A 15 year-old kid lost a drone at a temple up in Nagano during a processional, evidentally he was just scolded, but it could have been worse. (I think it was a Hubsan X4.) Evidentally he ran out of battery and it just dropped. (Video here: ) No injuries, but freaked some folks out. He was running a live stream and was not paying enough attention to the battery...
So, it looks like a lot of really interesting places are now going to be off limits unless you can negotiate a filming permit. I am going to try to talk with the police and some of the tourism bureaus and see how difficult this is going to become. Just a matter of time before someone actually gets hurt I think.
They are also planning to have drones with a greater than 5km range be licensed. Most drones (including the Inspire) won't require it. But all purchases will have to register with the police. (I'll be interested to see what happens with the DIY folks).
I was totally depressed about this last night. But started to try to find the bright side a bit today. *sigh* Super frustrating.
Yeah, not surprised. In Australia, it's already illegal to fly closer than 30 metres to public gatherings of any kind. That situation is a no-brainer but sad to see ALL public parks being banned. Aren't too many places left!
And in typical Japanese fashion, there are multiple angles captured of the event because there are cameras everywhere :-)
I find myself increasingly trying to fly in stealth, avoiding being seen. Not because the law prohibits me from flying around here, but because these news stories are all so negative that I feel like the less people see of us flying the better. I know it's mostly in my head because in reality nearly all my experiences with people seeing me fly have been positive. Maybe I need to stop reading and watching these stories.
lvl.4
Second Officer
lvl.3
