FAA fines

[bigone5500]

What's your take on this article? FAA being bullies? YouTuber irresponsible? Both? I personally don't know what to think but be sure what you post online doesn't break any laws.

FAA fines Philadelphia drone pilot and Youtuber $184,500

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has fined drone pilot Mikey from Philadelphia, better known as Youtube comedian PhillydroneLife, for $184,500 $182,004 in proposed civil penalties for the drone videos he live-streamed to Youtube. Yes, you read that correctly, $182,004 in fines. Update...

dronexl.co

 

[D.O.G.]

I have no idea what to think any more. They say a quad is a drone, a drone is a quad. So will I be fined for flying my quad even though I get permission? Will the person that gave me permission will they be fined? It's all about big brother making money...I guess. The problem is that theirs induvial out there that ruin it for other for not having ANY common sense. For the ones that do have common sense...we must suffer because other people stupidly. I see it a lot now a days and it's sad.

 

[RandyDSok]

It's my understanding that all federal lands such as parks and national forests as examples, flying is prohibited without prior written authorization... It's the local city and state rules that become a little less clear since they can vary from location to location.

The other issue I see commonly is the question of when does a flight become a commercial one that requires you pass tests in order to be licensed for that. The example would be like those of Youtuber's and other streamers that also include flights in their video's yet really don't get enough compensation by the ads on their video's to be called an actual wage. I'd still classify many of these as hobbyists or non professional video artists and not a fully commercial entity. At what point does a hobby become a commercial entity.

Tony has already mentioned several times that the weight limits of what is a toy and what is a hobby aircraft are unreasonable. There are certainly toys out there that exceed the weight limits and it seems, typical of a bureaucracy agency, that these weren't very well thought out. In other words, once again people that have no clue on what they are making rules for... make them despite their ignorance of the subject they are ruling on.

The FAA is a large agency created to address large commercial and private aircraft. They have a lot of experience in those areas but little in the area of the hobby itself. While I'm sure there are many FAA employees that do also fly RC aircraft, those aren't the ones that decided on what rules were needed or required. They should have created a section just for the RC hobby and put in people that actually have experience before deciding on any rules they needed to implement.

 

[Fly-n-Low]

Um... Welcome to the FAA. It is their way, or the highway. 300' limit I abide by. I took a practice FAA commercial drone test, and it is close to the test for private pilots. I missed one question too many and failed.... and it has been a WHILE since I was in ground school when I was learning to fly! SO it should be pretty easy to pass with some reading. I have two drones I am going to use. Looking at infrared cameras to help with law enforcement, search and rescue.

 

[Heliman450]

Hi all,

My understanding is that come New Year, we're going to come under the EU rules so I'm going to do some more checking up on how they changed since earlier this year when I was reading what was to come. My flying club is anyway very strict with the helicopter and drone pilots and we're limited to only 60m altitude even though the others have no altitude limit imposed due to the proximity of the airports

 

[bigone5500]

I'm going to continue as before. I fly at my house and other places where I have permission. The US gummament already gets enough of my money.

 

[Heliman450]

Hi Jared, here in Switzerland we were never able to simply fly at home or without the landowners permission, so joining my local model flying club was the only option. I doubt that the new rules will affect us very much but the flying weight of the machine and its registration is something I need to check up on as I have 5 models that are in excess of the 250 grams limit that I hear is the new limit before registration is needed. I don't have a problem with it as I have no intention to break the rules.

 

[Admiral]

In Australia we have no changes come the new year, I think the biggest thing for us is they separated the more traditional model aircraft from Drones, Multi copters as well as separating Drones under 250 grams, the rules with Max altitude and private property etc still apply to all unmanned aircraft, including Model Aircraft but as long as we fly LOS line of sight and don't exceed 400' (without a permit) we are pretty well left alone.

Drone Rules are pretty simple and widely publicised and beaches are prosecuted, FPV is also allowed and pretty well covered. It all appears to be working OK so my feeling is "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

We are also seeing the use of Commercial drones beginning, I received a pamphlet the other day saying that in the near future we will be able to get food and other deliveries from participating retailers in our area.

Drone rules

Australia’s recreational drone rules are designed to keep you and others safe, on the ground and in the air. Here are the rules you need to know now, before you take-off.

www.casa.gov.au

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