"drone will be impounded"

[Helihover]

"local police do not have the authority to 'write yo
u up' and/or impound personal property on the basis of a FAA airspace violation"

Technically correct. Realistically, very incorrect. The LEO, on the scene, if he takes your drone, is doing so to use it as "evidence" of the crime he is going to charge you with. It could be a simple misdemeanor such as "Criminal Trespass" (you had to stand somewhere while flying) to a Felony (you flew in such a manner as to cause a threat of injury to bystanders). He has an entire City/County/State Ordinance or Criminal Violation manual at his disposal and you have your mouth which is probably how things got that far to start with.

As a retired LEO I can say I have seen NUMEROUS people who, thought they knew more about the law than I did, talk themselves into a citation and property confiscation only to end up with a healthy fine & loss of property. When I read in these forums that "they can't do this & they can't do that and you tell them "this" or you tell them "that", I can usually tell who's younger than 25. Not being critical of youth, but they tend to comment with emotion. Not always, but more often than not .........

Common sense, for those who choose to utilise it, dictates the place for argument is inside a court of law, not standing in city park. A LEO ALWAYS has the last 4 words of any conversation, if he wants. Those being: You Are Under Arrest ...........

I can't stand this mentality. See you and a bunch of other weapon toting mental cases all ready have this idea that you are above everything, because, "I can just arrest you if I want". This is the bully mentality many of you cops have, as shown in previous statements like the above.

If a cop approached people with a different view, as some I'm sure do (I'm in Oregon City and the few cops I have spoken with seem to be great people), the fear would be subdued. Instead you have LEO, like the retired above, walking around with a gun on their side, like they can arrest anyone they who they feel is not on their side. This is called a gang. The mentality I have towards cops sucks too, but hey, look at the above comment. I take offense to that. Why? Because I'm scared. I have a perfect record, family of 5, I'm one the most honest and hard working people there is, but I can't stand the thought of some 25 year old cop trying to tell me what to do, because they feel the need to, and then arrest me for not. Cops are not judges, they're recorders and that's it.

Now cops are treading new ground trying to inforce airspace regulations not having a clue of what's really going on. I've all ready had it happen to me. I was confronted by a federal officer though. This guy even claimed to be a UAS pilot and still didn't have a clue of the regulations. He was stating laws that didn't exist to protect his thought process. Ignorance at its best......

I turn 40 this year in case your wondering.

 

[blackcrusader]

I am so lucky. A few weeks ago I was droning in Yushan National Park in Taiwan. Two of the police officers assigned to the park come over to where I was flying to take a peek on my smartphone of the view I was getting at the 1640ft max height the drone can fly to. I was up at 10200ft altitude.
They were really amazed what the drone could view above the clouds. It was pea soup you couldn't see 30ft at the launch site which was a car park with one car in it. Mine Later on this year I will be launching from 11000ft at a higher point to do a sunrise shoot. Some of the better photo''s I have printed up to put in the Park Police station and also some of the other information centers. What is really nice is tourists asking "Wow, where did you get that shot taken and can someone take me there?"

 

[aeronautic1]

Definitely any part of Miami is basically within 5 miles of an airport / helipad. So it would seem to be impossible to fly a drone in the entire city area without first informing the airport operator and / or control tower of any planned activity. Whether there is some technicality preventing LEO from actioning this may be a moot point, and one you would end up arguing in court but the looks of it. Would be curious to hear the experiences of people who HAVE reported intentions to fly to control towers and Airport operators, and what responses they got.

I registered my quad with FAA online. One day I wanted to take drone photos of a bunch of yacht crammed into a boat yard in prep for Hurricane Matthew. FLL is two miles away. I called the tower cab to inform him of my flight plan (no more than 100 feet for 15 mins) and location. Tower controller was unfamiliar and said to call back in :10. No doubt looking up revs. When I called back, controller asked if I had filed proper paperwork for the flight. Recognizing that he was referring to commercial drobe regs, I told him no, that I was a hobbiest and only required to call the tower cab and obtain permission.The controller asked me to again call back in a few minutes afterwhich he approved my flight and asked me to call back and informhim when I was back on the ground. I did ask he requested and we lived happily ever after.

 

[Obb]

Sadly, in many areas LE is as interested in confiscating your drone as protecting the public. Many places, impounded articles are "auctioned" and strangely the "good stuff" seems to be purchased by LE or their buddies. That's the usual process in my area. Drones would likely not be offered to the general public for 'safety reasons' so they have to do something with them so for a couple hundred bucks some lucky guy helps clear space in the evidence room.