Shamrock

I'm on vacation at the New Jersey shore.I went on a great ride about 30 miles ,on the way home I heard a buzz.Looked up and saw a drone over the park I passed.The whirling noise kept getting louder.I look again and the drone is following me.It also is taking dive bombs .WTF!!I keep riding thinking what to do.Funny thing a guy from our state just got in trouble for shooting one out of the sky over his house.zHe is going to jail.I try to keep cool.After awhile I think I'm out of sight or range.Drone disappears. I must admitt this was annoying .

TheLibrarian

well at least the plastic propellers on most of the hobby ones will break before they break skin. They whirr something fierce though and are intimidating buzzing in front of you face. Range is very short and battery life is even shorter so not much of a threat. Guy at the hobby house likes to scare you too hovering it in front of you face. knock his $2k toy down if it bothers you. probably break pretty easily. Guy with the gun likely was charged with firing a gun inappropriately. Someones harassing you with it, it should be well within your right to defend yourself.

fat biker

Since nobody asked, I will.

How long before we are discussing "What's the best racket construction material for swatting drones, wood, aluminum or carbon fiber"
And "Which racket mount do you like"

Not hard to imagine that a cyclist could crash if buzzed.

Jeff, still fat

SammyJ 

I wonder if shooting paint balls would be treated the same as bullets!

jon c. 

I work in an engineering college and in the last few years drones have become very popular as the basis for a senior design project. We've had a few kids get cut up pretty good from those propeller blades. (New safety protocols are being instituted for upcoming academic year. Whether or not they'll be followed is another matter.)

intransit1217

Bola. Or maybe a mini net gun.

OldsCOOL

I get a kick out of RC's but in your situation I would sit under the nearest available tree or up against a building. Game over.

Cyclosaurus

It's not within your rights to knock down a drone, and you wouldn't be able to claim you were defending yourself. Drones have been shot out of the sky. And then the guy gets arrested for criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. Not to mention he's likely to have to pay restitution for wrecking the drone as have others. Discharging a firearm into the air is probably illegal, drone or not. Destroying someone else's property is also illegal. Like it or not, it is legal for someone to fly a drone over your property in most cases, so you would be liable for destroying someone's drone even if it is hovering over your own backyard. Note that most drones have gopro type cameras which are very wide angle and not that useful for peeping tom stuff unless it was extremely close up; people often cite "privacy" as some sort of catch-all defense for knocking down drones, but it doesn't work. A photographer with a long zoom lens on the public street can legally invade your privacy much more effectively.

And lastly, drones are considered aircraft, and it is illegal under federal law to take an aircraft down, period*. I haven't heard of the FAA/NTSB coming after anyone. But if someone got hurt either by whatever weapon or other means one used to kill the drone, or by the drone itself falling from the sky, it wouldn't be that far-fetched.

*18 USC § 32 says:


And the NTSB has definitively ruled that drones are aircraft (Administrator v. Pirker).

catgita

There was a situation recently in LA where drones prevented fire fighting aircraft from reaching an area for about 20 minutes. Numerous vehicles and trucks were lost, but it not clear if this was a contributing factor. At some point, drones will be taken down for real and obvious threats (has happened at nuclear power plants), and the law will have to change.

If someone follows me with a drone for a few feet, that is life in the 21st. If someone buzzes me with one in a threatening manner, I will take it out.

Cyclosaurus

There were a number of drone incidents at nuclear plants in France, but I hadn't heard that any drones had actually been taken down. I suspect that someone responsible for the safety of a nuclear plant would under no circumstances really want a small aircraft crashing on their site. California legislators have introduced a bill to give firefighters and other emergency responders legal protection if they have to knock down a drone. But it would still remain against federal law, so it's likely to remain a legal gray area.

B. Carfree

Lucky me, the only flying things I have to deal with are bats, falcons, herons and the occasional peacock. Only a falcon has ever stayed with me for long, and when he decided to take a pull and I fell off the back when he increased the speed. (Falcons don't offer much of a draft.)

