FAA Drone Regulation, Is It Time For Mass Civil Disobedience?

Let me begin by saying my views on this subject are my own and doing what I suggest could result in prosecution. The risk however is very low…

Being an avid photographer for most of my life, the amazing drone technology has become an exciting addiction.  Ive been flying them for over four years now getting images I could only dream about before.  Placing great musical soundtracks on my videos has been pure joy.  

I fly really safe having never once damaged property or caused injury. I follow sound advice like staying away from other aircraft, flying well below 400 feet (flying higher does not aid in capturing great images).  I fly sober and watchful and accordingly I have never needed crash repairs.

I won’t ever ask permission to flyover or photograph private property.  That’s constitutionally protected activity that fixed wing and helicopters have enjoyed for years and there is plenty of settled appellate law that guides me.  

As for the FAA.  FAA rules, until drones became to be, were always written in the blood of actual air catastrophes. Prior restraint regulation was not part of the FAA’s culture until modern hobby drones appeared in our skies. 

Conventional pilots understood only too well that drones were going to invade their professional turf and threaten their livelihoods. Pilots and FAA officials entered into a public relations conspiracy to demonize drones, their operators and to frighten the public that their safety, privacy and wellbeing were at serious risk. 

Pilots were calling in phony drone sightings and near collisions constantly creating what I called, Drone Hysteria. The phony reports are few and far between now that the novelty has worn off. 

The Obama Administration’s FAA’s mouth was watering with the idea of punitive drone regulation followed by thousands of new enforcement jobs and promotions.  

Fortunately drones increased by a few million and still there were no collisions with conventional aircraft, serious injuries or property damage.  Any excuse to grow the FAA because of drones was and is a total failure.   

The FAA has since created a horrendous, two tiered system for drone operators with separate rules.  The somewhat relaxed hobbyist rules and the substantially burdensome, stricter and more unreasonable commercial user’s regulations.  

The Part 107 Commercial rules are petty, unfair and do nothing to make our airspace safer.  The simply make unnecessary work for everyone akin to digging holes only to fill them back up.

The petty, Part 107 rules are virtually unenforceable because the FAA lacks meaningful manpower to police them. 

Drone operators love answering questions to FAA officials and that ignorant behavior allows the FAA inspectors to easily build cases against them. If the drone operators simply were smart enough to ask for a lawyer instead of blabbing and making admissions there would be virtually no cases to prosecute.

It’s much easier to talk your way into a courtroom.  Keeping your mouth shut tight will do wonders to keep you out of trouble, away from lawyers, their fees and court fines.    

I say when in doubt, fly if you really need the images. Lets say your two miles from a major airport and you want to inspect a roof or capture real estate marketing material at less than 70 feet above the structures go ahead.  

If your in such an area considered sensitive, fly your drone early in the morning before the FAA, local police and public have had their coffee. Use your vehicles to shield drone take offs and landings. Above all fly low and safe. 

Above all tell your Congress people to get the FAA off of our backs and have them return to real safety issues with conventional aircraft. 

Is the FAA on a Collision Course With America’s Drone Operators?

Los Angeles, CA—I just spent a long time on the telephone with an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector.  I’m not going to name him.  He was knowledgeable and helpful under the circumstances. 

My question involved the use of a somewhat small multi-rotor drone for photography and videography.   Specifically, I wanted an exemption certificate for the use of a drone to obtain aerial images of accident, crime scenes, aerial damage surveys of structures for insurance adjusting and electronic newsgathering (ENG).

Just last Sunday the FAA issued a draft copy of their intended drone regulations.  After a public comment period as much as three years will pass before a final regulation is published. 

The rub here is that the drone technology is changing at lighting speed and whatever they promulgate will already be outdated and stale by the time any rule is adopted.

The inspector I spoke with was an obviously bright fellow.   He among other things investigates allegations of unauthorized commercial use of or the careless or reckless operation of drones.

