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Comment by WJW | Hacker News Reader

Wow, just wow. Continuing to post youtube videos of your unlicensed drone flying in controlled airspace after already receiving two written warnings from the FAA is pretty stupid.

Also this gem: "These clips also revealed flight in hazardous conditions including heavy rain, fog, snow, and close proximity to buildings in downtown Philadelphia. There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone." That goes way beyong "innocent experimentation with your new drone" and into "deliberately endangering people and property", especially if you've been warned about it twice already. Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going.

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> Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going.

The idiot's most viewed video has about 33k views. I'm not sure that's enough to cover $200k in fines.

not even close!

Good

The videos don’t appear to be monetized, which is just as well, since that would be another violation - unlicensed commercial drone flight.

You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license, but not for real estate, pipeline, etc.

This is more of a concern, and likely heavily violated:

"You must fly in Class G airspace. If you need to fly in Class B, C, D or E controlled airspace, you need to apply for airspace authorization."

https://www.dronepilotgroundschool.com/drone-license/

Most US cities would be Class B/C to the ground near a large airport, and Class D/E would be common for smaller cities.

> You can likely monetize Youtube for incidental footage during your flights without a commercial drone license

It's a grey area I agree; but if you're filming your flights with the intention of putting the videos on YouTube and monetizing them, that's arguably commercial use.

It is a grey area, but if the FAA goes after drone pilots for this, then they should also go after the many student and private pilots who monetize their training and flight videos.

Fair warning to anyone thinking of taking advantage of this gray area: the FAA is very, very strict when it comes to interpreting whether something is a commercial op. Pilots, for example, are considered to be getting compensation when they log flight hours, even if no money changes hands. (If this sounds ridiculous, you’ve never had to build 1500 hours. Every tenth is solid gold.)

A popular blogging couple were fined for making blogs in national parks. I link to a different website for the short version.

https://drivinvibin.com/2020/10/23/rv-couple-fined/

I’m a Part 107 licensed “remote pilot”, and YouTube monetization was explicitly called out in the training materials. If you make money with your drone or use it in support of any commercial activity, the FAA requires certification.

>unlicensed commercial drone flight.

That's incredible. Why does this specifically need a license? How is this going to be any different to just flying as a hobby?

Restrictions on commercial flight are there to protect the public from getting involved with unsafe operators. It’s to ensure that people obtaining flight services are getting a safe product.

Well for start, the money. Which introduces all sorts of legal liability issues, aside from regulations concerning profiteering from use of public spaces.

"There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone."

I wish there were an exception for this. Likely the drone had programmed waypoints and was in an autonomous mode.

I remember hearing about attempts (back in the 80's?) to send a self-piloting model airplane across the Atlantic. I believe they finally succeeded? Fascinating to me. Utterly illegal I suppose.

But weather balloons get pass? I know amateurs launch balloons as well — perhaps there are restrictions however (like not near an airport, etc.).

Just some random thoughts.

EDIT, found a successful crossing in 2003, I thought there was an earlier one — perhaps only earlier failures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_Butts%27_Farm

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/model-plane-f...

> But weather balloons get pass?

Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it. It’s not like this “pilot” didn’t know what he was doing - he received written warnings and chose to ignore those.

> Those are licensed and regulated. And I am pretty sure that if FAA sends you a notice to stop flying your weather balloon, you stop flying it.

This is not true, as for certain weights of payloads are regulated, all these 'near-space' hobbyist balloons do not need to notify the FAA about anything. It's common courtesy to let them know you are going to send something up to 120,000' but not required.

Pointing out an exception does not make the previous comment false.

Are you sure? I looked into this extensively a few years ago, and while I don’t remember well enough to say with certainty, I recall there being strict equipment requirements (e.g. redundant payload releases) and a requirement to notify any ATC sectors your balloon will pass through.

It has been a few years since I did the research but Im positive you were allowed to send anything up under a specific weight (I do not remember the weights but I Think it was under 7lbs or 5lbs). Not a lot but quite a bit. Most people were putting a phone, gps, hand warmers, small housing and a canopy for when the balloon eventually burst. I never built one but it was really affordable to do if you wanted. Im sure there were restrictions like launching next to an international airport but beyond that there really weren't rules. It was common courtesy to file a NOTAM, but wasn't required.

I looked it up again. All un-crewed free balloons with payloads meeting certain conditions are required to be radar-reflective, and notice to ATC is mandatory; ATC is entitled to position reports if they want them. 14 CFR Part 101 Subpart D.

Any one of the following payload conditions trigger these restrictions:

- more than 4 lbs and more than 3 oz/in² on any side

- more than 6 lbs

- two or more packages totaling more than 12 lbs

- suspended from a rope or other device that requires more than 50 lbs to separate

So you’re right; small payloads don’t require any notice or special equipment.

They are cool little projects. Fun for adults and perfect for kids too. I still might one day.

>> Also this gem: "These clips also revealed flight in hazardous conditions including heavy rain, fog, snow, and close proximity to buildings in downtown Philadelphia. There was also posted proof of the pilot intentionally losing radio signal, and control, of his drone." That goes way beyong "innocent experimentation with your new drone" and into "deliberately endangering people and property", especially if you've been warned about it twice already. Youtube money must've been pretty good to keep going.

> I wish there were an exception for this. Likely the drone had programmed waypoints and was in an autonomous mode.

It's probably not a safe way to fly, at least in an urban area near buildings, like the article said he was. GPS can go batty sometimes with signals blocked or reflected off buildings. I'm also not a drone pilot, but I'm a little skeptical that a drone flying by waypoints can compensate very well for weather conditions (such as gusty wind).

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