Town of Paradise Valley, AZ —Some of this small but wealthy community’s politicians bought into the baseless idea that multi-rotor camera drones were a threat to safety and privacy.   Ignorance and the novelty of the drones themselves motivated politicians here to make an effort to ban drones. They thought that their residents would somehow appreciate their efforts. Things backfired when local relators complained that the use of drones showcased the homes and community like never before.   Banning or over-regulating them could damage property values and of course property tax collections. The Town Council considered the ban but cooler heads in that body tabled the idea at least until they had more valid guidance and information.   How they revisit this issue remains to be seen. As for the somewhat popular Drone Invasion, there were no less than 700 reports of near misses with conventional aircraf t investigated by the FAA . Not a s...

Los Angeles, CA —Officials here recently claimed that drone operators endangered lives by halting firefighting efforts.  Angry local politicians vowed prosecution and new legislation to remedy this “huge and life threatening ” problem. Photographic evidence supporting those reports is non-existent .  You’d think the crew members presumably are all armed with smart phones would have captured images to help identify the drones to assist investigators.  There are no pictures because this never happened!  Needless to say there are no captured drones either. As for those helicopter pilots making these reports they seem to forget that their massive propeller’s, prop wash would simply blow any little cameras drones away from their aircraft into oblivion.  A near miss happened? Really?  The high cost of these camera drones makes their owners very protective of their investments.  If they are reckless and crash them, all the the fun is over. According...