Need a permit for your ELEV-8?

[Ron Czapala]

Watch this video and listen at 4 min 15 secs into it - FAA and pilot concerns...

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/drones-who-is-watching-you-28326842.html

[lanternfish]

Surely they can just come under the same regulations that apply to consumer RC aircraft, rocketry and the like. Or is that too simple a legislative option?

[SRLM]

The distinction is that they are doing it for profit, hobbyists are not. In the US, autonomous aircraft still can't be used to make money.

[GordonMcComb]

ELEV-8 comes under the same rules as R/C flying, and there are significant restrictions: under 400 feet, must be in visible line-of-flight to the pilot (no TV only control), no where near a commercial flight corridor, away from populated areas, and for UAVs a pilot must be available to take manual control in an instant. "Drones" of the type mentioned in this news piece are a completely different animal.

Commercial (like aerial real estate photos or movie-making), military, and law enforcement use requires a COA, and it's for these the pilot's association wants full flight training. These fly higher, are often completely unmanned, and may involve flight over populated areas, even near flight paths.

-- Gordon

[lanternfish]

So no real issue then. And like any hobby there is always someone who will push the legal boundaries (and sometimes ruin it for others).

[JimInCA]

So no real issue then.

Not quite so. Please read the attached article which covers the Academy of Model Aeronautics on-going efforts.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/news/mediarelease_SenateBill.aspx

You have to be ever vigilant...
Jim...