whill11
lvl.2
United States
Offline
|
And that problem is, government regulation.
I did a couple hours research on rules and regulation for UAs today, and I came away a little depressed. Depressed, because I looked at the history and extrapolated into the future and saw us relegated to standing in our backyards taking videos of ourselves (an obvious exaggeration to make a point). And the reason I see this bleak outlook is, we have no legislative representation. More on that later.
From what I can tell, not counting the FAA, most new drone laws and regulations are knee-jerk reactions to three things:
1. A drone operator exercising poor judgment and causing an incident.
2. A video posted that causes public alarm—whether the operator was following good protocol and was doing nothing illegal, or not.
3. What I call the "paranoid faction" hollering about the invasion of their privacy. I'm sure you've seen the t-shirt attack video.
And seems, in each case, resulting laws are passed quickly and without input from those who have a good knowledge of what drones can and cannot do.
Case in point: The National Park Service. I'm willing to bet that the NPS ban on drones was a result of a handful of incidents. Someone buzzed a herd of bison, someone annoyed a group of fellow nature lovers, someone crashed into one of our national treasures like one of Yellowstone's hotspings. All very bad situations. And while I do understand their concerns, a blanket ban on drones seems excessive and unfair. No, applying for a permit, no following safe and prudent guidelines—no drones, period. Dead are my dreams--and everyone else's--of sweeping aerials of massive herds of Bison. Of stunning panoramas of Grand Prismatic Spring (if you've ever seen an aerial of it, you'll understand what I mean). And frankly, it makes me sad.
Even my home state of Tennessee has passed a law banning drones from all public gatherings over 100 people. And sadly, the law was a result of a Youtube video of a fireworks display where it was never shown that the operator was acting unsafely or in violation of any law. Again, I'm sure the law was passed without equal input from an experienced drone community.
And, I'm sad to say, the issue effects both hobbyist and commercial users alike. I see a huge commercial potential for drone operators. But it will never be realized as long as most of us have to operate under the radar. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that most people making money with drones are doing so without FAA approval (even making money from Youtube videos falls under this), and that the FAA has been very stingy passing out permits. The way I see it, this is restraint of trade. They are crushing a huge area of potential economic growth. I'll bet each of us can think of at least a dozen ways to make money with our birds.
So, this is the point where I'm supposed to tell everyone what needs to be done. But, honestly, I really don't know (the passing of new legislation and lobbying is way outside my scope of experience). But, I'm hoping someone out there does. But even with my limited knowledge, there are two things I know for sure about lawmakers:
1. Money talks.
2. The guy with the biggest voice usually get his way.
Don't assume that lawmakers will act in fairness and consider the best interests of us drone enthusiasts if we don't have an effective voice.
That brings up another question. Companies like DJI have a major stake in this, too. Does the fact that they are not a US corporation tie their hands as far as new legislation? If so, maybe they should consider another joint venture. I'm assuming the US is there biggest potential market.
There. I got that off my chest and I feel much better.
I was also curious, is this issue being discussed on the other forums?
|
|