6 ms·

Wow, just wow. Continuing to post youtube videos of your unlicensed drone flying in controlled airspace after already receiving two written warnings from the FA

by WJW 6y ago

Wow, just wow. Continuing to post youtube videos of your unlicensed drone flying in controlled airspace after already receiving two written warnings from the FAA is pretty stupid. Also this gem: "These clips also revealed flight in hazardous conditions including heavy rain, fog, snow, and close proximity to buildings in downtown Philadelphia. There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone." That goes way beyong "innocent experimentation with your new drone" and into "deliberately endangering people and property", especially if you've been warned about it twice already. Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going.

rualca 6y ago
> Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going. The idiot's most viewed video has about 33k views. I'm not sure that's enough to cover $200k in fines.
- gameswithgo 6y ago
  not even close!
  - knodi 6y ago
    Good
- scoot 6y ago
  The videos don’t appear to be monetized, which is just as well, since that would be another violation - unlicensed commercial drone flight.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license, but not for real estate, pipeline, etc. This is more of a concern, and likely heavily violated: "You must fly in Class G airspace. If you need to fly in Class B, C, D or E controlled airspace, you need to apply for airspace authorization." https://www.dronepilotgroundschool.com/drone-license/ https://www.dronepilotgroundschool.com/drone-license/ Most US cities would be Class B/C to the ground near a large airport, and Class D/E would be common for smaller cities.
    - scoot 6y ago
      > You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license It's a grey area I agree; but if you're filming your flights with the intention of putting the videos on YouTube and monetizing them, that's arguably commercial use.
      - aeternum 6y ago
        It is a grey area, but if the FAA goes after drone pilots for this, then they should also go after the many student and private pilots who monetize their training and flight videos.
        danaliv 6y ago
        Fair warning to anyone thinking of taking advantage of this gray area: the FAA is very, very strict when it comes to interpreting whether something is a commercial op. Pilots, for example, are considered to be getting compensation when they log flight hours, even if no money changes hands. (If this sounds ridiculous, you’ve never had to build 1500 hours. Every tenth is solid gold.)
        redis_mlc 6y ago
        > Pilots, for example, are considered to be getting compensation when they log flight hours, even if no money changes hands. The above comment is so vague that I won't even comment on it. Depending on the details, it could be either correct or not. 1) For example, if I fly an airplane, I can take real estate photos that I sell myself as a private pilot. That's how many new pilots funded further training back in the day. There are several other business activities that private pilots are allowed to do. 2) Most pilots log all hours flown, without concern for whether being paid or not. (The only required logged hours are to meet various currency requirements, but I've never seen anybody do minimal logging.) So when interpreting FAA drone rules, I would carefully read them with the understanding of how airplane and airspace rules reply, hence my original post above. If you don't know why and how the FARS were written, then you're probably wrong, as most of the posts above appear to be uninformed. The most important thing to know about FARS is that they're intended to separate traffic. So if your drone is in an airspace where other aircraft are flying, you likely have a violation. If you recall a couple years ago, drone pilots griped about 400' or 500' AGL max. Well, look at a sectional chart to see why. If you can't read a sectional chart, you shouldn't be flying drones near a city or airport.
  - Mirioron 6y ago
    >unlicensed commercial drone flight. That's incredible. Why does this specifically need a license? How is this going to be any different to just flying as a hobby?
    - danaliv 6y ago
      Restrictions on commercial flight are there to protect the public from getting involved with unsafe operators. It’s to ensure that people obtaining flight services are getting a safe product.
    - moistly 6y ago
      Well for start, the money. Which introduces all sorts of legal liability issues, aside from regulations concerning profiteering from use of public spaces.
JKCalhoun 6y ago
"There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone." I wish there were an exception for this. Likely the drone had programmed waypoints and was in an autonomous mode. I remember hearing about attempts (back in the 80's?) to send a self-piloting model airplane across the Atlantic. I believe they finally succeeded? Fascinating to me. Utterly illegal I suppose. But weather balloons get pass? I know amateurs launch balloons as well — perhaps there are restrictions however (like not near an airport, etc.). Just some random thoughts. EDIT, found a successful crossing in 2003, I thought there was an earlier one — perhaps only earlier failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Butts%27_Farm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Butts%27_Farm https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/model-plane-flies-atlantic https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/model-plane-f...
- koluna 6y ago
  > But weather balloons get pass? Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it. It’s not like this “pilot” didn’t know what he was doing - he received written warnings and chose to ignore those.
  - ProAm 6y ago
    > Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it. This is not true, as for certain weights of payloads are regulated, all these 'near-space' hobbyist balloons do not need to notify the FAA about anything. It's common courtesy to let them know you are going to send something up to 120,000' but not required.
    - reaperducer 6y ago
      Pointing out an exception does not make the previous comment false.
    - danaliv 6y ago
      Are you sure? I looked into this extensively a few years ago, and while I don’t remember well enough to say with certainty, I recall there being strict equipment requirements (e.g. redundant payload releases) and a requirement to notify any ATC sectors your balloon will pass through.

