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Drones Prohibited!

Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
55
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Age
79
Location
West melbourne, Florida
While ending my first flight yesterday at Sebastian Inlet SP, Florida, a park ranger pulls up alongside me and tells me due to a new directive "No drones can takeoff or land within the park." The rules handed out at the Ranger Station made no mention of this but I complied, stopped flying, and, btw, also had my entrance fee refunded.
If the drone industry doesn't lobby harder I'm afraid there aren't going to be many places ( interesting ) to fly.
 
I would write them and ask for a written clarification stating the time of implementation etc. I have run into government officials with far better pay scale not being able to back up their claims or assertions. I could understand if one was harassing wildlife but not while trying to get a nice shot of the sun rising or a far off shot of someone trying a rocket launch.
 
Ahh... I wish I had deep pockets. All these parks that say " you can't fly here because it's distraction to visitors and stresses wildlife!" I would rent a full size helicopter and fly extremely low and slow (within extent of the law of course) and then tell the ranger "I could be less intrusive with my 4 lb drone... How do u like me now?!"
 
So I called Florida SP Commission and the reg was read to me. They have since clarified it further to make sure the "Bad Boys " won't fly their drones. When I mentioned that I could fly over after taking off outside the park the park employee said, "You can't do that!" My reply of course was, "You don't own the airspace." She then requested I don't do that.
 
Soon, the only place we will be able to fly, is in the garage :(

Luckily enough for me, I'm Canadian, and we don't (yet) have all the "Can't Fly Here" policies like the good ol' US of A. So worried about flying cameras, but let every single lunatic have a gun. I don't think your government has their priorities straight.
 
Soon, the only place we will be able to fly, is in the garage :(

Luckily enough for me, I'm Canadian, and we don't (yet) have all the "Can't Fly Here" policies like the good ol' US of A. So worried about flying cameras, but let every single lunatic have a gun. I don't think your government has their priorities straight.
Now I know where I'm going for summer vacation!
 
Now I know where I'm going for summer vacation!
You're US dollars are more than welcome in our floundering Loonie country. Our poor dollar has taken a licking. 10 days ago $100USD would cost me $150CAD!! Your dollar goes a long way in Canada right now. If your buying online, find a canadian supplier that ships to US.
 
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While ending my first flight yesterday at Sebastian Inlet SP, Florida, a park ranger pulls up alongside me and tells me due to a new directive "No drones can takeoff or land within the park." The rules handed out at the Ranger Station made no mention of this but I complied, stopped flying, and, btw, also had my entrance fee refunded.
If the drone industry doesn't lobby harder I'm afraid there aren't going to be many places ( interesting ) to fly.
I took my drones on the Oasis of the Seas, and they wont let me have my drones once I got off the boat, they said Haiti LOL was a no fly zone. why do they have the authority to confiscate my property. I understand the ship but not while I am on land.
 
I took my drones on the Oasis of the Seas, and they wont let me have my drones once I got off the boat, they said Haiti LOL was a no fly zone. why do they have the authority to confiscate my property. I understand the ship but not while I am on land.
Did they actually confiscate the drone when you walked off the ship on to Labadee?
 
While ending my first flight yesterday at Sebastian Inlet SP, Florida, a park ranger pulls up alongside me and tells me due to a new directive "No drones can takeoff or land within the park." The rules handed out at the Ranger Station made no mention of this but I complied, stopped flying, and, btw, also had my entrance fee refunded.
If the drone industry doesn't lobby harder I'm afraid there aren't going to be many places ( interesting ) to fly.
Here is my vid from the flight. A couple more flights from different parts of the Park would have helped.
 
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Did they actually confiscate the drone when you walked off the ship on to Labadee?
no they never let me bring them on the boat. I told them what I had and they took them initially telling me I can get them at port, but at port they said no. a rep came out with a local employee and said he was sorry but I cant have them and he understood because he was also a drone flyer. I said I didn't understand where does he fly his drone? then he back tracked and said I just cant fly a drone somewhere. WHAT?????? I wanted to have a nice vacation anyway but how can they just take a piece of property? Jamaica same thing
 
Try reading the requirements for Dominican Republic.... So much for for droning on my holidays.....
 
so the people of the Dominican cant fly a quad copter, lol That cant be true????
Just ship it to your destination. pick it up off the boat. seems more of a cruise policy than a country policy.
 
I was referring to traveling with it to the DR. Their FAA policies are even more stringent for registering a drone and its size/weight limits. And if I understand their paperwork correctly, you have to answer a test on Spanish plus have general Spanish speaking skills.
 
While ending my first flight yesterday at Sebastian Inlet SP, Florida, a park ranger pulls up alongside me and tells me due to a new directive "No drones can takeoff or land within the park." The rules handed out at the Ranger Station made no mention of this but I complied, stopped flying, and, btw, also had my entrance fee refunded.
If the drone industry doesn't lobby harder I'm afraid there aren't going to be many places ( interesting ) to fly.

