Drones

[Rustic23]

I guess my objection, on some level deals with vigilantism. If a drone is presenting a threat to my privacy or health or welfare in some manor, and it constitutes an emergency then I would have no problem attempting to safely take it down. However, I think a complaint, with video to the authorities would be my preferred course of action.

Wanting to give others the benefit of the doubt, when it comes to "shooting" down something, my first thought was the typical suburban or city environment and a neighbor out with his 12 gauge trying to bring down an aerial target. Maybe the posters who support this action live in the country with no close neighbors.

 

[samclem]

However, I think a complaint, with video to the authorities would be my preferred course of action.

Agreed. And, if this issue grows to be a real problem, the authorities will probably get, or be able to get, the technical resources needed to handle it.

 

[brewer12345]

I guess my objection, on some level deals with vigilantism. If a drone is presenting a threat to my privacy or health or welfare in some manor, and it constitutes an emergency then I would have no problem attempting to safely take it down. However, I think a complaint, with video to the authorities would be my preferred course of action.

Wanting to give others the benefit of the doubt, when it comes to "shooting" down something, my first thought was the typical suburban or city environment and a neighbor out with his 12 gauge trying to bring down an aerial target. Maybe the posters who support this action live in the country with no close neighbors.

Um, have you called the police with what they view to be a minor complaint? You will be waiting a looonnnggg time for a response, possibly forever. Guess where a drone report will rank in their list of priorities?

 

[brewer12345]

Um, how do you know where are those bullets or shot pellets are going to land?

I am a squirrel hunter. Tiny target, often up in the trees with no backstop, not infrequently moving. Drones would be a shot-only proposition. In the burbs where I live, I suppose I would be limited to a tennis racket or similar. Out in the woods would be a different story.

 

[aja8888]

Um, have you called the police with what they view to be a minor complaint? You will be waiting a looonnnggg time for a response, possibly forever. Guess where a drone report will rank in their list of priorities?

Probably not much more attention than I got after my house was broken into a my laptop was stolen before Fido came running at him.....Cop said I should buy a gun and not expect the police to "protect" me or the family. (so I did)

 

[Tom52]

We were droned!

We are just starting the process of selling our house. We contacted a local Remax agent and asked them to come and look at our house and give us a market evaluation. The realtor came out to our house yesterday and advised us that after we had initially contacted him on the phone to set up the appointment he flew his drone over to our house to take aerial photos. He said he uses the drone technology a lot when the houses are in close proximity to his office, (about a mile away in our case).

 

[imoldernu]

A little bit dated, (Dec. 2013), but likely current with respect to the laws as they exist today.
Drone Law Journal | Legal News & Info About Drones, UAVs and Remote-Controlled Model Aircraft by Peter Sachs, Esq.

Worthwhile in understanding what may or may not happen with regard to law.
(Author believes that any substantial legislation may be far into the future.)

..............................................................................
Re: stray bullets/shot

Hiking trail runs behind a skeet range. Walking the trail while range is in use, you can hear the pellets drop through the trees... like heavy raindrops.

Not so with rifles... Several years ago, while driving corn country in the fall, (with fields cut and one mile+ vision in any direction), a stray bullet hit my driver side front window, and went all the way through the safety glass, to end (flattened) on the dashboard in front of me. When I reported it to the police, they shrugged it off... "it happens"...

Cheated death again...

 

[Jack_Pine]

Shooting them might be fun on my place in WI.

I would be more entertaining to come up with a way to take them down with my own drone over my house. Have to work on that.

 

[M Paquette]

Might I humbly suggest a more appropriate method of shooting down a tiny, complex flying radio/electronics package than flinging bits of metal at it?

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.387.9626&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Electronics are sensitive to electrical impulses by design. Electronics with radio control circuits are deliberately sensitive. This suggest a path of attack...

