Phantom over Pittsburgh Pirates game. Not illegal

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Police were called Thursday after someone was flying a drone over PNC Park during Thursday night’s Pittsburgh Pirates game.

The FAA says they are investigating the incident.
The Pirates say a private citizen was flying the drone from outside of the stadium, along the Riverwalk.
Once it was spotted, the Pirates notified police.

The Pirates say once confronted, the man flying the drone admitted to doing it, saying he thought it would be fun.
Police asked him to take it down and he cooperated.
However, the Pirates say the issue brings up safety concerns.
The Pirates released a statement saying: “During last night’s game, a man standing on the River Walk flew his small, personal drone over the ballpark. Our security staff quickly identified the operator and alerted onsite Pittsburgh Police officers. The officers immediately addressed the issue by ordering the man to stop the use of the drone. The man was informed of the seriousness of the situation and warned that if he returned he would face further police action.”

The FAA has released a statement regarding the incident, saying:

If a UAS flight is not for hobby or recreation purposes, the operator needs FAA authorization. The FAA authorizes commercial operations on a case-by-case basis. A commercial flight requires a certified aircraft, a licensed pilot and operating approval. To date, two operation have met these criteria and authorization was limited to the Arctic. Flying model aircraft solely for hobby or recreational reasons does not require FAA approval, but hobbyists must operate according to the agency’s model aircraft guidance and the rules in the 2012 FAA Reauthorization law.

In a Federal Register notice Monday, we gave examples of what type of flights would be considered as hobby or recreation, and which would not. Using a UAS as part of a business, e.g., photography, would not qualify as being for hobby or recreation. To date, we have not authorized any commercial photography UAS operations.
 
Glad they didn't push the issue, to the letter of the law, it sounds like he's OK.

Would not go back, though, if I were him, for a while at least.
 
I mean, is this really "news" though?

Guy sucessfully flies quadcopter over stadium and probably gets great footage.

Guy asked to stop by police.

Guy safely lands quadcopter and leaves.

FAA says no problem at all.

Had to have been a slow news day.
 
'Rebroadcast or retransmission of a Major Leasgue Baseball game is strickly prohibited.'

or something like that.
 
The guys is very lucky. there is a standing TFR over all sporting events over 30,000 people. he was flying in a"No fly zone"

Plain Language text is not available for this NOTAM. The traditional NOTAM text is given below:

FDC 9/5151 FDC PART 1 OF 2 .. SPECIAL NOTICE .. SPORTING EVENTS. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THIS NOTICE REPLACES FDC NOTAM 3/1862 DUE TO THE WAIVER WEBSITE CHANGE AND LANGUAGE CLARIFICATION. THIS NOTICE MODIFIES FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS PREVIOUSLY ISSUED IN FDC NOTAM 3/1862 TO COMPLY WITH STATUTORY MANDATES DETAILED IN SECTION 352 OF PUBLIC LAW 108-7 AND AS AMENDED BY SECTION 521 OF PUBLIC LAW 108-199. PURSUANT TO 49 USC 40103(B), THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) CLASSIFIES THE AIRSPACE DEFINED IN THIS NOTAM AS 'NATIONAL DEFENSE AIRSPACE'. ANY PERSON WHO KNOWINGLY OR WILLFULLY VIOLATES THE RULES CONCERNING OPERATIONS IN THIS AIRSPACE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN CRIMINAL PENALTIES UNDER 49 USC 46307. PILOTS WHO DO NOT ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES MAY BE INTERCEPTED, DETAINED AND INTERVIEWED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT/SECURITY PERSONNEL. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 99.7, SPECIAL SECURITY INSTRUCTIONS, COMMENCING ONE HOUR BEFORE THE SCHEDULED TIME OF THE EVENT UNTIL ONE HOUR AFTER THE END OF THE EVENT. ALL AIRCRAFT AND PARACHUTE OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED WITHIN A 3 NMR UP TO AND INCLUDING 3000 FT AGL OF ANY STADIUM HAVING A SEATING CAPACITY OF 30,000 OR MORE PEOPLE WHERE EITHER A REGULAR OR POST SEASON MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, OR NCAA DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL GAME IS OCCURRING. THIS NOTAM ALSO APPLIES TO NASCAR SPRINT CUP, INDY CAR, END PART 1 OF 2 FDC 9/5151 FDC PART 2 OF 2 .. SPECIAL NOTICE .. SPORTING EVENTS. EFFECTIVE AND CHAMP SERIES RACES EXCLUDING QUALIFYING AND PRE-RACE EVENTS. FLIGHTS CONDUCTED FOR OPERATIONAL PURPOSES OF ANY EVENT, STADIUM OR VENUE AND BROADCAST COVERAGE FOR THE BROADCAST RIGHTS HOLDER ARE AUTHORIZED WITH AN APPROVED WAIVER. THE RESTRICTIONS DO NOT APPLY TO THOSE AIRCRAFT AUTHORIZED BY AND IN CONTACT WITH ATC FOR OPERATIONAL OR SAFETY OF FLIGHT PURPOSES, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND AIR AMBULANCE FLIGHT OPERATIONS. ALL PREVIOUSLY ISSUED WAIVERS TO FDC NOTAM 3/1862 REMAIN VALID UNTIL THE SPECIFIED END DATE BUT NOT TO EXCEED 90 DAYS FOLLOWING THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS NOTAM. INFORMATION ABOUT WAIVER APPLICATIONS AND TSA SECURITY AUTHORIZATIONS CAN BE FOUND AT HTTP://WWW.TSA.GOV/WHAT_WE_DO/TSNM/GENE ... IVERS.SHTM (CASE SENSITIVE USE LOWER CASE ONLY) OR BY CALLING TSA AT 571-227-2071. INDIVIDUALS MAY SUBMIT A REQUEST FOR A FAA WAIVER AT HTTPS://WAIVER.C3.FAA.GOV. END PART 2 OF 2
 
