SilentAV8R said:
But one thing I can almost guarantee we will see for most commercial use is nothing BLOS and or above 400 feet agl. So the days of long distance/high altitude flying are coming to an end, hobby or not.
I'm not suggesting that I'd be in favor or opposed to this, as most of the flying I do is well within LOS and below 400' AGL. However, I do have to wonder how the FAA will go about regulating this.
Suppose that someone decides to take their bird 2000' AGL (or even 1000') just for the heck of it. Unless each of these is equipped with a transponder and the FAA is actively monitoring this stuff in many areas it's practically impossible to catch a person and fine or otherwise admonish them.
Let's say someone had a large parcel of land they were shooting for a real estate listing. They take the quad 500' AGL (or maybe even higher) to get some good pictures that meet their needs. Now let's say that the FAA was actively monitoring the area for some random odd reason (not likely, but let's say it happens). Even if they detect someone above 400' it's not likely they can follow it back to the pilot in time to catch the person and fine him/her. So anything they do around this type of stuff creates another "big bad wolf" scenario where the agency "huffs and puffs" but is ultimately unable to blow anything down.
So for practical purposes for most of us it will most likely be "business as usual" since it would be a toothless regulation.