by WJW 6y ago

rualca 6y ago

> Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going. The idiot's most viewed video has about 33k views. I'm not sure that's enough to cover $200k in fines.

gameswithgo 6y ago
not even close!
- knodi 6y ago
  Good
scoot 6y ago
The videos don’t appear to be monetized, which is just as well, since that would be another violation - unlicensed commercial drone flight.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license, but not for real estate, pipeline, etc. This is more of a concern, and likely heavily violated: "You must fly in Class G airspace. If you need to fly in Class B, C, D or E controlled airspace, you need to apply for airspace authorization." https://www.dronepilotgroundschool.com/drone-license/ https://www.dronepilotgroundschool.com/drone-license/ Most US cities would be Class B/C to the ground near a large airport, and Class D/E would be common for smaller cities.
  - scoot 6y ago
    > You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license It's a grey area I agree; but if you're filming your flights with the intention of putting the videos on YouTube and monetizing them, that's arguably commercial use.
    - aeternum 6y ago
      It is a grey area, but if the FAA goes after drone pilots for this, then they should also go after the many student and private pilots who monetize their training and flight videos.
      - danaliv 6y ago
        Fair warning to anyone thinking of taking advantage of this gray area: the FAA is very, very strict when it comes to interpreting whether something is a commercial op. Pilots, for example, are considered to be getting compensation when they log flight hours, even if no money changes hands. (If this sounds ridiculous, you’ve never had to build 1500 hours. Every tenth is solid gold.)
        redis_mlc 6y ago
        > Pilots, for example, are considered to be getting compensation when they log flight hours, even if no money changes hands. The above comment is so vague that I won't even comment on it. Depending on the details, it could be either correct or not. 1) For example, if I fly an airplane, I can take real estate photos that I sell myself as a private pilot. That's how many new pilots funded further training back in the day. There are several other business activities that private pilots are allowed to do. 2) Most pilots log all hours flown, without concern for whether being paid or not. (The only required logged hours are to meet various currency requirements, but I've never seen anybody do minimal logging.) So when interpreting FAA drone rules, I would carefully read them with the understanding of how airplane and airspace rules reply, hence my original post above. If you don't know why and how the FARS were written, then you're probably wrong, as most of the posts above appear to be uninformed. The most important thing to know about FARS is that they're intended to separate traffic. So if your drone is in an airspace where other aircraft are flying, you likely have a violation. If you recall a couple years ago, drone pilots griped about 400' or 500' AGL max. Well, look at a sectional chart to see why. If you can't read a sectional chart, you shouldn't be flying drones near a city or airport.
- Mirioron 6y ago
  >unlicensed commercial drone flight. That's incredible. Why does this specifically need a license? How is this going to be any different to just flying as a hobby?
  - danaliv 6y ago
    Restrictions on commercial flight are there to protect the public from getting involved with unsafe operators. It’s to ensure that people obtaining flight services are getting a safe product.
  - moistly 6y ago
    Well for start, the money. Which introduces all sorts of legal liability issues, aside from regulations concerning profiteering from use of public spaces.

JKCalhoun 6y ago

"There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone." I wish there were an exception for this. Likely the drone had programmed waypoints and was in an autonomous mode. I remember hearing about attempts (back in the 80's?) to send a self-piloting model airplane across the Atlantic. I believe they finally succeeded? Fascinating to me. Utterly illegal I suppose. But weather balloons get pass? I know amateurs launch balloons as well — perhaps there are restrictions however (like not near an airport, etc.). Just some random thoughts. EDIT, found a successful crossing in 2003, I thought there was an earlier one — perhaps only earlier failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Butts%27_Farm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Butts%27_Farm https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/model-plane-flies-atlantic https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/model-plane-f...

koluna 6y ago
> But weather balloons get pass? Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it. It’s not like this “pilot” didn’t know what he was doing - he received written warnings and chose to ignore those.
- ProAm 6y ago
  > Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it. This is not true, as for certain weights of payloads are regulated, all these 'near-space' hobbyist balloons do not need to notify the FAA about anything. It's common courtesy to let them know you are going to send something up to 120,000' but not required.
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    Pointing out an exception does not make the previous comment false.
  - danaliv 6y ago
    Are you sure? I looked into this extensively a few years ago, and while I don’t remember well enough to say with certainty, I recall there being strict equipment requirements (e.g. redundant payload releases) and a requirement to notify any ATC sectors your balloon will pass through.