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Comment by chronial | Hacker News Reader

> When you fly a drone, you still constitute a danger to other aircraft and the people in it, or people on the ground. Why should you be subject to fewer rules, just because you are not aboard the aircraft, and thus not at risk?

Because a drone is a lot smaller and thus constitutes a heavily reduced risk.

> Imagine remote controlled cars on the road. Should we allow some drunk kids without license on their computer at home to control cars on the road (and endanger everyone else), just because they are not in danger? Of course not.

So, to borrow your imagery here: A bicycle is a lot less risky to traffic and people than a car is and thus you are allow to drive it without a license and punishments for violations are in general lower than for cars.

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IMO the opposite is happening. The FAA regulates navigation of the air which includes drones and has fairly simple rules. The problem is when cities and towns try to get in on the action and (illegally) attempt to ban the use of drones because residents don't like them. This creates a number of problems for the FAA because the whole point of having an FAA is to have a central authority that has monopoly control over navigation of the air, rather than a fragmented system where you need permission from multiple overlapping jurisdictions. If you are flying a plane, you do not need permission of whatever city/state/small town you are flying over, it's enough to get the FAA's permission. But now cities are fining people for flying drones in FAA approved airspace and heights, and this creates all the pain for the individual drone user.

You can ride a bike without a license but you still have to follow the rules of the road. Same for a drone. You don't need a license but you have to follow the rules of the air.

Yup, and there are reasonable rules for drones (such as an FAA regulated flight ceiling of 400ft and you can't fly within 5 miles of an airport* ). Following those rules is fairly simple, and at least DJI's app makes an attempt to let you know when something is amiss.

Follow those rules and you're riding the bike path, not mixing in with major air traffic. Hence why flying a drone is nothing like flying an airplane.

* for certain definitions of airport

Keep in mind a flock of Canada geese can force down airliners. Can the impact break a windshield? Can it deform a prop? Maybe get stuck in the air intake? Will it cause pilot to change course unnecessarily?

In my home country every bird/plane collision is a safety incident that needs paperwork with the authorities, no matter how insignificant. Birds are a problem, and so are drones.

Existing European regulation is clear on drone operations: it is just as illegal to put in a restricted airspace without permission as any other man created flying object. You can go to jail over simply violating the airspace, even if no danger was even remotely possible.

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