5 ms·

This is great news. About a month ago a scofflaw drone pilot wiped out an entire generation of elegant terns: https://news.yahoo.com/generation-seabirds-wiped-d

This is great news. About a month ago a scofflaw drone pilot wiped out an entire generation of elegant terns: https://news.yahoo.com/generation-seabirds-wiped-drone-o-110013203.html https://news.yahoo.com/generation-seabirds-wiped-drone-o-110... More training and harsher penalties need to be proportional to the amount of damage recreational flyers can do.

airhead969 5y ago
That sounds terrible, but "more education" won't, and never will, change attitudes or behavior. Psychopaths will always do what they want. Going Big Mother on a particular sport for the actions of a few independent persons doesn't address anything other than destroy that sport. Wishful thinking does nothing.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  Psychopaths will not do bad things, if they fear real consequences. The course is very simple but basically a reminder of the rules. Now potential violaters are more aware of it. Combine that with real consequences - and the number of idiots flying close to airports or peoples bedrooms will get lower.
- cecilpl2 5y ago
  Education is aimed at people who are well-intentioned but unaware, which is a vastly larger population than those who are intentionally causing harm. How will requiring people to take a 30 minute class "destroy the sport"?
  - handrous 5y ago
    Really, this seems like an effort to save "the sport". If a few people keep doing enough damage with these things, or generally behaving like jackasses, they're gonna receive a lot more regulation than just requiring a brief class, guaranteed.
- briandear 5y ago
  Most drone “pilots” aren’t psychopaths. They just might not realize the hazards of flying their drone without airspace awareness.
Robotbeat 5y ago
Is there a reason that someone couldn’t do the same damage just running around among the terns’ nests?
- airhead969 5y ago
  Stop that. It's illegal thinking against loyalty to the agenda. Also, this exposes that we will need to regulate, educate, license, and certify wearers of trainers so that they can't be used in a way we don't like. No running!
- groby_b 5y ago
  It's significantly more work to run around the nest, and it requires more intentionality than piloting a drone and being stupid about it. There's also usually signage warning you to not do the running-through-the-nest thing. For obvious reasons, we can't hang warning signs in the air. I have my doubts that a license will prevent people from doing stupid things, but that is (at least part of) the reasoning for having a license - so the government can say "told you so". It's on par with immigration forms asking you if you're planning to be a terrorist. It's a useless question, but it establishes a paper trail that somebody has told you not to do that. It's like rooted in Lambert v. California, which stated that you can't convict a person of violating a law if there was no probability they could've know the law existed. A question, or a sign, or a license establishes that there is a probability.
  - saint_abroad 5y ago
    > There's also usually signage warning you to not do the running-through-the-nest thing. "No drones, no dogs, and no bikes. Those are the posted rules in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach." https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/after-thousands-of-tern-eggs-are-abandoned-bolsa-chica-looks-to-educate-on-dangers-of-drone-activity https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/after-thousands-o... Indeed, licences won't stop stupidity but they do help establish penalties.
    - sleepybrett 5y ago
sleepybrett 5y ago
I'm not sure how this changes that. The fact is that pilot was already flying in an area where it was not allowed and already in violation of current law. You can't really legislate your way out of this.

airhead969 5y ago

That sounds terrible, but "more education" won't, and never will, change attitudes or behavior. Psychopaths will always do what they want. Going Big Mother on a particular sport for the actions of a few independent persons doesn't address anything other than destroy that sport. Wishful thinking does nothing.

hutzlibu 5y ago
Psychopaths will not do bad things, if they fear real consequences. The course is very simple but basically a reminder of the rules. Now potential violaters are more aware of it. Combine that with real consequences - and the number of idiots flying close to airports or peoples bedrooms will get lower.
cecilpl2 5y ago
Education is aimed at people who are well-intentioned but unaware, which is a vastly larger population than those who are intentionally causing harm. How will requiring people to take a 30 minute class "destroy the sport"?
- handrous 5y ago
  Really, this seems like an effort to save "the sport". If a few people keep doing enough damage with these things, or generally behaving like jackasses, they're gonna receive a lot more regulation than just requiring a brief class, guaranteed.
briandear 5y ago
Most drone “pilots” aren’t psychopaths. They just might not realize the hazards of flying their drone without airspace awareness.

Robotbeat 5y ago

Is there a reason that someone couldn’t do the same damage just running around among the terns’ nests?

airhead969 5y ago
Stop that. It's illegal thinking against loyalty to the agenda. Also, this exposes that we will need to regulate, educate, license, and certify wearers of trainers so that they can't be used in a way we don't like. No running!
groby_b 5y ago
It's significantly more work to run around the nest, and it requires more intentionality than piloting a drone and being stupid about it. There's also usually signage warning you to not do the running-through-the-nest thing. For obvious reasons, we can't hang warning signs in the air. I have my doubts that a license will prevent people from doing stupid things, but that is (at least part of) the reasoning for having a license - so the government can say "told you so". It's on par with immigration forms asking you if you're planning to be a terrorist. It's a useless question, but it establishes a paper trail that somebody has told you not to do that. It's like rooted in Lambert v. California, which stated that you can't convict a person of violating a law if there was no probability they could've know the law existed. A question, or a sign, or a license establishes that there is a probability.
- saint_abroad 5y ago
  > There's also usually signage warning you to not do the running-through-the-nest thing. "No drones, no dogs, and no bikes. Those are the posted rules in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach." https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/after-thousands-of-tern-eggs-are-abandoned-bolsa-chica-looks-to-educate-on-dangers-of-drone-activity https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/after-thousands-o... Indeed, licences won't stop stupidity but they do help establish penalties.
  - sleepybrett 5y ago

sleepybrett 5y ago

I'm not sure how this changes that. The fact is that pilot was already flying in an area where it was not allowed and already in violation of current law. You can't really legislate your way out of this.