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Re:San Diego Refuses To Answer FOIA Requests About Drones by asynchronous13 on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:23PM (#4812097)
"Airspace under 500' AGL is traditionally considered to be under control of the landowner"

Sorry, but this is not true. Airspace above private property is considered public right of way, in the same way that a sidewalk in your front lawn is public right of way. The ceiling of what belongs to the landowner is a gray area of law, but is generally considered to be the space that is actively used. If you have a trampoline, for example, then your active usage is slightly higher than that of your neighbor without a trampoline.

The FAA operates under a white-list. Everything is illegal until a regulation is made to make something legal. Radio-controlled aircraft have an exemption for recreational flight. Unmanned aircraft operated for recreation fall under that same exemption. For commercial, or civil usage, a certificate of authority (COA) is required on a per-case basis since no blanket regulations exist yet.

"That poses the question whether we are within our property rights to shoot down any drone flying around inside it?"

No. If someone drives an R/C car along the sidewalk in your front yard, you are not entitled to shoot it because of your property rights. At best, you could try to prosecute for trespass. Same with a flying vehicle, but unless the flying vehicle is under 20ft or so, the odds are not in your favor.

Re:San Diego Refuses To Answer FOIA Requests About Drones by truebecomefalse on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:08PM (#4812236)
What if I utilize an RC plane on my property up to 490ft. Does that extend my rights? Say I have RC drones that regularly patrol at ~400ft the perimeter of my property.
Re:San Diego Refuses To Answer FOIA Requests About Drones by bathat on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @08:30PM (#4812300)
It might be a good idea to read the Wikipedia article on air rights that kordless linked (the GP of your post). IANAL, but it seems like flying an RC plane in the way you describe is just the moving version of a 'spite poll,' which are not considered a 'reasonable' use of the airspace above the land you own. You can operate an RC drone above your property, you just don't have any particular right to use it to get in the way of anyone else who wants to operate an aircraft above your property.