My neighbors had a wedding in their front yard a few weeks ago. The photography of it included a dramatic drone scene where the drone took off from the couple a

My neighbors had a wedding in their front yard a few weeks ago. The photography of it included a dramatic drone scene where the drone took off from the couple and flew away at tree top level (about 60-80 ft). We live within 5 miles (as the crow flies) of a major international airport. Did they have an airspace authorization? I have absolutely no idea. Did they know they needed one? Probably not. Was there risk of any in-flight aircraft incidents? Not really, unless somebody was flying in the canopy of our local trees over a bunch of houses. To be honest the rules are confusing. For example, some cities have an absolute no-fly zone in and around the city. The rules then say you are free to fly (with certain restrictions) outside of that zone. But in major metros, the restricted zone is usually so large that it merges with other no-drone-fly zones (like the ones near other airports, air force bases and the like) making the entire metro practically a no-fly zone. We're talking about areas that are maybe more than a 1000 sq mi. In the pockets you can fly in, you usually need pre-authorization and have restrictions. At some point drones need to know where they can fly/can't fly (and simply report an error), automate the flight authorization and authorization envelope and just simply license pilots as well. Considering somebody with no training at all can buy a drone out of the local Best Buy, and probably can't read a pilot's navigation chart to understand what an airspace is, and probably doesn't know the regulations at all (or that there are any really), it's probably time.