He also explained to me just how to apply for a drone exemption certificate for my commercial needs.  He then cited verbatim the existing FAA drone safety guidelines. 

The guidelines themselves are somewhat problematic.  They are incredibly vague and lack adequate descriptions of prohibited activity.  However the current FAA prohibition against commercial use of drones is utterly unambiguous.   

Because of incredibly ignorant news media stories the public seems to think these little camera drones are somehow illegal.  Every time people notice a drone up in the air they call 911.  Police have to respond and drone enforcement is not currently taught in police academies.  

The cops and prosecutors are confused along with those people that make the various local and state laws.

Lets start with the local lawmakers.  For the most part they are ignorant of the fact that the nation’s airspace is not theirs to regulate!  Federal law preempts them.

Okay, you may as why can’t some state like Arizona pass a law governing drones in our airspace?  It’s really quite simple.  If state and local lawmakers had that power there would be total chaos in the skies!

For example they would try and make laws that would allow them to arrest pilots for making too much noise near airports.   At one time the states that precluded alcohol sales or at least barring sales on Sundays actually tried to enforce their laws against the airlines.

How could pilots and navigators possibly keep up with the laws of every state, city or hamlet they fly over? 

Can you imagine cops serving search warrants on airlines to obtain the names of flight crews that may have violated those local regulations?  Imagine seeing your uniformed pilots and flight attendants in handcuffs at morning criminal court calls after spending the night in jail! 

The FAA is the sole authority for our airspace.  Local governments can only control where airports are built or their own governmental use of aircraft.

Our local police, media and lawmakers simply don’t know or understand aviation laws.  They have enough responsibility without trying to control or determine the flight altitude of some 12 year-old kid’s camera drone.

Okay let’s begin with the Federal guidelines overregulation of Unmanned Vehicle Vehicles (UAV) or what we call, drones. 

The FAA lumped together all UAVs under 55 pounds.  That includes model rockets, fixed wing planes, helicopters and of course the new and suddenly wildly popular multi-rotor camera drones.

Multi-rotor drones are radically different than the rest.  They're somewhat slow moving and are not too difficult to operate.  Considering there are well over a million of them in civilian hands one undeniable fact is apparent.  There has never been a multi-rotor drone accident that has taken a life, caused a serious injury or any significant property damage. 

When you compare that with the 7000 helicopters in use world wide use there is no similarity.  Over the years, I’ve sadly I’ve lost friends that were in epic helicopter crashes.  The last of which was the collision of two TV news-choppers over Phoenix, AZ three years ago that killed four friends. 

All FAA existing regulations for conventional manned aircraft were actually written in blood!  Every rule has a historical tragic accident behind it!   The FAA exists for airspace safety and for the most part they’ve done a pretty good job. 

Today the USA and our way of life have changed because of the political Left Wing’s control over the nation. The Left loves big government and they never met a commerce obstructing law they didn’t just love.

Those on the Left believe there must be some sort of license issued before you can clip your own toenails!

Suddenly with the emerging drone technology the FAA has gone to the prior restraint mode rather than regulating based on actual accidents.

I call this the Chicken Little mode where regulations are made to preclude even the most remote possibility of mishaps. 

Nothing is a better example overregulation than the FAA’s total ban on using a drone for compensation.  Wow, halting commerce?  How un-American is that? 

If there was a reasonable safety issue demonstrated by a death, serious injury or significant property damage involving the multi-rotor drones I could understand, but there’s not! 

I must cite our First Amendment right to create, gather news, publish and broadcast.   Here the prior restraint activities of the FAA are nothing short of tyrannical! 

The new proposed rules of the FAA over commercial UAS seem on their face seem somewhat workable.  Anything is better than a total prohibition.

I personally intend to be licensed once the new regulations are in place.  In the meantime I’m in the process of applying for an FAA drone use exemption certificate.

