UAS: The FAA Tightens the Screws

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

What we can do is continue to report even if it takes an act of Congress to get the FSDOs out of their office. Paper trails can sometimes help.

ps- you can fill hours of airtime for years with what we don't see in the "news."

 

[R.Perry]

There is a lot of talk about illegal activities here in the US. My question is as an operator that follows the rules what are we doing about it as it appears we are the ones complaining about the illegal activity this is not something I see in the news on a daily basis so what illegal activities are we referring to and if we want to put a stop to it what can we do?

I think one of the main complaints is doing commercial work without a license. Endangering people with flights that could potentially injure someone is another big issue. Many on Utube seem to want to show the world their inexperience and lack of concern for safe operations. If someone is attempting to operate a legitimate business, and another person with no license, no insurance comes in and works for ridiculously low rates that hurts the industry in general.
That is why I got out of real estate photography, too many cut throats working for nothing. I had a gentleman call me about mapping 160 acres, with travel, time on site, and DD processing I quoted him $400.00. Someone came along and did the job for a lot less, I don't know how much less but he told me about half.
If I was someone wanting to make a living at aerial photography I would be in the poor house.
What can be done about it, very little actually. Until the FAA actually starts enforcing the laws we can ***** and complain and that accomplishes nothing.

I don't think most people flying drones really understand what the FAA inspectors must do, and we all must remember they are government employees. They are responsible for general aviation aircraft, commercial aircraft compliance with both operations and maintenance operations. They must work with ATC and any problems or mistakes they encounter. Now they have been handed the drone world that encompasses everyone from the hobbyist to the commercial operator.

I can not speak for all FAA operations, but they seem a little like police in the fact they don't seem to be proactive, but reactive to problems, and that isn't their fault, there are too few of them.

 

[Phaedrus]

The FAA does not seem to care much about remote pilots flying without a certificate. They are focused on safety, period. Unlicensed would be secondary to the safety violation. Their own reporting site makes it clear that even with video evidence they are not going to investigate without other witnesses.

The bottom line is they simply do not have enough personnel to take sUAS enforcement very seriously. People know this and feel lees constrained about openly ignoring FAA rules.

 

[R.Perry]

The bottom line is they simply do not have enough personnel to take sUAS enforcement very seriously. People know this and feel lees constrained about openly ignoring FAA rules.

Very true, until someone gets hurt, then they will react. I think where a person is operating can make a difference. We see more enforcement on the Eastern part of the United States as the Western. Also if you are in an area where the FAA people don't have a lot to do they may pay a little more attention to someones operation.