One of the "hanger rats" in our little group known as the Frustrated Aviation Addicts (aka FAA), works in code enforcement. He's the guy for this district who determines if someone is to be cited or not. This includes UAV's. He offered a bit of friendly advice and "food for thought" for UAV operators.
1) If your operating under the heading of "recreational/hobbyist", then be careful to not cross the line. For example, if you are a:
3) The idea that the FAA is the only agency that can regulate "airspace", is a misnomer. There are a number of other agencies who get in on the act, as approved by the FAA, and are allowed to set their own restrictions and enforcement and fines. The National Park System, NOAA, Department of the Interior are but a few. Don't agree? Try getting some close-ups of migrating whales sometime. Then look closely at the badge of the person who knocks at your door.
4) If you get cited, or told to "move along", being an obnoxious jerk about it will likely get the FAA involved like the IRS crawls up your butt for income tax violations. Don't make matters worse for yourself by puffing out your chest and telling them, "you can't tell me what to do because your not the FAA". The letter from the FAA will come later, usually 90-120 days later.
Having said all the above, those are "technical" definitions and admittedly difficult to enforce. But keep in mind that the top 3 FAA citation categories are; Operating in an unsafe manner (70%), airspace violations (20%) and operating as a commercial pilot (5%). He admitted to being lazy and lumping most violations into the first one.
If I had to rename that category, I'd call it the "Doing dumb stuff" category. You don't have to be caught in the act. If your curious, I have to recent cases I can site. I expect a lot of blow-back from this article. So-be-it. Won't be the first or the last time. I have 55 years in military and commercial aviation. Squeeze in between all that, another 12 years as a race pilot, gun for hire and test pilot/instructor. For all my faults, I'm still standing.
Not passing judgement, just offering a few crumbs to nibble on as we send our birds aloft.
1) If your operating under the heading of "recreational/hobbyist", then be careful to not cross the line. For example, if you are a:
- Real Estate agents who take photos/video of a listing and publishes those images in ANY public forum, he/she is operating as a commercial pilot. BTW - the Real Estate Agent for this infraction gets both the fine as the operator AND the "client". So a $1,000 fine turns into an $11,000 fine.
- Individual who publishes videos and receives compensation in ANY manner (pay per click, free products etc??), he/she is operating as a commercial pilot.
- Volunteer to provide video/photos of an event and those images are subsequently used as a promotional tool, he/she is operating as a commercial pilot. BTW - the fine for this one extends to the event coordinators as well equal to 10x the citation to the UAV operator (see the first point above).
3) The idea that the FAA is the only agency that can regulate "airspace", is a misnomer. There are a number of other agencies who get in on the act, as approved by the FAA, and are allowed to set their own restrictions and enforcement and fines. The National Park System, NOAA, Department of the Interior are but a few. Don't agree? Try getting some close-ups of migrating whales sometime. Then look closely at the badge of the person who knocks at your door.
4) If you get cited, or told to "move along", being an obnoxious jerk about it will likely get the FAA involved like the IRS crawls up your butt for income tax violations. Don't make matters worse for yourself by puffing out your chest and telling them, "you can't tell me what to do because your not the FAA". The letter from the FAA will come later, usually 90-120 days later.
Having said all the above, those are "technical" definitions and admittedly difficult to enforce. But keep in mind that the top 3 FAA citation categories are; Operating in an unsafe manner (70%), airspace violations (20%) and operating as a commercial pilot (5%). He admitted to being lazy and lumping most violations into the first one.
If I had to rename that category, I'd call it the "Doing dumb stuff" category. You don't have to be caught in the act. If your curious, I have to recent cases I can site. I expect a lot of blow-back from this article. So-be-it. Won't be the first or the last time. I have 55 years in military and commercial aviation. Squeeze in between all that, another 12 years as a race pilot, gun for hire and test pilot/instructor. For all my faults, I'm still standing.
Not passing judgement, just offering a few crumbs to nibble on as we send our birds aloft.