My unanswered questions still remain.  Just what is careless or reckless aircraft regulation? Some would consider simply flying any drone reckless.  Opinions here are both wide and varied even among drone users! 

How near is too near to be to an occupied sports stadium? Is flying over the heads of people the same as simply being able to view people from above?  People including my fellow drone pilots all have different ideas and answers. 

Have we somehow failed to notice that conventional aircraft fly over our homes and heads everyday?

The FAA inspector I spoke with could not answer those important questions.  He simply told me that if there’s a complaint he’d report the known facts or allegations to them and the FAA would make a final determination on whether anything deserved sanctions. 

To me this is FAA vs. Drone situation merely setting up a recipe for unnecessary conflict and endless litigation.

My goal is to see the stellar safety record of the multi-rotor devices continue through the responsible use of this exciting and cutting edge technology.

In the long run drones will save lives, such as the 100 or so antenna tower inspectors that fall to their deaths ever year.  

There will be fewer manned helicopters crashing because of the tiny by comparison drones are being used instead.

The world’s food and fuel supply will be better- managed and protected by inexpensive UAV operators. 

Drone delivery of emergency medicines, defibrillation devices will also be saving lives along with drone use in search and rescue missions.

Drones are here to stay and Americans need their benefit.

The Civilian Drone Industry and the Serious Impact of Government Tyrannical Overregulation

Los Angeles, CA—As Crimefile News prepares to cover the first ever Drone Expo here on Saturday, we are watching as more corporate and business refugees are fleeing this once great nation.  Americans are also renouncing their citizenship now, more than ever before.

Currently drone hobbyists have no licensing or training requirements to fly their drones.  The only FAA restrictions currently are in the form of somewhat vague “guidelines”.  They suggest maximum altitudes of 400 feet, staying three miles or more from airports and keeping visual contact with the drone.

Frankly the hobbyists have already proven that civilian drones really pose no threat to Americans, their safety or privacy. 

The only hard and fast enforceable civilian drone regulation is that they can’t be used to earn or generate money.  Of course the government can’t realize any income tax revenue from drone operators either. 

Civilian multi-rotor drones currently number well beyond one million.  So far none of them have been ever been involved in a death or reported serious injury. 

Frankly the drones are incredibly safer than conventional aircraft, don’t emit poisons into our air and should they crash damages are minimal and confined to the drones themselves.

Yes, there are the “reports” by conventional aircraft pilots of “near collisions” and dangerous behavior.  However suspiciously absent are any collisions, photographs, or actual identifications of any of these offending drone operators! I call them fantasy sightings.   

The over-abundant reports of cowboy drone operators ruining it for all are just more fabrications.  The fact is drone operators zealously protect their investments if for no other reason so they can continue to enjoy flying them.

I won’t personally speak for anything more than the relatively small multi-rotor craft carrying camera’s such as the GoPro or relatively light weight DSLR cameras similar to the Canon 5D or the Panasonic GH4. 

No matter how you feel about your own political preferences this issue is falling hard along political Party lines.  Republicans are responding as pro-business and commerce. 

Democrats on the other hand want to regulate, tax and punish any and all commercial productivity especially anything drone related.  That’s of course, if the political Left can’t simply ban them altogether.  United States Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is leading the way for a total civilian drone ban as I write this. 

Democrats like their Communist cousins have a long history of massive overregulation, extortionate taxation and restricting personal liberty despite our Bill of Rights.  

I will again redundantly argue that nearly all safety concerns are bogus since the multi-rotor drone record is stellar.

Additionally, existing privacy laws don’t insulate any drone operators from arrest or punishment should they engage in stalking or filming anywhere people have established rights to privacy.

The FAA’s foot-dragging and drone related kingdom building has had expected results.   American corporations, filmmakers and drone enthusiasts are rapidly voting with their feet to exit the USA.   

