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legality of shooting down of drones?

Lots of dumb stuff in this thread so I'll add some more...

I'm a licensed pilot. I fly a FAA registered UAV for business.

Per the FAA I have the right to fly anywhere that isn't FAA restricted airspace. Per every interpretation of common law I have read, private property owners do not own the air space above real property.

We fly over private property regularly. We are not required to ask permission or get consent of the owner by FAA rules or GA laws. Our UAV takes photos for mapping. Our UAV is very expensive. If I am working within the governing rules / laws and a private citizen destroys my property I have been told by 3 different law enforcement officers that they would consider the person destroying my property to be breaking the law. My attorney has told me we would be entitled to claim damages in this situation.

I get the privacy concerns and I try to be respectful of everyone. I don't want pictures of your old lady's fun bags, but sometimes I may get them. It wouldn't be worth the trouble to shoot down a drone to me, knowing what I know from being on the other side of the situation.

Be careful out there fellas.
 
I'll confess I read the first couple posts and then skipped to the end to see what was up. I was not disappointed.
Per the FAA I have the right to fly anywhere that isn't FAA restricted airspace.
The advent of drones has made virtually all unobstructed air space "navigable," and leading the FAA to such a conclusion. But does the FAA have the power to give you the "right" to fly anywhere above my property? Do you think you can fly your drone inches above the ground on private property? Can you fly into an open garage door or open door of a house? If not, why not? If you're flying your drone at 2 ft AGL in my driveway and I'm cooking along at 15 mph and we have a mid-air/mid-driveway collision, is anyone at fault? And even if you do have the right to fly at ridiculous elevations above my property, does that mean I no longer have the right to shoot shotguns into the air above my property?

Per every interpretation of common law I have read, private property owners do not own the air space above real property.
Can you cite even one? Because at common law, a person owned from the center of the Earth to the edge of the universe. ("Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos", or "whoever's is the soil, it is theirs all the way to Heaven and all the way to Hell") That doctrine has been modified to reflect reality, but it has not been thrown away. How deep can I dig a hole on my property? How tall can I build? The FAA calls anything that's 499 ft AGL an "obstruction" to air navigation, but even then you are not absolutely prohibited from going higher.


Our UAV is very expensive.
And?

If I am working within the governing rules / laws and a private citizen destroys my property I have been told by 3 different law enforcement officers that they would consider the person destroying my property to be breaking the law.

Sounds like you do not think there are nay governing rules/laws. If you can flight it, it's fair game.

My attorney has told me we would be entitled to claim damages in this situation.
You always are entitled to claim damages. It's another matter to get them awarded and another matter still to recover them.

I don't want pictures of your old lady's fun bags, but sometimes I may get them.
You seem to be ignoring GA privacy laws in this statement. It's a crime to photograph people in a private setting.
 
There always has to be that one guy...

Nobody wants to argue with you dude.

You sound like a very intelligent and well reasoned individual. I take back everything I said and you can win. Feel better?

Need any help digging that hole?
 
Well argued, but typically the places people are interested in shooting birds and the places people are interested in shooting drones are two totally different areas. Clearly it is dependent on the situation and the area you're in.
I'm not to knowledgeable about drones, but I would assume the ones able to fly at higher altitude would need something more substantial than #7 shot to shoot them down or to permanently damage them. My concern is more for people shooting whatever rounds (like pistols/ rifles or 00 buck) they have on hand.

Either way great counter point.
I happen to have a dove field literally 100 yards from my back door.
 
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