3 ms·

I can't speak for the US, but in the UK it is illegal for a pilot of a manned aircraft to overfly a crowd below the height above which gliding clear is possible

by rlpb 10y ago

I can't speak for the US, but in the UK it is illegal for a pilot of a manned aircraft to overfly a crowd below the height above which gliding clear is possible after an engine failure. In any case, the pilot needs a license to fly the aircraft at all, and getting one needs extensive training and demonstration of competence. Helicopters are "aircraft". Exceptions exist for medevac and police. This rule comes from a consideration of crowd safety. I'm not suggesting that exactly the same rigor must be applied so drones. After all they're smaller and likely to kill far fewer people after an accident involving a crowd. However, I think 30 days is entirely appropriate for someone who was reckless with people's lives under the circumstances. This assumes he was reckless; the article doesn't say if the court decided that.

pc86 10y ago
Flight student here - the US is 500' above "non-congested areas" and 1000' above "congested areas," however neither are strictly defined. As my instructor put it, "if you could land on someone's head, consider it congested." The except is air shows, where there is no minimum, and some special use areas such as Military Operations Areas. If you're operating a drone for commercial purposes you need a Private Pilot's License and UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) certificate. This guy owns an aerial photography company but it's not clear if the drone use was hobbyist in nature or if he was getting footage of the event for commercial purposes. Regardless, if he's found criminally liable due to how he operated the drone, it's almost a certainty that the FAA will be coming after every license he has.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> This assumes he was reckless; the article doesn't say if the court decided that. The first sentence of the article says exactly that: "A man who was found guilty of reckless endangerment after his drone injured two people during Seattle’s 2015 Pride Parade, including a woman knocked unconscious, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail."

by rlpb 10y ago

pc86 10y ago

Flight student here - the US is 500' above "non-congested areas" and 1000' above "congested areas," however neither are strictly defined. As my instructor put it, "if you could land on someone's head, consider it congested." The except is air shows, where there is no minimum, and some special use areas such as Military Operations Areas. If you're operating a drone for commercial purposes you need a Private Pilot's License and UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) certificate. This guy owns an aerial photography company but it's not clear if the drone use was hobbyist in nature or if he was getting footage of the event for commercial purposes. Regardless, if he's found criminally liable due to how he operated the drone, it's almost a certainty that the FAA will be coming after every license he has.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> This assumes he was reckless; the article doesn't say if the court decided that. The first sentence of the article says exactly that: "A man who was found guilty of reckless endangerment after his drone injured two people during Seattle’s 2015 Pride Parade, including a woman knocked unconscious, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail."