Is there such thing yet? Do any of the bigger companies or people doing business have this if so? Copter Kids, FreeFly Cinema, etc? If so how does one go about getting approved? I was on a shoot in San Diego a few weekends ago filming for UBISoft at there Assassin's Creed parkour course for ComicCon. I did maybe 4 flights, no complaints and the general public loved the copters and where super curious about them and we took the time to talk to them about them and inform them etc. Then a woman SD police officer comes over to me and asks if i have FAA permission to fly my helis. I told her no and that I don't need it because I am flying recreationally and not being paid, I informed her of the current laws and told her there is no law against me flying my helicopter as a hobby. She was persistent and would not let me fly them period and told me I could talk to her Sergeant. So I walk a couple blocks to this mobile command center where her sergeant is and begin to talk to him. I politely talk with him about the current laws etc and after talking for 20 minutes he won't budge on not letting me fly. He told me the law was subjective and not objective and he could decide/manipulate it as he saw fit and that if i continued to fly it i was subject to arrest. His end excuse was flying it and something failing and it hitting someone and them suing the city. I informed him i was fully insured and he didn't care. I also let him know that they don't always just fall out of the sky if they fail and told him about redundancy. He told me if i was a couple hundred yards away from the people i could fly but not in the city around the people. Even though if something went wrong and it flew away for some reason it could travel miles. I was professional and respectful to both the first officer and the sergeant and in the end they agreed there needs to be a more written and understood law but until that happens, he said we could talk about it until we are both blue in the face, but he is the law and they grounded me. I ended up throwing the handlebars on my M5 and shooting handheld the next 2 days. Thoughts?
Tristan Right now its impossible to get FAA approval to fly commercially. We are all waiting. As for flying for recreation its entirely up to the local's if they want you flying or not. By the way, even if you decide to fly over a lake for example for your own personal enjoyment, in the eyes of the FAA if you have ever taken one penny, your copter is considered a commercial copter. If a police officer doesn't want you flying in a specific area (regardless of your intent or reason) there is nothing that can be done until the FAA approval has rules and guidelines. My experiences with police have been mostly positive and I always call the police in advance and let them know what I am doing. I get their name as well so that if anyone questions me on site I can show them I responsibly contacted them and they gave me the go ahead. Even if someone at the station gives the ok, it doesn't mean that the police onsite will allow you to continue especially if you are flying around people. Some police are very protective, and even overly protective with all the bad press with the DJI phantom jackasses. They will just be overly protective and there's nothing you can do about it. If you get a cop with a power trip your done period. They even might ask to see your footage or comfiscate it for review to make sure you are not peeping into peoples windows. If you don't listen to them or comply they will arrest you. As far as the FAA's time table I've heard all sorts of things. I heard that you shouldn't hold your breath as far as seeing anything until late 2015 or early 2016. I have also heard that congress is putting a lot of pressure on the FAA to speed up their timeline. With all the instances of near misses with planes and flying into stadiums and or over marathon's there is a lot of pressure right now. What the FAA will do is anyone's guess. I think if you even talk to 2 people at the FAA you will get 2 different opinions, and 2 different time frames. Personally I think that anything sooner will be a bad thing for us because they might just put some guidelines in place that are not practical for us.
Tristan unfortunately as you found out it is a conundrum. That being said you could be arrested for lots of things like disturbing the peace, endangering the public, all sorts of local/state charges that have nothing to do with the FAA. If the locals believe you are a danger, well best simply not to fly. Also most large cities like San Diego very likely have film permit departments. You said you were "shoot in San Diego a few weekends ago filming for UBISoft". Sounds like they should have pulled a film permit if you were shooting outside. And the local constabulary can not enforce FAA regulations. They can call the Feds but in 40 years as a pilot have never heard of a local or state police agency arresting someone for an FAR violation. The culprit is always charged with a local or state statute.
Yea, they had a bunch of permits including film permits but apparently never said anything about flying cameras. The client wanted me to fly anyways after they left to try and get a few shots but i refused and offered and stuck to just shooting ground footage with the m5. The last thing our industry needs is the cops telling someone not to fly and then them flying anyways and making more negative headlines. Thanks for the info fellas, that is what I thought was the case just wanted to ask.
Tristan if you fly for recreation then your activities fall under the guidelines of FAA Advisory Circular AC 91-57. See http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_G...56862569e70077c9cc/$FILE/ATTBJMAC/ac91-57.pdf The FAA has since clarified how it interprets "model aircraft" -- which you must have been flying if you were flying recreationally: See http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_G...56862569e70077c9cc/$FILE/ATTBJMAC/ac91-57.pdf If you were flying for recreation, then you should have been following the AMA's safety guidelines. See https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/105.PDF Were you? Were you receiving any compensation, either monetarily, or other benefits? If so, then you were not flying for recreation. The FAA's position is that you cannot operate UAVs commercially, only for hobby and recreation. Andy.