Are drones becoming fair game like clay pegions?

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http://www.cnet.com/news/man-arrested-a ... ors-drone/

One pilot in New Jersey was taking aerial videos of a home under construction when he heard what may have been gun fire.
Losing control of his aircraft. He was able to retrieve it. Upon discovering multiple holes, he calls the cops.
Cops find the shooter and make an arrest.
Apparently, under New Jersey Law, you can recover damages for the aircraft as well as any losses from a video that would have been used for commercial purposes.

Should the pilot risk going for the loss of revenue from the video?
And face charges from the FAA?
 
I say this fly over my home in the city I don't care, hit our home in the sticks and your drone is fair game. Nothing to hide property's posted, no trespassing so don't.
 
FBiff said:
I say this fly over my home in the city I don't care, hit our home in the sticks and your drone is fair game. Nothing to hide property's posted, no trespassing so don't.

A drone is NOT "fair game", dummy. Shooting at a $1,500 Phantom is a FELONY vandalism charge in most states. Which means you're spending at least 6 months in the pokey.

Nobody "owns" airspace above private property --- which is exactly why you can't just randomly shoot at helicopters and planes and now drones flying over it. Even shooting at birds flying over your property will get you arrested by a game warden unless you can prove they were damaging your crops. You can probably shoot at a swarm of locusts since they arent protected by law.

Learn something. :p
 
MadMitch88 said:
A drone is NOT "fair game", dummy. Shooting at a $1,500 Phantom is a FELONY vandalism charge in most states. Which means you're spending at least 6 months in the pokey.

Nobody "owns" airspace above private property --- which is exactly why you can't just randomly shoot at helicopters and planes and now drones flying over it. Even shooting at birds flying over your property will get you arrested by a game warden unless you can prove they were damaging your crops. You can probably shoot at a swarm of locusts since they arent protected by law.

Learn something. :p
+1
 
MadMitch88 said:
FBiff said:
I say this fly over my home in the city I don't care, hit our home in the sticks and your drone is fair game. Nothing to hide property's posted, no trespassing so don't.

A drone is NOT "fair game", dummy. Shooting at a $1,500 Phantom is a FELONY vandalism charge in most states. Which means you're spending at least 6 months in the pokey.

Nobody "owns" airspace above private property --- which is exactly why you can't just randomly shoot at helicopters and planes and now drones flying over it. Even shooting at birds flying over your property will get you arrested by a game warden unless you can prove they were damaging your crops. You can probably shoot at a swarm of locusts since they arent protected by law.

Learn something. :p[/

Sorry your so upset but calling names like a child, you can disagree.
Again sorry your upset but people dont want the surveillance aspect of drones flying around their home. Never claimed to own the air space, while I understand the implied statement.
Arrested, no ticket yeah probably but paying for the drone no, if it has a camera proof is their. Don't fly over people's homes in the country and you have no concerns.
Face it this going to happen again and again with out me even being involved.
 
FBiff said:
Sorry your so upset but calling names like a child, you can disagree.
Again sorry your upset but people dont want the surveillance aspect of drones flying around their home. Never claimed to own the air space, while I understand the implied statement.
Arrested, no ticket yeah probably but paying for the drone no, if it has a camera proof is their. Don't fly over people's homes in the country and you have no concerns.
Face it this going to happen again and again with out me even being involved.

Well if it's going to happen again and again then I expect to see a lot of ignorant property owners clogging up the prison system for shooting at a drone. :lol:

The bottom line is this --- people should have "reasonable" expectation of privacy on their property which means you cant fly a machine up close to their window and peek in, but basic drone activity is using the public airspace. Also add the fact that drones hold enormous economic potential in the billions of dollars and also creating millions of jobs in the coming years, and that means most politicians will soon be pro-drone because they tend to get re-elected when jobs get created. So in the next 10-12 years when you start seeing delivery drones from Amazon, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Best Buy, Pep Boys, etc flying over your house 20 times a day, you will be POWERLESS to do anything about it because they will have the full blessing and authority of the U.S. government and written law behind them. Just shake your fist in the air at them like an old fart and say "You **** drones!". :eek:
 
Simmer down people.

First of all, finding a homeowner with a gun is hard to do in some areas.
In the New Jersey case, the idiot fired a shotgun.
Do you know what the range of a shotgun is?
The guy had to be within a few yards of the drone to hit it. So it could have been flying over his property to close and the guy may have had reasonable concerns that maybe the cops were out snooping.

I'll bet that most people in this country believe they actually do own the airspace above their homes.

I was surprised once by my mother. She told me she had found that their property line actually was in the middle of the street.
So they owned the street as well. A township cop told me years later, they had researched her claim and found out she was right.
I've wondered since, if she put up barricades and stopped people driving on her property, would the courts agree?
I don't think so.

Still, as a drone pilot, I would not linger around anyone's home for more than a few seconds.
And certainly not from a distance if I did. I'd make myself highly visible so the neighbors can see what I'm doing.
 
Suwaneeguy said:
Still, as a drone pilot, I would not linger around anyone's home for more than a few seconds.
And certainly not from a distance if I did. I'd make myself highly visible so the neighbors can see what I'm doing.

Those are common sense rules that any drone pilot should live by.

But we need to cut out this prevalent nonsense that people "own" the airspace above their property. I keep hearing that drivel on this board and it makes me nauseous. People only own the land from the ground-air interface level down to maybe 50 feet deep. That's why you're legally allowed to install an in-ground swimming pool and bury water pipes and electric cable but you can't drill a hole 4,000 ft. deep on your property and steal the natural resources that belong to the oil company, coal company, and natural gas company. It also means you can't shoot down drones, helicopters, airplanes, or birds that fly into and through your airspace. People don't actually own as much as they think when they buy a piece of property.

Let's all start acting more intelligent when it comes to drone laws --- either existing or forthcoming. Remember, the paranoid public is monitoring this discussion board and mocking us for our blatant ignorance of the rules and laws that will restrict our beloved hobby in the years to come. :cry:
 
These shot gun Cretins had better learn that not everyone that flies quads are not able to fire back, I carry a 40 S&W Shield everywhere I go and have a conceal carry permit and if a moron decides to shoot at my quad he will be looking down the barrel of my 40 and will be lucky if I do not fire back. In any case he will be face down on the ground waiting for the police with my gun pointing at his head!
 
Shooting at anything in the air is FAR more dangerous than any danger a commercial quadcopter could possibly pose.
Rifle bullets can travel more than a mile.
Rifled Shotgun slugs almost as far.
Shotgun pellets up to a half mile.
Ask any outdoor shooting range operator just how much their insurance company charges and why.
 
Shooting at anything in the air is FAR more dangerous than any danger a commercial quadcopter could possibly pose.
Rifle bullets can travel more than a mile.
Rifled Shotgun slugs almost as far.
Shotgun pellets up to a half mile.
Ask any outdoor shooting range operator just how much their insurance company charges and why.

^ This. I completely agree. Why are people so paranoid about what our little quads are doing up in the air? Do people not know how noisy these things are? You can't spy on anyone with it. And to fly high enough, that it's hard to hear, would make the "spy" video or photos so small, they would be useless.

Then you have to take into consideration, having the guts to take a shot at a drone in a populated area. You miss the flying/moving one foot square target with a rifle and your bullet is coming down with lethal force, up to a mile away. Do it with a shotgun, same thing, just not as far and same for pistols.

I just don't get it. Seems like a bunch of keyboard commandos talking out of their butts. Makes me wonder what it is they're hiding. I couldn't care less if someone flew a little drone over my house, as long as they didn't crash into it. :D
 

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