If someone was harassing me with a drone and it was creating a hazard, I might make the effort to find the operator. I'm sure that after a pleasant conversation s/he would see that endangering me was probably not as fun as it seemed. I wouldn't threaten harm in any way. I think people sometimes forget that pulling the public into their games can be misinterpreted and I would try to help the operator to have a bit of empathy. I get it that these are fascinating, irresistible toys and good people will occasionally make mistakes in judgement.

jyl

The guy was trying to get cool video, experimenting maybe.

02Giant 

Fly one within arms reach of me, I will knock it down...then step on it.

tcs

Sorry, old guy here. When did radio controlled aircraft become drones?

OldsCOOL

Not every drone is piloted by the CIA or Illuminati.

Cyclosaurus

I think it happened because model aircraft are primarily for hobby/recreation while drones have much more commercial use, and get used primarily outside of flying model association/clubs. The FAA defines model aircraft as small unmanned aircraft flown strictly for recreational use, that always remains within sight of the operator, and is operated "in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization", i.e., part of a flying model club with a set of safety standards.

It sounds arbitrary but in a sense all law seems arbitrary when you are at the boundary between legal and illegal. But it makes sense from a perspective that model aircraft have historically been flown in a voluntarily regulated way, while drones are essentially outside of that. It's actually sensible because commercial drone use has the potential to cause much much more air traffic over populated areas and in aircraft flight paths.

locolobo13 

My response will be similar. If you fly your drone within arms reach I am going to feel endangered. I will do something about it.

That said I would love to have a drone and a gopro just to play with. It looks like a cool hobby. Just remember a little courtesy goes a long way.

bruce19

Steel. It's always steel.

Carbonfiberboy 

A fellow on a beach was bothered by a drone hovering very close to him. He threw his t-shirt at it which took it down. Officers soon appeared and arrested him. He spent the night in jail, then posted a $10,000 bond. The DA declined to press charges. However he will still be liable for a civil suit for property damage, estimated at $750. Plus of course his lawyer's fees, if any.

Biker395 

There are also bills pending (and very likely to pass) that will make remote trespassing a crime.

California lawmakers approve drone trespassing crime bills | abc7.com

Count me among those that would swat/shoot it down if one were stalking me or invading my privacy on my own property.

Cyclosaurus

Maybe this will stick. But I would also expect an appeal of a conviction under such a law challenging the state authority because airspace is regulated by the federal government. I think the FAA would oppose state governments trying to impose laws on their territory.

It's already well established that if you knock down a drone, even one flying above your private property, you can be held liable for the damages. Pottery Barn rule...You break it, you buy it.

tcs

I've heard it said that character is who we are when no one is watching. With ubiquitous security cameras, everyone carrying a movie camera in their pocket and now relatively inexpensive, relatively easy-to-fly radio controlled aircraft fitted with stabilized HD cameras, you gotta figure the whole world could be watching anytime you're in public.

Perhaps we should take this to heart and improve our public behavior, but maybe it just means since everybody is always watching, nobody needs character anymore.

This video? There was a lot of brouhaha about that, but the most authoritative news articles I read concluded the young man was a legal adult, the legally owned gun was fired on family property outside any incorporated limits, no current FAA regulations were violated and the incident was perfectly legal.

Biker395 

Not to my knowledge.

I consider it to the drone owner to be guilty of peeping tom by proxy. They can sue me for the drone ... I'll countersue for the trespass and invasion of privacy, and well see what a jury says. I know which side I'd rather be on.

Filerunner

If drones are aircraft then they better stay out of my air space. Aircraft has to be flown in a safe manner; no stunt flying in populated areas.

Cyclosaurus

Federal law says it isn't trespassing. You don't own the airspace above your property. That's why you can't sue Channel 5 news for flying their helicopter over your property either. Perhaps you think that you can sue someone and just make up whatever you want the law to be and think a jury will believe that but that's not how it works.

Since it's happened multiple times that someone has knocked down a drone, and the person who attacked the drone is the one arrested and subject to civil liability, and the drone operator is not arrested or charged with any of your made-up laws, I think you'll find the police only too happy to correct you on which side of the jail cell bars you are on.