Weight said:
Drones are just starting. Wait and there will be a death count. I would be unhappy if one just bumped into my window. We can compromise on this. No registration for drones, and it is legal for me to shoot them if in my air space. Where can I get that radio interference device?
Possibly.
But how do
you define 'my airspace'.
In most practical definitions and legal terms, (not talking international laws) for homeowners, land owners, and land users, you only have a say in the 'non-navigable' airspace above your property.
In other words, the FAA and the airplane and helicopter pilots do NOT have to ask your permission to fly over your property in the USA, in the navigable zone above you, but a pilot in a helicopter (or a drone) that hovers 20 feet above your front lawn IS in your airspace, because it is not considered 'navigable'.
Where the dividing line is, depends on a few factors, but is generally considered to be about 100 feet in residential neighborhoods, but it is much higher in other places such as apartment complexes and downtown areas. This is 'navigable' airspace, but not where airplanes ACTUALLY navigate.
Where I live, occasionally I have spray planes fly right over my house, during mosquito season, about 200 feet up. I live right in the middle of a small city.
If I lived on the edge of town, I would be seeing a lot more of them, just before and during cotton-harvesting season. They are noisy, disruptive, and fast, but just because I dont like them, it doesn't matter, they are in 'navigable' airspace and I cant go out and blast away with a 12 gauge.
And shooting a firearm in the city is normally prohibited, unsafe, and can get you in trouble in a hurry. If you DID hit the drone and it crashes on a kid or breaks a car window as the debris falls, YOU are in trouble, not the drone pilot.
Of course, out in the country, we have less crowded conditions but still there can be risks of where the spent ammo might fall.
I for one, prefer the registration process, since that meant that our 'aircraft' were protected by Federal Law, if operated within the law in a safe and responsible manner.
