As Demon said this violates existing laws. Whether it was FPV or LOS is irrelevant as making new laws will have no impact. If FPV was going to be banned because of the actions of a couple of spectacular morons it would have happened years ago.

Aside from commercial use I am not aware of any existing FAA regulations that cover model aircraft, which is part of the problem. There is no simple solution for stupid and unfortunately it is going to require consequences that will impact not only us but also all of U.S. modeling. The general public doesn't care if a model plane is flying FPV since the vast majority would not even know what it means. What is easy for them to understand however is that they shouldn't be flying near a major airport approach among other places that could endanger others.
As is usually the case the uninvolved majority may end up holding the bag. So what else is new?

Well the ac 51 97 still says "don't fly within 3 miles of an airport".

You always going to have people who are stupid and don't have common sense. This is one of them. No law will ever prevent this.. This one was stupid enough to post it online but how many are not recorded.. ?

Yep, I hear you.
51/97 is of course only a guideline and as of now there are no federal laws.
You are correct about the law not preventing this but that is true of all laws. It is actually the penalty for breaking the law that keeps us civil so for the first couple of occurrences after a law is enacted I wouldn't expect much change but shortly thereafter one of two things will occur. Either the activity or the videos of it will cease. Even then there will be some knuckeheads that think it doesn’t apply to them and just have to show everyone on Utube how great they are. That’s what keeps our jails full.

AC91-57 guidelines don't carry the force of law. I was thinking more along the lines of
basic endangerment. I'm sure if you purposely put anything (kite/balloon/etc)
in front of an airliner the FAA would have grounds to come knocking on your door.
But you're right that you can't legislate away stupid.

ian

So did anyone locate this guy?

Looks like the original YouTube user not only removed the video but deleted his channel. Of course all the FAA has to do is subpoena Google and they can probably figure out who he is.

This seems a good place to post about the Dec. 8 Infowars drone mob event...

The fallout should be interesting...

http://www.infowars.com/drones-to-ta...ies-of-austin/


BTW the logan video guy is a member here, only some sales activity though.

since we all opine in here and stuff I am not certain its legal to win 1000.00 for uploading your drone video you know why, its commercial at that point depending on how they disclose the winnings for tax purposes. So who wants to submit their info so both the faa and irs can get ya lol

but thats a tough call because the flight wasn't for payment. it would be like someone saying the best looking drone gets a thousand bucks...but its based on a video upload, and that video will be skyborne activity so again I don't think you are allowed to win that with a drone video.

Originally Posted by branflakes

since we all opine in here and stuff I am not certain its legal to win 1000.00 for uploading your drone video you know why, its commercial at that point depending on how they disclose the winnings for tax purposes. So who wants to submit their info so both the faa and irs can get ya lol

So how is it legal for various hobby companies to give cash prizes at all the non-FPV RC contests that are held throughout the year?

The only existing non-commercial FAA reg I'm aware is for persons
or companies for business purposes.

I think the FAA has left that rule purposefully vague, but in reality I don't think they would mind as long as you're still well within the hobby realm. Contests for hobbyists would fit in that category. And from what I've read, policy statements don't actually have legal force in themselves, but are just kind of a signal of how the FAA will interpret other rules. If the FAA actually tried to penalize someone for commercial use of a UAS, I'm not really sure it would actually stick.

Looks like the park is under controlled airspace as well, could be wrong, just saying.

Originally Posted by bmschulman

So how is it legal for various hobby companies to give cash prizes at all the non-FPV RC contests that are held throughout the year?

I think because the prizes aren't earned first person view aka uav

its additionally interesting to consider if there is a difference between uploading the original monitor footage or footage taken off a recorder device. seems like one is more fpv ish

nope on second thought you aren't allowed to quad copter take real estate pics and sell them even if its los flying

but there may be a difference since payment isnt rendered at time of service in this case its a delayed payment. still, without using aerial footage you can't win I fail to see how that isn't commercial.

Do I think this is a dumb law, heck yes. let innovative people charge all day long for what they do. Im just prognosticating from standpoint of faa buzzkills in this case.