"Drone" laws... Anyone know what they are?

[Curt Pair]

We're in the process of building a custom CineStar 8 drone to fly with a Red Epic. A friend of mine just sent me a link saying that the FAA is closing down all airspace from zero feet up to unmanned drones for commercial filming. Further, that when laws are finally passed, it's more likely one will have to have a COMMERCIAL pilot's license with a drone "add on" certification to be able to fly. Further, several companies in LA and NY have already been shut down! The fine for a first offense can be $10K?!??!

Here's the article my buddy sent... looks a little dated... http://photographyforrealestate.net...says-us-airspace-is-closed-to-all-commercial/

So I'm now searching for new info... Anyone have any? I'd hate to think we just spend THOUSANDS of dollars and won't be able to earn money with the investment.

Thanks for any help out there!

 

[L. Langer]

Yeah, they are shutting down the drone usage for civvies and businesses to keep the skies and radio spectrums clear for government use of aerial drones by law enforcement and other such groups and they are also looking into ground robots for anti-terrorism/anti-drug efforts.

 

[Brian Timmons]

I don't usually say stuff like this on the net but some things need to be stated.

The "Drone" laws are draconian.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[Jon Thomasberg]

Perhaps if you have less than 1 oz. of petrol/nitro in the tank the TSA will let it fly.

Any bets on how long before our little sons will be visited by the FAA for hand gliding a balsawood airplane or piloting an RC plane?

Apparently, according to the news, we can already scratch 'kids running a sidewalk lemonade stand without a business license' off the 'freedoms you can do as an American' list.

 

[Chuck Z]

I don't usually say stuff like this on the net but some things need to be stated.

The "Drone" laws are draconian.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

Indeed. Buy as many rifles as you need to take those things out of our airspace.

 

[Mark Britton]

Refer to the following FAA document:

http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/reg/media/uas_guidance08-01.pdf

Short version: drones are not allowed to fly in US National Air Space (NAS) without special permission from the FAA. Obtaining permission (Certificate of Waiver or Authorization) are only accepted from public entities (federal, state and local agencies). Civil applications must apply for a special airworthiness certificate (experimental).

This effectively means that no commercial use of drone aircraft for motion picture use is permitted in US public airspace today. Airspace inside buildings or structures is not a part of the NAS and is therefore unregulated. Also, balloons are not classified as drones.

The FAA has been mandated by US congress to integrate US airspace with robotic aircraft by September 2015. Which (in my interpretation) will mean that a procedure will be established to accept applications Sept 2015, but processing will likely take months. And what the requirements for pilot (and drone) to receive a license then are not yet determined.

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

From my buddy Nils, who flys these rigs:

Matt, this has been a area I have been fully immersed in for sometime and simply not enough room to fully respond, so I can sum up. I cannot speak to what the FAA will do in the future with regard to laws, but I can tell you what it is now. The word drone is the wrong term, the correct term is RPV (Remotely Piloted Vehicle) The difference is the word Drone suggests autonomy and an RPV requires human interaction for at least take off and landing. I know that is like splitting hairs, but the designation is different in the eyes of the law.

Two kinds of aviation law play here, civil and general aviation. Most citizens falls under general aviation and those guidelines have some black and white and some gray areas. You can fly under 400 feet AGL (Above Ground Level) and must have a spotter or maintain line of site of your recreational aircraft to use for fun/entertainment. You may not use it for commercial purposes , or simply put, you cannot make money and fly an RPV.

If you wish to fly commercially you have two choices. 1) Obtain a Certificate of Authority from the FAA (which NOBODY will get, period.) One sheriff dept. in LA has one, they fly in the desert with Draganflyer X6 UAV RC and they have to open up a flight plan prior to flying even though they stay well below 400 feet.

They were also told they will not be getting a renewal. The other is get an FAA designation for your aircraft, which means your RPV would get a tail number and you need the experimental aircraft designation on your pilot license. This always means to open a flight plan every time you fly. The FAA is all about one thing, safety.

They simply don't want the RPV violating airspace of human carrying aircrafts. The other is civil aviation and there are a few of us that are fortunate to fly under that because missions are carried out under specific government agencies. For example, the US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY under FAA law is an agency designated as civil aviation and may carry out missions. The gentleman building the cinestar 8 to fly the red epic has a few issues.

1) The cinestar 8 is not rated for the epic and he should talk with me or someone else before building it for the epic, but that is another story.

2) He can fly the cinestar for fun, but not take 1 dollar to supply a service flying it. I am working on RPVForum.com to help get this community educated and empower the AMA, who lobby's on capital hill, to help work with the FAA to allow those of us in this industry to make a living and recoup the 10's of thousands we have invested. I will open this discussion on RPV forum and will make a video to help keep us all up to date on laws.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Curt Pair]

From my buddy Nils, who flys these rigs:

1) The cinestar 8 is not rated for the epic and he should talk with me or someone else before building it for the epic, but that is another story.

2) He can fly the cinestar for fun, but not take 1 dollar to supply a service flying it. I am working on RPVForum.com to help get this community educated and empower the AMA, who lobby's on capital hill, to help work with the FAA to allow those of us in this industry to make a living and recoup the 10's of thousands we have invested. I will open this discussion on RPV forum and will make a video to help keep us all up to date on laws.

Hope this helps a little.

Matt,

If Nils is willing to speak with me, I'd love his contact info... I'm willing to speak with him! I appreciate the advice, and the generous help! Thanks!

Curt

 

[Zeb B]

I'm a licensed Private Pilot. So if I understand, all I have to do to be compliant with the cluster rules as they are is to register my heli to get an Experimental class tail number. The conflict I see here is that you cannot "open a flight plan" to fly through a building, over the babes in the pool at 3' then up to 500' and hover. Normal aircraft don't do that (it's illegal) so normal flight plans will not cover this style of flight.

 

[Les Dittert]

So in summary : RC Hobbyists can fly in USA as they always have, and people in most of the world can fly commercially with cameras as well ?

 

[JanneJansson]

From my buddy Nils, who flys these rigs:

1) The cinestar 8 is not rated for the epic and he should talk with me or someone else before building it for the epic, but that is another story.

Cinestar8 is just some carbon fiber. You decide how much it will carry based on your prop-motor-lipo-cable size.
We have a Cinestar8 that lift 26 kg (58 lbs). It's just the Cinestar gimbal that need some modification to fly the Epic. But you are building an aircraft so you need to know what you are doing, and then flying it you really need to know what you do.

Here is the Cinestar8 "Elsa" flying a small 7D with standard gimbal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJCCcvSdiuo

here's one at 200 feet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__CGEjTolRA

Here is one at 400 feet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C1-NZ-35MY