Welcome to the forum Matt.
I can understand how it gets confusing at times but I can tell you without a doubt that some of the things you've posted are incorrect. It might be a difference in understanding etc but some of it is outright wrong.I am an FAA liaison (Charlotte NC region) and can speak with a good amount of certainty on this topic. While anyone with the FAA can make mistakes and say something that doesn't make sense so always keep that in mind.
- A) Yes intent is ALWAYS what determines which set of rules you fly under. This has always been the case so that part is accurate. Anything that is NOT 100% for your own personal enjoyment requires Part 107. You have 2 options in the US (excluding Govt and Public Use):
- 1) Part 107- by default we are all Part 107 (also known as Civil Operators).
- 2) If your flight falls completely within the Hobby/Recreational guidelines you have "protection" from Part 107 and you're operating under a protective bubble. If any part of your flight falls outside of this protective bubble the entire flight is by default Part 107 even if you don't have your Part 107 certificate. It's like being in a submarine under water. If any portion of the submarine exterior fails everything inside is now WET regardless of what your intentions were.
- B) Any drone with a camera attached has nothing to do with Commercial vs Hobby. Something is askew in that translation. There is ZERO logic in that statement.
- C) Merely posting a video on YT for others to enjoy does NOT constitute Non-Hobby. Some people put every waking moment of their lives on YT and it's pure hobby. This has been clarified by the FAA on several occasions.
- D) On the flip side if you have a business YT channel and you're posting to it that would be hard to say it's a hobby venture.
- E) The wording in some instances can be improved but it's not as complicated as you feel like it is. It just takes some time and being deeply involved to understand. Once you get a feel for it, it gets a lot easier.. usually.
- F) Flying over people is over people regardless if it's 1 or 1,000,000. If someone walks under your aircraft while you're flying you failed to prevent it. It's your responsiblity to either prevent someone from walking under your aircraft or not do the flight. Open Event or not you can't fly over people... To make matters worse for your interpretation... you could be flying and NOT actually over a person and still be in violation... Yep read that again. You could be flying around (not over people) keeping a fairly safe distance from people and have some type of mental or mechanical failure. If the trajectory of the aircraft takes it into a person or people you are again at fault. You are responsible for the aircraft and anything that happens to it from the moment it leaves terra firma until it touches back down again.
If you have the above correspondence in writing I would love to get a copy of it. This might bean opportunity for some additional training for one of our FAA employees. As I stated earlier they are human and do make mistakes but if the statement above is accurate we need to get some additional training to that employee ASAP! Feel free to PM me details if that works better for you.
While a Drone/sUAS could be any number of different aircraft (R/C plane, R/C Heli, MultiRotor, Model Aircraft etc) you have to understand that a Model Aircraft IS a Drone/sUAS. Drone/aUAS is all encompassing.
One thing I do agree with you.. Recreational Operators shouldn't need to worry with getting LAANC etc for flying in Controlled Airspace. They should be excluded from it until such time they are required to learn how to read and understand the FAA Sectional Charts. I have zero sympathy for not being able to fly for Kicks & Grins in Controlled Airspace.
Sincerely,
Allen
Allen,
Thank you for responding and clarifying things for me. By no means am I trying to find loopholes in the rules. Safety is of utmost importance to me. There is quite a bit of confusion about what defines "flying over people". If the FAA doesn't want drones flying over people, it should be clearly stated at the beginning of the rules, not deep into the rules and regs. Second, I believe confusion stems from FAA not keeping their websites synced and updated. On the drone zone recreational flyer dashboard at this address
FAADroneZone, which the FAA directs UAS pilots to use, the guidelines say this:
Nothing there says flying over people is prohibited. And if we refer to safety guidelines of a CBO, the AMA, it states to stay 25 feet away from people, structures and vehicles. Are they referring to vertical distance or horizontal???
But then go to
Recreational Flyers & Modeler Community-Based Organizations, which I didn't know about until recently, and it states the rules in detail and the "over people" rule is near the bottom.
So if there's room for improvement within the FAA, there it is. Same agency, different websites with differing information. I've been flying with the understanding that the drone zone rules are what I'm supposed to follow because the FAA directs me to register my drone and obtain airspace authorizations at this location since LAANC isn't available in my area, yet.
But reading the FAA's definition of "over people" you get this:
What I would like to emphasize is that the words "directly over" create a loophole for confusion.
Because later, the FAA says this:
So the question remains, "what is considered a "safe distance" from people? Are they referring to vertical distance? Horizontal distance??? I'm thinking 200' AGL is a safe distance, but I'm obviously wrong. One 107 pilot told me that three feet to the side of a person doesn't qualify as "over people" and is permissible. He saw that on his recurrent test.
I propose the FAA needs to update the drone zone website with the current and detailed regulations pertaining to hobbyists and be specific in their definitions. Most, if not all hobbyists, refer to dronezone and are everyday people with no knowledge of aeronautics or hidden 107 rules and waivers etc. Most hobbyists don't spend hours upon hours researching the rules to fly legally. I researched and got nothing but more questions. This will clear up a lot of confusion. Please feel free to take my complaint, for whatever it's worth, and submit it to whoever needs to see it. I'm not trying to excuse or condone any type of loopholes or violations. I want this to be as clear and easy for everyday people to be able to enjoy flying their drones without fear that the FEDS are going to beat down their door. Thank you