Helicopter operators currently have nearly unrestricted access to our populated cities for filming or newsgathering.  However not a year goes by with out deadly crashes costing millions in destruction.  Multi-rotor drones are significantly safer, quieter and greener

Drones are a marvelous tool for video newsgathering, filmmaking and other creative endeavors.  The First Amendment of our Bill of Rights protects those things!  Restricting these activities without a clear thereat to public safety is un-American and unlawful.  We fought wars to protect this important freedom!

The drone industry shows great promise in areas of farming and cattle ranching protecting our necessary food supply.  Livestock and irrigation need constant monitoring and drones are perfect for this role.

The necessary inspection of ecological properties like fresh water supplies, electrical and fuel lines can be accomplished much cheaper and certainly safer using drones.

With the drone industry exit, America stands to lose important intellectual property, technological and other discoveries that are vitally essential to our national defense.  

Drones are the future for the construction and insurance industry.  They also have a solid place in disaster operations to evaluate needs and delivery of food, water and medical supplies when our roads become impassable.

The Obama Administration and their FAA must step aside and allow the research, development and commercial use of drones. 

Should problems be discovered down the road, government can certainly address them.  America has up till now avoided governing by prior restraint.

The American people simply cannot afford to allow a handful of politicians and their appointed bureaucrats to continue their tyrannical governing direction over this vital technology.  

The FAA Wants to Stop All of Those Pesky Civilian Drones!

The FAA is trying to regulate little camera drones like mine out of existence.  They have already been shot down for their over-reaching by a federal judge and the FAA has since appealed to a higher court.

Now the FAA is back at it, making a new rule and it’s really no better than what was struck down in court. They apparently want to prohibit professional photographers and journalists from capturing aerial images. 

The law requires government rules to be subjected to public a comment period that will run out later this month.  The rules carry heavy civil penalties but are not laws per say.   They are of course always subject to court challenge.

 My published Comment:   

 “The FAA wants jurisdiction over a rock thrown into the sky. Criminals can use all sorts of implements to endanger our aircraft and public safety. This is a local police responsibility already. Speaking as a small, multi-rotor and unmanned Phantom 2 camera drone operator the FAA should devote all their attention to conventional aviation.

The safety issues of the multi-rotor craft are less than insignificant than either general or commercial aviation! Despite thousands of these devices there has never been a fatality or even a remarkable injury! Property damage is nearly nonexistent! The FAA can argue that the sky will fall because that is always a remote possibility.

If there is going to be regulation over these devices it really needs to be in relation to their size, weight and altitude. Anything under 55 pounds should be left outside of the FAA's jurisdiction. I don't want to be redundant but this already is covered by local endangerment, assault laws and the police.

I cannot imagine the new astronomical budget of the FAA needed so that they can police every 12-year-old boy with a model aircraft! There must be a point in time where we have to stop the government monster from swallowing us all.

I speak only for the photographers that want to earn a few dollars taking needed and breathtaking images without subjecting the population to the risk of actual helicopters not to mention the cost. Professional photography and newsgathering is necessary in our world and that should not be prohibited.

Must our government always kill more private industry jobs and negatively impact our economy?”

As for me, the FAA will have to take my little drone, FROM MY DEAD COLD HANDS! 

You too can comment right here:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FAA-2014-0396-0001

The Arbitrary and Capricious FAA and its Tyranny Against Newsgathering Efforts. Check out this terrific video!

Mayflower, AK—April 27, 2014, tragedy struck the heartland in the form of springtime tornados.  It was not really safe to send up a helicopter and crew to survey the damage.  Emergency vehicles found roads impassable and were unable to locate victims needing assistance.

One drone video journalist sent up his camera high above the scene.  The stunning video he captured was a real public service.  First responders could see areas where help was needed.  The local residents lucky enough to have escaped the wrath of the storms could see if they still had homes and the extent of damage. 

