As these incidents continue to pile up, I fear a not so pleasant ending in sight for the rest of us. Rather than punish the entire community, I hope they really hammer the individuals flying irresponsibly to send a message that this careless behavior has to stop!
Couldn't they just shield highly restricted flying areas with a strong signal in the RC range to block people from flying? But this could probably in turn be used to infringe on our freedoms as drone pilots huh?
If you are caught in Australia flying in restricted air space or within 30m of other people it could cost you 1500 penalty units or 1500 * $125 = $187,500.oo which is the max penalty. A case in Queensland saw a fine of 100 penalty units ($12,500.oo) when some drone pilot flew it into a football stadium.
Be warned, the Civil Avialtion Act in Australia has big fines.
This practice will spoil it for everyone and there are already a number of national parks prohibiting drone flying. We will need to encourage all to follow the rules or we will lose it.
Maztek Posted at 2015-10-10 13:15
Couldn't they just shield highly restricted flying areas with a strong signal in the RC range to blo ...
The problem of using any type of active signal blocking is that you'd have to block 27 and 72 MHz signals as well as 900 MHz, then 2.4 and 5.8 GHz frequencies.
900 MHz is used by a lot of law enforcement for radio communications. 2.4 and 5.8 GHz are used by a lot of computer wireless routers and all Blue Tooth / hands free devises.
I think that it's silly to allow any aircraft to fly over towns and cities.., but it happens. I have seen many plane crashes in residential/commercial/public areas.., and everyone loves it when it happens. (In contrast to a drone crash)
So what's the difference? A drone is much lighter.., and less deadly mechanically and physically. So what else makes it different?
If the pilot has a licence.., registered vehicle.., and air space clearance.., then crashing is considered an acceptable risk.
So, is what's good for the goose, also good for the gander? Or will drone flyers always be seen as "evil".
Basically.., I don't think drone flying will become illegal. Rather than eliminating the problem by removing the drones.., ID's and registration may be a simple solution, just like guns, cars, motorbikes, boats, and pretty much anything else that is remotely dangerous.