FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals

Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by nraynaud on Monday October 08, 2018 @02:49PM (#18170176)

Remember that pilots (mostly private) make mistakes and kill people, a lot, and they get a lot of goodwill from the authorities and the press for just wearing an uniform. And also they tend to lie on their drone encounters. No actual drone incident has even been reported where the owner of the drone was not violating an obvious rule (either line of sight or zoning), ie the rules don't need to change.

The other thing to consider is that drones are not more dangerous than birds, and they don't fly near airports and they don't form flocks.

Now there will be way more use for small UAV than manned aviation, so one logical thing to do is strictly separate the airspace (400ft- for drones 500ft+ for planes, increase 100ft every 5 years) by preventing manned aircrafts from flying low, in particular on near the coasts, just give them a few dedicated zones for airports and helicopter work, and open most of the rest to unmanned.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by syshum on Monday October 08, 2018 @03:06PM (#18170321)

What we really need is

0-100 property Owner controlled

100-400 Hobby non-commercial

-400 the FAA does not need to be involved at all

400+ Commercial and this is where the FAA comes in and provides regulations for Commercial UAV and Manned Aircraft to operate in this Commercial Zone

leave us Hobbyist alone.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by njarboe on Monday October 08, 2018 @03:35PM (#18170588)

If a flying drone was as quiet as a flying bird, I would have no problem with them flying around the city where I live. That is not the case, so anywhere not next to a busy road and the drone noise is going to be easily heard and annoying to many people. Over your own property or places where you have permission, fine. Over public or someones else's property, no thank you.

Maybe we could let quite drones (not sure of the dB at ground level that would be acceptable) fly over cities and that would push the development of quieter flying systems.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by CamperBob2 on Monday October 08, 2018 @05:03PM (#18171284)

Why does the FAA need to get involved with any of the stuff you mentioned? Not everything needs to be a Federal matter.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by prawn on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @12:46AM (#18173399)

Why is the sound of a drone of such great concern to you? Cars and motorbikes are louder. Jetskis. Scenic flights and helicopters are louder. Leafblowers and many other power tools too. What makes this new sound so objectionable that this is your reaction? I'm curious.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by njarboe on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @07:21PM (#18180650)

On closer reading FAA shouldn't not be involved and the issues I have can be dealt with at more appropriate levels of government.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by syshum on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @02:03AM (#18173652)

Last a checked noise pollution was a local ordinance issue, my city has all kinds of regulations around noise.

Also last I checked no drone I have ever seen is louder than my Lawn Mower, Weed Eater, Snow Blower, Trimmer, leaf Blower, Table Saw, Chop Saw, Metal Grinder, or 100 other pieces of equipment I have that is perfectly legal to use on my property

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by njarboe on Tuesday October 09, 2018 @07:29PM (#18180687)

You are right. The FAA is not a good place to regulate low level drone flights.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by ticviking on Monday October 08, 2018 @03:34PM (#18170585)

This tends to support my notion that the issue is insufficient enforcement of existing rules, requiring registration is one way to make enforcement easier. Which may be a major goal of revising the rules.

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by cmurf on Monday October 08, 2018 @03:09PM (#18170342)

Drones are more dangerous than birds. Birds at least try to see and avoid other aircraft. And upon impact drones cause a lot more damage than birds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0V7kp-xg0

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Re:FAA Moves Toward Treating Drones and Planes as Equals by nraynaud on Monday October 08, 2018 @03:19PM (#18170444)

Other studies were not as scary, that's why it's the only one releasing images.

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