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FAA- "Report all commercial activity conducted by non-Part 107 licensees to the local FAA FSDO"...

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I attended an FAA safety seminar at Tampa International last week. It was a good presentation, hosted by the Tampa International Airport Manager, and presented by two FAA personnel. By show of hands of the nearly fifty attendees present, almost half were general aviation pilots, and an easy three-quarters were Part 107 UAS "Remote Pilot" license holders. After their ninety minute program, a question-nd-answer session ensued. I asked the following;

"As the majority in the room are Part 107 licensees who have significant business investments in the thousand-dollar annual liability policies, and some who have tens-of-thousands invested in UAS airframes, cameras and sensors, what is the FAA prepared to do to protect those of us who legitimately conduct business in an educated, safe way, compliant with FAA licensing regulations, from unlicensed operators?"

Their answer?

"Report all commercial activity conducted by non-Part 107 licensees to the local FAA FSDO Office. We have people that HAVE to investigate every report. If you make a report, we will investigate it."

My follow-up question;

"What are potential outcomes?"

Their reply;

"There are civil penalties and fines that could be administered to offending individuals."

I for one, I intend to report ALL activity in my area with great determination.

If you witness unfair, non-Part 107 operators performing commercial services, I urge Part 107 license holders to make a report in order to protect the right to offer UAS services professionally, preserve our investments, and help enforce safe operation throughout the industry.
 
@Brahma
We have the FAA Orlando Flight Standards District Office here in Orlando I visited them and had similar questions. There response was a bit different in which I think your guys omitted.
You have to prove the operator violating the rules was the pilot, In other words you better have video or pictures proving your case. This was directly quote from the FAA Aviation Safety Inspector.
 
@Brahma
We have the FAA Orlando Flight Standards District Office here in Orlando I visited them and had similar questions. There response was a bit different in which I think your guys omitted.
You have to prove the operator violating the rules was the pilot, In other words you better have video or pictures proving your case. This was directly quote from the FAA Aviation Safety Inspector.

The context of the question was to report infractions if you have factual knowledge. I don't think anyone wants to report anything that isn't factually correct. It doesn't mean we become detectives- it's the FAA's requirement, and they have to enforce it. They have to investigate every report.

Again, a standard needs to be promoted that every customer require licenses and certificates of insurance. Respectable and careful clients already do.
 
It's difficult for me to believe they will actually follow through with any meaningful enforcement. They have yet to enforce safety violations. They simply do not have the staffing required to investigate UAS violators. If you find differently please let us know.
 
I know that in the U.K. the CAA doesn't actively follow up any violations (that I'm aware of)...leaving it to the police to enforce. The problem there, then, is that since the police have been suffering cut-backs over recent years, the police are having to tackle crime in all it's forms using a diminished number of officers on the ground. So, yes, while the police are supposed to investigate all crimes reported to them, in practice some crimes are prioritized over others...drone related matters not directly involving public safety, then, would be a low priority often resulting in a complainant just been given an incident number with little chance of a follow up.

An example. A member of the public has just seen you fly your aircraft to well within 50m of a building without permission so he reports it to the police. It is very likely that you will have packed up and gone home well before any police officer arrives...if he arrives at all. In the U.K. you have to be flying very stupidly and be quite unlucky to get nabbed...unless you plaster your bad flying all over YouTube:rolleyes:

This goes for hobby flyers doing paid work. The CAA doesn't actively enforce that aspect of the law leaving it to the police. In this regard, the police couldn't really care less, their priority being knife crime and such. So the hobby fliers get away with it. I can say that I honestly know of not one hobby flyer doing paid jobs that has been caught doing it. The problem is writhe in the U.K.
 
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The context of the question was to report infractions if you have factual knowledge. I don't think anyone wants to report anything that isn't factually correct. It doesn't mean we become detectives- it's the FAA's requirement, and they have to enforce it. They have to investigate every report.

Again, a standard needs to be promoted that every customer require licenses and certificates of insurance. Respectable and careful clients already do.
It was also mentioned that any reporting of such issues "those who are not 107 certified and performing business for profit, this would be at the bottom of their Follow Up List"
Would I like something done about this? Yes, but the man power isn't there so I don't expect to file grievances and waist their time.
 

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