According to the FAA's definition of aircraft, that doesn't apply to RC model aircraft... And a judge recently agreed as well. That's the problem. The FAA only has guidelines for RC unmanned aerial vehicles. Actual regulations apply to manned aircraft per their definition of aircraft.
 
srandall25 said:
According to the FAA's definition of aircraft, that doesn't apply to RC model aircraft... And a judge recently agreed as well. That's the problem. The FAA only has guidelines for RC unmanned aerial vehicles. Actual regulations apply to manned aircraft per their definition of aircraft.

Better check that. TFRs absolutely include model aircraft and numerous examples exist to prove that. In fact, the AMA website lists TFRs taht affect models when they pop up:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/membership ... otams.aspx
 
Keep in mind that there is also an issue of civil trespass in airspace. Generally, in non-navigable airspace, a property owner retains dominion over the airspace he can reasonably use. In a baseball stadium, that may include more than 100 feet for pop fly balls.
 
People doing what he did are making us all look bad did he really needs to fly over a stadium my god!!! It falls out of sky hits somebody in the head and are hobbies is over!!!I'm sorry but what a moron!!
 
ftimster said:
People doing what he did are making us all look bad did he really needs to fly over a stadium my god!!! It falls out of sky hits somebody in the head and are hobbies is over!!!I'm sorry but what a moron!!

+1...

I live near a AAA ball club's stadium and I've flown over part of it when it was empty... AFTER asking permission from the ballclub. I've asked for permission to actually go inside the field and provide them with some free shots, but they've yet to respond and probably aren't interested...

But a FULL stadium??? WITHOUT permission??? Dipshit !!! :roll:

-slinger
 
Possible issues:
1. Motor failure
2. Prop failure
3. ESC failure
4. NAZA failure
5. Radio interference
6. GPS interference
7. Battery discharge/autolanding
7. Pilot error

All of the above have happened. Each of the above failures are well documented several times on this site. Its risky to fly over a large amount of people. For now, that risk, and the consequences, are up to the individual pilot and local law enforcement. Probably not so long in the future, those kind of activities will be banned and possibly criminal.

Certification of the aircraft with proven redundant systems is needed. DJI is long way from that. Stay safe.
 
DrJoe said:
Possible issues:
1. Motor failure
2. Prop failure
3. ESC failure
4. NAZA failure
5. Radio interference
6. GPS interference
7. Battery discharge/autolanding
7. Pilot error

These would be the only valid reasons for concern over what this person did. Contacting the police was really an overreaction of the on site security staff. The police also overreacted, IMO. So long as no nefarious intent was present, the police should have wished the operator and good day and left... no ordering him/her about, no requiring the operator to leave, as really there was no law broken here. Had something happened, there are laws governing who the responsible party is and what his/her obligations are to the injured.
 
DrJoe said:
Possible issues:
1. Motor failure
2. Prop failure
3. ESC failure
4. NAZA failure
5. Radio interference
6. GPS interference
7. Battery discharge/autolanding
7. Pilot error

All of the above have happened. Each of the above failures are well documented several times on this site. Its risky to fly over a large amount of people. For now, that risk, and the consequences, are up to the individual pilot and local law enforcement. Probably not so long in the future, those kind of activities will be banned and possibly criminal.

Certification of the aircraft with proven redundant systems is needed. DJI is long way from that. Stay safe.
I agree, any quad can fall out of the sky for all of the above reasons. In the time I have been flying quads, I think I have had a failure from every item on the above list. It is flying perfect one minute and a second later it is falling out of the sky. Some of these new flyers do not have a clue about what could go wrong. Without even reading the manual they know only two things - charge the battery and start flying. What they don't know is how fast and how many things can cause a flight failure. If they would only experience one of these failures they definitely would not be flying over people or doing stupid stunts like flying over a ballpark full of people and ball players and then justify their stupidly by saying "I thought it would be fun". It might be legal but so is stupidly!
 
The cops shouldn't have stopped him, he wasn't breaking any laws. Obviously it's best to comply with an officer's order, however, they should be reprimanded for forcing him to do something he was perfectly in his right to do.

That said, it was a selfish thing to do. The last thing we need is an innocent bystander getting injured as a result of poor judgement. Why give the Government agencies more reason to further govern our hobby?
 

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