Important Update on Drone Laws

April 1 2016

The two following articles reflect the latest recap and precedent setting interpretation of law relating to drone usage.

They're 400,000 strong and the Pentagon sees them as an emerging threat
http://www.latimes.com/na...

Excerpts:

The Pentagon, the world's largest user of drones, has posted a new policy on signs outside the mammoth five-sided building: No Drone Zone.

The signs, complete with a red slash through an image of a quadcopter drone, reflect America's growing concern about the proliferation of the small, inexpensive remote-controlled devices and the risk they pose to safety, security and privacy.

Federal law prohibits flying a drone anywhere in and around Washington, an area known as the National Capital Region. Other communities and institutions across the country are wrestling with the potential threat from more than 400,000 private and commercial drones now registered to operate in the skies.

Under the law, hobbyists and commercial users must keep unmanned aircraft below 400 feet and avoid flying within five miles of an airport to avoid endangering manned aircraft. With a maximum weight of 55 pounds, a basketball-sized drone potentially could disable a jet flying hundreds of miles per hour.

To help identify drones, the FAA requires owners to register their aircraft into a federal database before they fly the aircraft outdoors. Since the registry went live in late December, more than 406,000 people have registered. That compares to about 590,000 pilots licensed to fly manned aircraft.

People who do not register their drones could face a civil penalty of up to $27,500 or criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and three years in prison for noncompliance.

Off-the-shelf drones are difficult to detect and monitor because they fly low and slow, and don’t carry a radio transponder to signal their position. Most drones are made primarily of plastic and are too small for radar detection.

Read the entire article -  - http://www.latimes.com/na...


Judge Rules In Favor of Man Who Shot Down Drone for Hovering in Backyard
http://americanintelligen...

Excerpts:

Judge Rebecca Ward has cleared charges against William Merideth for destroying a drone which was hovering over his property with a shotgun, claiming the drone was an invasion of privacy, local TV station WDRB-TV reports.

“He had a right to shoot at this drone, and I’m gonna dismiss this charge,” said Ward.

VanMeter has a 16-year-old daughter who lays out at their pool. She says a drone hovering with a camera is creepy and weird.

William was happy with the Judge’s decision stating, “I was in my right to protect my family and my property.” He expressed the importance of his case against the use of drones to harass people, he went on to say “The next time something like this happens, they’re gonna refer to it,” and encouraged property owners to use common sense when making these decisions. “Now I don’t encourage people to just go out and start blasting stuff for no reason – but three times in one day, three times over the course of a year, six times total, over one property? That’s not right, that’s harassment.”

Read the entire article - http://americanintelligen...