensive real estate in the State of Arizona they are proposing the most draconian camera drone ban ever!

The town’s council will be voting on this draft ordinance during their May 28, 2015 meeting. 

They want to outlaw any use of a drone without a single use permit and fee.  It further outlaws the publishing of all aerial images in somewhat ambiguous and vague language. 

Make no mistake; this would criminalize drone use if it were passed.  “Paradise” here is apparently an oxymoron! 

The biggest rub here is that the FAA has exclusive jurisdiction of the skies.  Further those including any government agency or private business like Google would be in violation by capturing or publishing aerial images of the town’s land and structures.

I guess some of the town’s father’s think they can require citizens to purchase permits before they should be able to enjoy the our long established rights in Paradise Valley. 

Perhaps this hastily and poorly thought out draft law needs a little more thought and its author needs some remedial education with respect to our Bill of Rights.

Maybe those interested need to contact these officials:

The Town of Paradise Valley, AZ and it’s Council:

Mayor Michael Collins

Vice Mayor Paul Dembow

Council Members::

Jerry Bien-Willner

Mary Hamway

David Sherf

Mark Stanton

Maria Syms

Town Manager: Kevin Burke

Town Attorney:Andrew Miller

Their e-mail addresses are below:

mcollins@paradisevalleyaz.gov, pdembow@paradisevalleyaz.gov, jbienwillner@paradisevalleyaz.gov, mhamway@paradisevalleyaz.gov, dsherf@paradisevalleyaz.gov, mstanton@paradisevalleyaz.gov, msyms@paradisevalleyaz.gov, kburke@paradisevalleyaz.gov, amiller@paradisevalleyaz.gov,

Below is the town’s draft ordinance along with my video directed to these officials:

 

A Window into Civilian Drones, the FAA and Congressional Oversight

Washington, DC—The FAA was very tight lipped about the drone regulations they are drafting for public comment later this month. 

An FAA official claims they are releasing a Risk Based Proposed Regulatory Program that will integrate commercial drones into the airspace. 

Judging from today’s Congressional hearing they are attempting concentrate on educating the operators of small consumer drones and more serious regulation of anything else.  

Oddly enough they never once mentioned using drones for news video news gathering and only touched lightly on filmmakers.

Once they release their draft drone rule package it must be published and then there is a routine schedule for inviting public comment. Once that period passes the FAA will then set their rule in concrete.  That of course can be challenged later both by Congressional action and litigation.

The FAA seems to be coming to grips that the small camera drone operator will be nearly impossible to regulate.  They are currently haggling with the manufactures about geo-fencing software manufacturing requirements and packaging FAA rules and guidelines with the drones at the point of sale.

The larger drones that will be traveling greater distances and have by nature a higher risk have cumbersome licensing, vehicle air worthiness inspection and registration in their future. 

The rules are going to cover all types of drones fixed wing or multi-rotor and the FAA seems to understand that one size does not fit all.

We will have to see what they do in the coming weeks.  The Obama Administration’s FAA has already put us well behind Canada, Europe and Australia.  Billions of dollars are at stake and the USA is now weaker as a result.

I wish the hearing today could have disclosed real direction but there were lots of questions with very few concrete answers.

Of course the pilots fables of near misses were no small subject of conversation.   They all failed to mention that no deaths or serious injuries have been reported.  Chicken Little is alive and sending out his alarms about falling skies. 

If you’ve got a couple of hours to watch bureaucrats and politicians reading prepared statements and tossing a few questions around you can see this below:

Los Angeles is Apparently Hostile To Camera Drones and is Considering a Ban!

Phantom 2 with a GoPro HD camera targeted by LA politicians

Los Angeles, CA—City Council Members Tom LaBonge, and Mitchell Englander have moved forward with a request for recommendations from the LAPD and other agencies on restricting or otherwise banning civilian drones.

This is only the first step.  We will have to wait and see what develops and deal with any ordinance/s that they propose. 

Once they have a proposed ordinance it must negotiate the legislative process that includes public comment. 

We are certainly free to begin contacting members of the City Council now letting them know that the existing laws and FAA regulations are more than adequate to deal with any issues of public safety and privacy. 

We need to let them know that any knee jerk reaction to media hype may seriously infringe on 1^st Amendment rights. News organizations, videographers, photographers, filmmakers have a right to gather and display their images.  

Any “Chicken Little” fears of our multi-rotor camera drones are unfounded and without merit. The fact is that the multi-rotor drones are in civilian hands worldwide by the hundreds of thousands.  To date there’s never been a death or serious injury reported anywhere.

Feel free to respectfully and politely contact the city council members and ask them to abandon efforts to ban or restrict our drones.  The benefits of this technology for the people of Los Angeles far outweigh any harm. 

They have already created a law to prevent drone abuse to celebrities by stalking paparazzi photographers. 

The council members really need to move slowly and intelligently as they watch how this new technology progresses.   Exploiting ignorance and the unknown is never good public policy.    

The Council’s contact directory is right here:

http://lacity.org/government/ElectedOfficialOffices/CityCouncil/CouncilDirectory/index.htm

Here is a copy of the three page request for recommendations by the Council. 

 

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