About 6 months ago the national parks service decided that they would have an "interim no fly policy " in all national parks "until they sort this thing out". Apparently because of 3 separate incidents , 1 in the Grand canyon, 1 at Mt Rushmore and I forget the 3rd. but there were no injuries and all 3 came down to tourists being annoyed by drone operators ( we do need to be considerate when we fly). Just before Christmas the news stations were all over the "drone" story and hyped the living [EXPLETIVE REMOVED] out it! Shortly after that, here in southern Arizona the Pima county parks service decided there will be no drones flown in any Pima county park. City of Tucson, at least in some parks have signs that say things like "No model airplanes allowed, Tucson code sect. 21-3 (7) (3)" It turns out that this is a blanket rule they can apply to anything the decide they don't want in their park. Many city and state governments are already creating new drone laws as we speak. These laws will be tested, the FAA ultimately has jurisdiction over all airspace. However, it doesnt change the fact the we are quickly running out places to fly.

I have done a lot of research and have found (at least for now) that we cant fly in national parks, and some state and city parks, (check your local laws). We can fly over our property Unless we live within 5 miles of an airport or 2 miles from a heliport ( if it has no tower and/or no published flight plan) ie: a hospital heliport etc. You can fly on private property with owners permission, you must respect peoples right to privacy ( although this is a huge grey area all in itself). You can fly on National Forest service land but not on wilderness areas which are most often located inside national forest service land. So do you research and carry current maps. Also keep in mind that you can fly over national parks and wilderness areas but you cannot take off, land or control from within those areas, and if you crash inside , hopefully can get your bird out before you get caught.

1 more thing, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR's) issued by the FAA for special events like Nascar races , MLB games NFL games etc. apply as well any carry jail time and huge fines if caught, so dont even think about it. I believe they cover a 5 mile radius. But i have no doubt that we will see some dumbass who didnt get the memo, fly over this weekends Superbowl ( i hope I am wrong on this , but I just have a bad feeling).

Oh yes, are you allowed to knock a drone out of the air, even if they are looking directly through your windows? The answer is NO, The FAA sees a UAV the same as any other manned aircraft. You can call the police but you cannot shoot, throw rocks or hit it with any object as it becomes a safety issue, we don't know where that drone will end up. That carries a upto a 25 year prison sentence and or 250,000.00 fine! Now, can you grab it, switch it off and remove it safely from the airspace? Not sure, but that is what i will do if i catch a drone spying on me.

Fortunately the drone industry is huge and growing everyday, we are starting to organize and because congress is corrupt, it's just a matter of time before the right pockets are lined and laws are created in our favor. We have the best government money can buy!

It Is Time We All Get Involved!!!!
 
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I have been hearing on the idiot box on several different news channels that there is a 30 mile ban on drone use for the Super bowl.
Hopefully someone will challenge the FAAs ruling without public comment period and get some common sense about some normal use of them. Photography is a big hobby and the almost banning of use of UAVs by making the prohibitive by making their use very expensive. There is far easier ways to deliver mass harm.
 
Oh yes, are you allowed to knock a drone out of the air, even if they are looking directly through your windows? The answer is NO, The FAA sees a UAV the same as any other manned aircraft. You can call the police but you cannot shoot, throw rocks or hit it with any object as it becomes a safety issue, we don't know where that drone will end up. That carries a upto a 25 year prison sentence and or 250,000.00 fine! Now, can you grab it, switch it off and remove it safely from the airspace? Not sure, but that is what i will do if i catch a drone spying on me.

I agree with you completely... too bad this Kentucky judge didn't have enough wits about her to convict this whack job. Now he is a 'hero' of sorts know as "The Drone Slayer". Talk about a miscarriage of justice - Judge Dismisses Case Against ‘Drone Slayer’ Who Shot Down Drone From Back Porch
 
I agree with you completely... too bad this Kentucky judge didn't have enough wits about her to convict this whack job. Now he is a 'hero' of sorts know as "The Drone Slayer". Talk about a miscarriage of justice - Judge Dismisses Case Against ‘Drone Slayer’ Who Shot Down Drone From Back Porch

this is a case we the drone owner should have tried to get the FAA involved, the law is very clear in regards to downing an aircraft. And from what i understand, regardless of local law, the FAA has jurisdiction over all airspace.

I also find it interesting that to date, there have been zero collisions with manned aircraft and zero deaths cause by civilian UAVs in U.S. airspace, yet we have to register our UAV's in all 50 states, but our guns in only 6 (yet over 30,000 gun related deaths last year alone)? And the registration does nothing in respect to education and creating safer drone pilots (or gun owners for that matter). I am not opposed to having to go thru a course, learn the laws and proper techniques and be certified as a UAV pilot. In fact most of us would prefer it, but even talk about registering your gun and that crowd goes apeshit!

What the **** ever happened to common sense?
 

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