During these emergencies looting becomes a concern and understandably police limit entry to these areas significantly.  Using the camera drones homeowners can see just how their precious homes survived or did not without waiting for police escorts that can take days. 

The FAA tried to take jurisdiction over these little drones that use the tiny HD GoPro cameras.  They decreed that any commercial use would bring their investigators and $10,000.00 fines would follow.  They went after one newsgathering operator and punitively fined him.  A federal judge in Denver recently struck the FAA’s overreaching regulation reversing the fine.  The FAA appealed and the matter is before the Appellate Court waiting for a resolution.

In any event the FAA will try to exercise some authority over these devices but we must expect and demand some sort of reasonableness.  They don’t have any of the manpower needed to regulate millions of these toys that are being built by hobbyists or sold by hobby shops.  The devices themselves because of their small size are invisible to radar.  

Most importantly when the little drones have mishaps nobody is injured nor is there any property damage to show when that happens. 

When there are earthquakes, wildfires, floods and such the only way to survey the damage or discover people needing rescue is from the air.  There are not enough helicopters and flying during threatening weather like the Mayflower is safe as the video shown below demonstrates.  The camera drones can provide a huge public service. 

Camera Armed Quadcopters, Public Safety and Privacy Examination.

Los Angeles, CA—When the topics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones are brought up so are the issues of fear, loathing and regulation.  Ignorance of the unknown is always a source of difficulty.  However take a look at the issues with an open mind. 

Aerial photography is not new, but until now it was just expensive.  We’ve co-existed with fixed wing airplanes and helicopters, all of our lives.  It’s settled law that we have no reasonable expiation of privacy outside of our homes and the other shelters we inhabit.

For nearly two decades we’ve been under observation from high-resolution cameras mounted on satellites.  We’ve all seen those incredible Google Earth views.  All of those privacy issues have been addressed and settled in the courts redundantly.

Suddenly we have great diminutive cameras and UAV’s to take them to the skies.  The privacy laws remain exactly the same.

There are huge advantages for these new UAV’s such as search and rescue, looking for lost pets, newsgathering video and filmmaking.   Safety inspection of roofs, transformers, power lines and elevated structures can be accomplished now with ease and without risk of injury.  

Additionally UAV’s have proven to help both sales people and buyers of real estate see a better view of those properties.

Aside from all of this, there is a long established hobby involved with remote controlled aircraft.  Millions of teens and adults have been enjoying this great hobby.

We’ve all seen videos and pictures of catastrophic helicopter crashes in our cities.  Death, destruction and horrible injuries occur when these things happen.  Those terrible accidents are somewhat rare but by no means isolated.  I lost two friends over the years in news helicopter crashes.

Now we have the small, light UAV’s and they're a game changer for the better.  Mishaps are not uncommon with the new UAV’s mostly due to pilot error.  The difference here is the UAV’s almost always escape damage!  Injuries are beyond rare and very minor if they happen at all.  UAV damage is proving to be somewhat less than that what would be caused by a thrown common tennis ball.

We all know about the large, heavy military UAV drones usually armed with weapons that governments use.  They cost as much or more than conventional aircraft and are simply not part of this discussion. 

The proliferation of these new small UAV drones like the one involved in the photo above and the video below will save millions of dollars for news organizations, businesses and government agencies as they reduce tragic accidents.

The video below shows what happens when a pilot loses control of a UAV in a populated area.  This should not have happened and it resulted from simple inexperience.  However you will see first hand the worst-case scenario of my own UAV mishap.  No damage or injuries whatsoever. 

My UAV was lost for nearly three months. The UAV and its little GoPro camera survived without single a scratch! They are both back in service today.  Nobody was injured nor was there even a hint of property damage. 

Should the battery die in an airborne UAV, they automatically go into a lower power mode and gently float to the ground. 

Watch the disappearance and crash landing of my UAV over the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles last January.  The little 64 Gigabyte SD ram card onboard saved and objectively documented the entire event.