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Comment by bigdubs | Hacker News Reader

It follows because you may be taking off from private land but you're operating in federal airspace (all airspace is federal in the US)

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All airspace? Not even airspace above, say, 500 feet?

Am I literally walking through federal airspace right now?

The U.S. Constitution is pretty explicit about physical space that is allocated to the federal government and the reasons (post offices and post roads, military installations, and that's about it), so laying claim to every square inch of "air" above that land seems to be quite a stretch.

Yes, all airspace. If you're out walking, driving, or erecting a structure, you're entitled to its usage provided you're not creating an air navigation hazard. The general understanding is that you're entitled to airspace on your property, and to a limited extent on the property of others, insofar as the usage of that airspace is necessary to use the land itself. Flying anything is not, from a legal and regulatory perspective, understood to be a usage related to the land itself.

This issue has been settled for quite some time in US law. The main grey areas that exist are debates over what sorts of exceptions should be made for reasonable use of UAV/drones at low altitudes.

I've always wondered about the edge conditions.

Would flying a drone indoors require permission from FAA? What about a daredevil jump on a motorcycle?

As long as there's a roof, you can fly whatever you want indoors without the FAA's interference.

As for airborne ground vehicles - it's difficult to imagine a situation where it would legitimately be a concern, which is why it's a grey area :)

I'm actually in the UK and it appears until relatively recently, the CAA did assert control over indoor airspace. But recently they've relaxed the rules and said if there's no possiblity of escape, you can do what you want.

That does mean technically that if you're flying a drone indoors, the legality depends on how wide you open the windows.

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