5 volts of induced RF current spread across the likely control frequencies will thoroughly desensitize a radio receiver. 10 volts will likely destroy the radio's sensitive 'front end' circuitry, as well as do Bad Things to other components. A radio frequency burst generator can be readily constructed by a moderately skilled hobbyist.

For bonus points, combine this with a system that uses signal processing to recognize the buzzing sound of a drone from an omnidirectional microphone, and then uses an azimuth/elevation servo controlled mount holding a shotgun microphone or camera for tracking and the burst generator feedhorn to target the drone. This might make a good Raspberry Pi project.

And people wonder what we'll do all day.

 

[Jack_Pine]

Now this is pretty cool. Especially the controller.

Parrot Unveils New Drone and Controller, Both Oculus-Compatible | Newegg Unscrambled

 

[aja8888]

So much for that drone...

Just reading the "local rag" tonight and in the front section an article about the city's (Conroe..Montgomery County, TX) $500,000 surveillance and infra red imaging DRONE fell out of the sky over Lake Conroe and was found (in pieces) in 40' of water. (Now this is a big lake)

Hmmm.....no suspects but the city is sending some drone pieces to an FAA lab. Now this is Texas, of course.

Done was bought with Homeland Security funds (grant, I guess) and was insured for a little over $300,000.

Makes you wonder.

 

[samclem]

Just reading the "local rag" tonight and in the front section an article about the city's (Conroe..Montgomery County, TX) $500,000 surveillance and infra red imaging DRONE fell out of the sky over Lake Conroe and was found (in pieces) in 40' of water. (Now this is a big lake)

Hmmm.....no suspects but the city is sending some drone pieces to an FAA lab. Now this is Texas, of course.

Done was bought with Homeland Security funds (grant, I guess) and was insured for a little over $300,000.

Makes you wonder.

I wonder who gets the insurance money? Maybe the city has found a way to convert a drone they didn't really need into enough money to fill several thousand potholes.

These DHS grants seem like quite the money tree. If Montgomery County, Texas needs a drone, I think they should buy it with funds from their own residents. There's a lot more accountability when these types of things are kept local.

 

[MooreBonds]

Neighbor's 15 year old spoiled brat son gets a DJI Phantom 2 for his birthday and decides to show off for your 14 year old daughter, by taking a picture of her from "space".... He miscalculates and the spinning drone drifts down towards her and the rotor blades slash into her face, blinding her in one eye.

I'd think the more likely scenario involving the 15 year old neighbor would be spying on your daughter/wife through the second floor window, or a bathroom window that is up high and shouldn't let anyone see in given its angle.

 

[6miths]

These things are seriously cool. Inherently stable platform made more so by some cool electronics like GPS programmability for return to home or go to co-ordinates, barometric pressure/GPS controlled hover at altitude, operator vicinity 'no-fly zone' and a bunch of other stuff. Most are so lightweight as not to pose much of a problem if they do fall out of the sky. Terminal velocity and masses would limit damage to much of anything. I can't see many of these putting much of a dent in even a small private plane and a jet engine would probably tolerate one better than a couple of Canada Geese. I do recall the FAA have something to say about the plan to deliver 6 packs to ice fisherman in Wisconsin (or was it Minnesota?) not too long ago. Sure there will be lots of guidelines coming up. I plan to get mine before they shut them down!

 

[6miths]

Might I humbly suggest a more appropriate method of shooting down a tiny, complex flying radio/electronics package than flinging bits of metal at it?

Electronics are sensitive to electrical impulses by design. Electronics with radio control circuits are deliberately sensitive. This suggest a path of attack...

And this is of course cool too. Always countermeasures! Just like theatres and hospitals can put in cell phone blockers, similar steps can be taken around airports and sensitive sites to take these little 'pests' down. Though the idea of flinging bits of metal has a particular appeal to the kid in me and we definitely would have been having some fun with these, and various modes of flinging things, if we had them back in the day.

