Drones!

[JRMDC]

A few months ago someone showed some aerial shots from his remote plane, or helicopter. Someone else, maybe a different forum, showed aerial coverage of a wreck scene, in video. This is obviously a growing technology, and it has an interesting spy element.

Here is a shot and a story about someone who, with a P/S and a $75 plane, caught some shots of what appears to be pig blood coming out of a meat plant, flowing in a stream.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/drone-pilot-finds-river-blood-outside-dallas-meatpacking-155450010.html

Interesting how this stuff is booming. Eventually there will be bunches of privacy issues, I suppose. At what point will some neighborhood kid, for kicks, fly a helicopter outside my window and shoot video of the inside of my house? (Some years ago the neighbor's kid used a laser pointer from inside his house to dance a red dot in front of me in my dining room; the father was quite reasonable and talked to the kid.)

How close will people be allowed to fly these things to, say, an oil refinery? A military installation? A police precinct house? All sorts of thorny issues.

[Hatchetman]

How close will people be allowed to fly these things to, say, an oil refinery? A military installation? A police precinct house? All sorts of thorny issues.

Probably be allowed to fly over all that stuff, but not rail yards.

[troy12n]

They are trying to get some stupid law passed in Florida which will basically make photography of any agricultural location (IE: woods, fields, etc) illegal.

[Mark Gayman]

Check the Wikipedia article on Air Rights -- it makes interesting reading. Back in the 1950s or 1960s, IIRC, an insurance company wanted to build a skyscraper in Chicago over the Illinois Central's yards or trackage. The IC made money on that without having to move a ton of freight, IIRC.

[KevinM]

How close will people be allowed to fly these things to, say, an oil refinery? A military installation? A police precinct house? All sorts of thorny issues.

I'm sure that legislation is just around the corner. It will happen in short order, once these things start to become commonplace, and will certainly happen as soon as some clown with more money than brains either hurts somebody or causes property damage. Right now, the Federal Aviation Administration is primarily concerned about potential conflicts between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and manned aircraft. That is also MY primary concern. A collision with even a 5 lb UAV could cause serious damage to any aircraft....and unlike a car, there is very little you can bend, twist or break off of an airplane and still have a controllable aeronautical vehicle. We have enough problems with large birds.

I am hoping that appropriate controls will be put in place. Experience shows that without them, there will be problems.