Where we disagree is on the definition of reckless. You see, a jury will decide that. Not you or I. And at 2 miles, where you probably won't even be able to see the small, two person air craft, let alone your drone, a jury will, most likely call that reckless. Why am I so adamant on this issue? Because I came very close to killing myself and two passengers in a small aircraft accident. It would take too long to go through the long narrative of what happened, but bottom line the finding was that even though I did not break any specific FAR, I , as the PIC (pilot in command) was responsible for the safety of my plane and passengers. We crashed doing night touch and go landings and take offs as part of their flight training. I was the flight instructor. A thunderstorm more than 7 miles away caused an unseen severe downdraft and caused us to crash at the approach end of the runway. I did not get convicted of breaking any FARs, and did not loose my pilot license or instructor license, but that didn't stop the civil lawsuits that followed due to injuries. Tens of thousands of dollars later I won the civil suit. So where is this going? Bottom line is you can be in a situation where you don't break any laws but it still costs you a ton. You don't want to give them anything to use against you. And I just can't find a way that anyone will be able to say with a straight face in a court room that flying your recreational drone 10,000 feet or more away from you is anything but reckless, especially when the FAA recommends it remain within VLOS. Any half competent lawyer will have a great time playing that up big time. Shall vs should vs whatever won't matter. And the end result when it happens once or twice will be a butt load of new regulations, or the outright banning of MRs for recreational use, or perhaps limiting them to AMA airfields only. Lord knows our wonderful government loves to take away in a knee jerk manner anytime they can. And the unlucky examples will probably face at a minimum bankruptcy, or worse jail time.
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