 

[Ronstar]

These things are seriously cool. Inherently stable platform made more so by some cool electronics like GPS programmability for return to home or go to co-ordinates, barometric pressure/GPS controlled hover at altitude, operator vicinity 'no-fly zone' and a bunch of other stuff. Most are so lightweight as not to pose much of a problem if they do fall out of the sky. Terminal velocity and masses would limit damage to much of anything. I can't see many of these putting much of a dent in even a small private plane and a jet engine would probably tolerate one better than a couple of Canada Geese. I do recall the FAA have something to say about the plan to deliver 6 packs to ice fisherman in Wisconsin (or was it Minnesota?) not too long ago. Sure there will be lots of guidelines coming up. I plan to get mine before they shut them down!

The survey one I looked at is about the size of a goose. And fragile - you have to get a new body after 100 landings or so.

 

[Chuckanut]

Another reason to limit drone use.

Tourist crashes drone with camera into Yellowstone National Park, potentially damaging it

Of course, this guy makes the drone idiot look good

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel...nd-canyon-squirrel-kicker-20140807-3d9gn.html

 

[imoldernu]

Bumping for a really funny thread from 2 geeks, discussing drones... safety and government regulation. Geek Vs Geek: Is There a Case for Outlawing Toy Drones? | eHow Tech | eHow

 

[6miths]

I couldn't resist and I got a couple of the little Hubsan X4 drones that they were talking about. Some serious fun. It's only a matter of time until we upgrade to one of the DJI Phantoms. Way better than my old Cox fishing line model!

 

[photoguy]

Drones seem like a lot of fun and they have become very popular for aerial photography. I do winder though what's your liability exposure? and how does it compare to flying rc planes/helicopters?





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[Jack_Pine]

Is there a drone I can put my GOPro on?

Just bought one of those and it is a lot of fun.................

 

[REWahoo]

Is there a drone I can put my GOPro on?

Just bought one of those and it is a lot of fun.................

Here's another option: Eagle with GoPro camera captures Mexico stadium scene - Videos - CBS News

 

[Jack_Pine]

Here's another option: Eagle with GoPro camera captures Mexico stadium scene - Videos - CBS News

Funny guy, have seen that.

We are going to mount on our Springer this weekend and take her running. should be fun playing with the rest of the pack and jumping in the pool............

 

[samclem]

Drones seem like a lot of fun and they have become very popular for aerial photography. I do winder though what's your liability exposure? and how does it compare to flying rc planes/helicopters?

If it hits an aircraft, or causes an aircraft to have to avoid flight (re: the recent case where a helicopter medevac flight couldn't transport an injured person because a guy was operating his drone in the area), I would think the liability would be virtually unlimited if the drone was operating outside the rules presently established for model aircraft. I.e. can't be within 5 miles of an airport, must only be for hobby or recreational use, must be under visual observation by the operator at all times (without use of binoculars or other visual aids), cannot be operated in a manner that endangers the safety of the National Airspace System (which is very broad), not within a temporary flight restriction (TFR) or other area in which aviation is prohibited, etc, etc. (TFRs are established around POTUS, around emergency locations (a bad train crash, over large assemblies of people, etc).

The law in this area is evolving, but for liability purposes if something bad happens and the drone wasn't adhering to the rules set for everyone else, I'd expect a jury would inclined to hold the drone operator responsible.

 

[photoguy]

If it hits an aircraft, or causes an aircraft to have to avoid flight (re: the recent case where a helicopter medevac flight couldn't transport an injured person because a guy was operating his drone in the area), I would think the liability would be virtually unlimited if the drone was operating outside the rules presently established for model aircraft.

Yeah that doesn't sound good to me. Actually I didn't even consider interference with other aircraft but I was more worried about them falling out of the sky and hitting something. I remember reading a news story where some photographer lost control of their drone at a running event and it hit a participant (she needed stitches). If a camera fell off at altitude I think it could easily kill someone.

I saw a crazy video where someone flew their drone through a fireworks display. I imagine that even if a firework hit the drone on the way up, it probably wouldn't have deflected into a bad spot unless the drone was really low. But you never know.