TFR interpretation.....

I'm not advocating what I'm about to say, it's just for discussion's sake.

Let's say you're within the "outer ring" of that TFR and fly anyway. You keep it real low and real local and real short. No higher than the tree tops, no further than a couple hundred yards, and five-ten minutes. What could happen?

Secret Service might come and confiscate your drone if they get to you fast enough but I think that would be it. My understanding is there are no laws passed yet that can be used to prosecute a hobby drone pilot.
I have flown my fixed wings in my cul du sac (Some little "park flyers" with 18- 26 inch wing spans) at no more that 50 feet during NOTAMs when Obama has been here in Seattle. No F-16s showed up, nor any Secret Service men. I stayed below the tops of the Cedars that encircle our development.

However I know someone who wasn't aware of a NOTAM and his Cessna was escorted back to a small rural airport south of Seattle by two F-16s but no fines issued, just a stern lecture.

But there are laws that can be used to prosecute a hobby drone pilot - in fact that is about the only thing that came out of the now infamous Pirker case - a precedent to charge drone pilots with reckless endangerment.
The drone hobbyist who hit a parade attendee in the head, knocking her unconscious at this summer's Seattle Pride Parade has been charged with reckless endangerment and is facing up to a $5,000 fine for his mishap.

Oh, and there were the two drone pilots who were fined for flying too close to Orcas here in the Puget Sound. I think they were ticketed around a grand?
Two drone pilots ticketed for 'Orca Protection Violations'
 
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Interesting link on the orcas. I read the WA state rules and they cover putting your ship in the path of them or letting it drift towards them, that is a common practice here on whale tours....

Flying the phantom worries me more with the flight log, especially since I upload them to DJI cloud. Seems like the FAA could easily get a list from DJI of everyone that violated the TFR. Maybe there is some privacy protection there....anyone know? Not to mention the metadata in any picture or video I take...
 
Interesting link on the orcas. I read the WA state rules and they cover putting your ship in the path of them or letting it drift towards them, that is a common practice here on whale tours....

Flying the phantom worries me more with the flight log, especially since I upload them to DJI cloud. Seems like the FAA could easily get a list from DJI of everyone that violated the TFR. Maybe there is some privacy protection there....anyone know? Not to mention the metadata in any picture or video I take...
I go whale watching at least once a summer - friends or family come to town, it's the Space Needle and a whale tour... Anyway I believe the law states you can only pilot your boat within 200 feet of a pod. If the whales swim close to you, that is ok, you just can't maneuver close to them.
I felt bad for Mr. Shin, he was (still may be) a member of this forum, and his website is very impressive. It was a bit ironic that a few days later the same local media outlets covered how marine biologists are using drones to monitor our resident pods of Orcas. However they stay back and use a telephoto lens.

And man, I hope that DJI would only share our flight information if there were a subpoena involved!?
 
Also, since the registration just come out they may try to make an example of someone.
Probably not in the next couple of weeks ...
Under this rule, any owner of a small UAS who has previously operated an unmanned aircraft exclusively as a model aircraft prior to December 21, 2015, must register no later than February 19, 2016.
 
I'm not advocating what I'm about to say, it's just for discussion's sake.

Let's say you're within the "outer ring" of that TFR and fly anyway. You keep it real low and real local and real short. No higher than the tree tops, no further than a couple hundred yards, and five-ten minutes. What could happen?

Secret Service might come and confiscate your drone if they get to you fast enough but I think that would be it. My understanding is there are no laws passed yet that can be used to prosecute a hobby drone pilot.
The TFR is a circle with a 30 nautical mile radius.
That's a huge area (41000 square miles)
Just the outer 1 mile ring has an area of 1190 square miles
If you are out in that ring and flying at treetop height (or even higher), the only way anyone would know is if they are within close proximity to you - say within 100 yards or so.
The chance of you of winning the lottery is much higher than the probability that the secret service would come and confiscate your drone.
 
Unless someone sees it as an opportunity to settle a grudge?
That would be someone within 100 yards that sees it as an opportunity to settle a grudge - and knows your location is only 29.5 nautical miles from the centre of the TFR and not 30.5 nautical miles from the centre point - that's no-one.
 
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Just watched another guy fly his phantom not only during the TFR but also within 5 miles of an airport. He was totally safe, so I have no issues with it. Big open field and only went up 100 feet. Very jealous and would also like to fly, but I feel I would be uncomfortable the whole time and not enjoy it. Also, the field he was in I once got kicked out of by security for flying a kite at about 60 feet with my 2 and 4 year old...
 
.......TFR and not 30.5 nautical miles from the centre point - that's no-one.
You , Meta obviously do NOT live anywhere neat the Metro DC area. If you did, you would not say that.
 
You , Meta obviously do NOT live anywhere neat the Metro DC area. If you did, you would not say that.
So in metro DC, people can tell when they are 0.5 nautical miles inside a circle with a diameter of 60 nautical miles ? I don't think so.
Sounds like you didn't understand what I said the first time.
 
Does anyone know what happens if they change it? I am hoping maybe they end it early, does that ever happen? If so, do they change the existing one or create a new release?
 
So in metro DC, people can tell when they are 0.5 nautical miles inside a circle with a diameter of 60 nautical miles ? I don't think so.
Sounds like you didn't understand what I said the first time.
No, Im saying if your just the slightest inside the 15 miles, you WILL have someone you may not like come visit you rather quickly.
 
It's a shame too, think that a stock Phantom can't go more than 1.2 miles from the controller. If they made the TFR 10 miles that would leave over 8 miles within the area. Granted that restricts vip movement but why should everyone else lose out for one person?

As to the DC one, I'd rather they open Great Falls and the Northern Potomac basin up, amazing footage there to take. Inside the beltway not much to look at really. Though along beach drive is very pretty.
 
Just watched another guy fly his phantom not only during the TFR but also within 5 miles of an airport. He was totally safe, so I have no issues with it. Big open field and only went up 100 feet. Very jealous and would also like to fly, but I feel I would be uncomfortable the whole time and not enjoy it. Also, the field he was in I once got kicked out of by security for flying a kite at about 60 feet with my 2 and 4 year old...

So did you educate the guy that he's not suppose to be flying his drone when there's a TFR? Is his drone registered? It's been all over the news so he should have been informed. Unless he's DGAF about the rules. *smh*
 

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