Phoenix, AZ—Today numerous news organizations have filed a
legal brief in the matter of the FAA vs. Pirker. Pirker was fined for making a video for the
University of Virginia using a small camera drone. A federal judge in Denver struck down the
FAA’s ban and now the matter is under appeal.
There may be a risk to commercial drone use should the FAA win their
appeal.
The news organizations are properly claiming a 1st Amendment right to use the drones for news gathering purposes.
The FAA banned all commercial use of drones by
civilians. They did not however attempt
to ban drones being used by hobbyists.
The FAA says they will issue regulations for the drones later this year.
The Drone Genie is long out of the bottle and now these are
must have toys for every teen aged boy in America. The drones are invisible on radar and the FAA
can’t possibly begin to police every drone in America.
I will concede that the FAA owns the air space around every
airport. The same could be said for the
airspace above 400 feet where conventional aircraft flies. However everything else below 400 feet is mine
along with other drone operators.
There are already strong laws in every state dealing with
privacy invasion, harassment and endangerment.
Anyone breaking those existing laws will well-deserve a date before a
criminal and possibly civil court judge for that kind of misconduct. In case you were wondering you don’t have an
expectation of privacy when you skinny-dip in your back yard pool if it can be
seen by air.
I’m using my drone for newsgathering, investigations as well
as for improving my drone piloting skills and for simple enjoyment of its hobby
aspects. I will take my chances with the FAA especially when they are
unreasonable, arbitrary or tyrannical.
My clients deserve clear video and still images at a fraction of the
cost of hiring conventional aircraft photographers.
The FAA claims to be concerned with safety in the nation’s
air space. If that’s true they need to
remember not a single life has been lost as a result of the use of a drone by
civilians. Conventional aircraft or
large heavy drones may well need FAA attention not the lightweight plastic drones
like mine.
Here are three examples of my drone videos:
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