Drone Operator Fined After Posting Flight Videos On YouTube

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- Dumbass Drone Operator

An Australian man has been fined for breaking aviation safety regulations while flying his drone, but while he wasn't caught in the act, the man was busted after posting videos of the flights to YouTube.
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These rules include requirements to operate the drone in daylight and in line-of-site; to remain at least 30 metres from buildings, vehicles and people; to stay more than 5.5 kilometres from all airports and lower than 120 metres; and to stay away from populous areas such as beaches and other people's backyards.
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Sooo......basically everywhere except the outback?
 
the-one1 said:
Sooo......basically everywhere except the outback?
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Thats what I was thinking. :rolleyes: They regulated the fun right out of it. Your stuck doing circles in your yard, or go to the middle of no-where.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Love it when people self incriminate themselves.. so entertaining.
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You must be very easily entertained... why I have no clue.

There was no mention of what this man actually did. It could have been something as innocent as flying in his back yard or a park, being respectful of other people but still against regulations. Which imo would be akin to the cops scouring youtube family videos and sending fines for illegal shed location shown in the background etc.

Then again, he could have been a dick buzzing pedestrians/cars/airplanes etc and deserve everything he got.

Honestly it sounded like the guy paid his fine, took down the videos, from which one could guess he takes responsibility for his actions... which one could guess further and assume someone like that was probably just having fun with a new toy and didn't know the letter of the law. All huge guesses though since there is very little info in the article.
 
These rules are totally appropriate and meant to make sure that the drone is always within visual sight of the operator. I'm sorry but a remote GoPro cam displaying on your 5" screen from a fixed POV is not sufficient for situational awareness. If you cant see your drone then you cant fly it, simple. The rule against beaches is specific to keep pervs from hovering over hot chicks, and 30m from a building is to prevent a sudden gust of wind sending your drone flying through the window of some office building.
 
dandirk said:
You must be very easily entertained... why I have no clue.

There was no mention of what this man actually did. It could have been something as innocent as flying in his back yard or a park, being respectful of other people but still against regulations. Which imo would be akin to the cops scouring youtube family videos and sending fines for illegal shed location shown in the background etc.

Then again, he could have been a dick buzzing pedestrians/cars/airplanes etc and deserve everything he got.

Honestly it sounded like the guy paid his fine, took down the videos, from which one could guess he takes responsibility for his actions... which one could guess further and assume someone like that was probably just having fun with a new toy and didn't know the letter of the law. All huge guesses though since there is very little info in the article.
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This is how armchair justice functions. Some people, lets call them idiots, read a headline or the first part of an article and then pass judgement without any details. Afterwards they tell the story to others tailored with their own opinion in it. Next person then passes judgement on what someone told them about what they read.

Not many take in or look at the possible outcomes as you did, props. :)

As far as knowing laws I feel that for something that can so easily and unknowingly break them, it should be required that a document is included with the product stating where the user should research said laws.Ignorance isn't a defense but come on, in my old town it was illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket.
 
the-one1 said:
Sooo......basically everywhere except the outback?
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Absolutely ridiculous level of regulations, as I don't see how you could fly pretty much anywhere and not violate at least one of those conditions considering the need to take off and land while maintaining very little distance from the pilot.

30 meters in each direction is well over 2000 cubic feet safety envelope around the aircraft, which is unnecessarily massive and would be impossible to maneuver that "virtual cube" in any "parkflyer" type of environment.

And that's what parkflyers are, something that you should reasonably be able to fly in a public park... sure not buzzing people's heads, but lets be reasonable here.
 
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There's 30m separation. You're fucking fine.
 
McFry said:
[
There's 30m separation. You're fucking fine.
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Granted it's hard to tell how far in the background the drone is but if it is in the same depth of field as the building there is no way in hell that's 30m of separation, hell 30 feet would be pushing it
 
sfsuphysics said:
Granted it's hard to tell how far in the background the drone is but if it is in the same depth of field as the building there is no way in hell that's 30m of separation, hell 30 feet would be pushing it
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It doesn't even matter, as its a "populous area" being that its a city.

That means you can't fly in any city or suburb or tourist attraction period.

Following the letter of the law, you would have to basically drive out to the middle of nowhere to fly your drone, and even then can't fly beyond visual range, at which point one has to ask... what IS the point? Governments could use it for finding missing people and you could get a moderate altitude picture of nature, but that's about it.

They effectively banned RC aircraft. And I have no problem with that if we are talking large and dangerous vehicles, but if something is battery powered and mostly made out of foam with about the weight of a bird of prey, who cares?
 
The problem with a lot of the drone operators is the cameras. People are using them as a peeping tom device. That's not cool.
 
I like that the fine was reasonable, and he agreed. That's how it should work.
 
What makes it a drone? I still have a hard time figuring out if it's just a quadrocoptor with a camera attached to it or it's actually doing programmable movements, GPS, and autopilot type of stuff. :confused:
 
ol1bit said:
I like that the fine was reasonable, and he agreed. That's how it should work.
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He agreed about as much as anyone agrees to pay a $220 traffic ticket for going 10mph over the speed limit on the highway. You don't really have a choice but to agree to pay.
 
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