It seems that the media is fueling negative reactions to drone use. I wonder who is to blame?   (NOT ME?)

In Canada we have a more relaxed law, This was copied from the government web site. Along with do's and don'ts.

Do you fly your drone for fun? Does it weigh 35 kg or less?
If you answered yes to both questions, you do not need special permission to fly. However, you are still responsible for being safe at all times. Not doing so can put lives, aircraft, and property at risk.
Always follow the basic Do’s and Don’ts for flying your drone safely and legally.

Do:
Fly your drone during daylight and in good weather (not in clouds or fog).
Keep your drone in sight, where you can see it with your own eyes – not only through an on-board camera, monitor or smartphone.
Make sure your drone is safe for flight before take-off. Ask yourself, for example, are the batteries fully charged? Is it too cold to fly?
Know if you need to apply for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC).
Respect the privacy of others – avoid flying over private property or taking photos or videos without permission.

Don’t fly:
closer than nine km (five nm) from any aerodrome (i.e. airport, heliport, helipad or seaplane base, etc.)
higher than 90 metres (300 feet) above the ground
closer than 150 metres (500 feet) from people, animals, buildings, structures, or vehicles
in populated areas or near large groups of people, including sporting events, concerts, festivals, and firework shows
near moving vehicles, highways, bridges, busy streets, or anywhere you could endanger or distract drivers
within restricted and controlled airspace, including near or over military bases, prisons, and forest fires
anywhere you may interfere with first responders
I'm sure every country has very similar laws maybe just the distances might change slightly.


The thing is there are just a few yahoos OR maybe more than a few, that get into the news from Peeping Toms in Vancouver or someone using the drones in restricted areas. It's amazing how many complaints there are about this! Look into it.
Drones in the hands of irresponsible people are giving the general public and the news stations something to complain about. How many of us talk to others that don't have drones and the first thing they bring up is the negative things about drone users that get into the news.
Using the drone at night is against the law in every country yet you see lots of videos of night shots over highly populated areas (another restriction). We are shooting ourselves in the foot because some of us think we are above the law!
Unless we police ourselves the politicians and police will do it for us.  Illegal drone footage should be removed from the DJI web site for a start. If we shouldn't be showing footage that is breaking the law! Yet we think it fantastic. Night shots over cities, flying in the day is also forbidden. Flying in clouds or beyond visual range is illegal.  Also reviews of drones, look how many people break the law just reviewing them!

You are correct, if you don't follow the rules, they will get tighter.
There are simple rules as to why no night flights or flying in the clouds.  These drones don't have the sensors to detect aircraft heading straight for them.  Plus the drone pilot can't react fast enough. If you want special exemptions, you can't request it through an SFOC.  Plus you need insurance coverage.  Transport Canada wants you to respect others around, and laws are the only way to do it.

Countries that regulate drones There are more, please add to the list if you know of any other countries. I gleaned what I could from different sites on the internet. Please correct any mistakes.

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bermuda
Bolivia
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Estonia
France
Hong Kong
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Kenya
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
Nambia
New Zealand
Norway
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States


Countries that have banned drones: Anyone know of any more? I heard some USA states might be banning drones. (Texas?)

India
Sweden
Bangladesh

Read this the other day where changes may be coming pretty soon.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ot ... gulations-1.3810123

Copied from Transport Canada's website:

More and more people are flying drones and UAVs. Transport Canada regulates their use to keep the public and other airspace users safe. Before you take to the skies, make sure you understand the rules and follow them. Not doing so could put lives at risk and cost you up to $25,000 in fines and/or jail time.

Hobbyist in the U.S. Can fly at night as long as they are following a community based organization's (such as AMA) guidelines.  The FAA confirmed this was the case.

these guys are right

This guy has night shots in the city

Cactus Bert Posted at 2016-10-23 09:47
Countries that regulate drones There are more, please add to the list if you know of any other count ...

Thailand have not banned drones, but we do have strict regulations

yup tons of those youtubers are giving a terrible educated first impression, meaning millions of viewers are going to try to fly these things within cities, hopefully the sales person educates them before the purchase can even happen.

other then that the hype is real: https://teespring.com/shop/drone-T-gear even DJI inspired shirts are coming into existence.

This is a good website tracking drone laws, but some countries seem out of date. It will tell the date at the foot of each page. Thailand was OK to fly according to them, but that was back in February 2015.... so better check elsewhere too.

https://uavsystemsinternational.com/drone-laws-by-country/

alanjh Posted at 2016-10-23 10:52
Read this the other day where changes may be coming pretty soon.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/otta ...

I think licensing to know the rules would be a good idea.  But the government also has to ensure there is some way to get insurance on the cheap.

You'd think that if it's such an issue... the certification with the FAA would be more than punching in your name and credit card number then "reading" a few lines of Don'ts. Perhaps a comprehensive test to prove that people understand what they can or cannot do would be more effective. The current process such a joke!

Cactus Bert Posted at 2016-10-23 04:47
Countries that regulate drones There are more, please add to the list if you know of any other count ...

This list isn't accurate.. I dunno about the others, but neither Thailand or South Africa have banned them (SA has strict regulations; Thailand too.. but just in the big cities, you can fly without much trouble in the islands etc.).

In New York there are so many laws that most are not taken seriously even by the sheriffs and state troopers. So if the state legislature bans drones we will throw it on the heap and all have a good laugh. ( I expect my friend from down under will follow me here and troll me once again)

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 10:49
For Cactus Bert & watuse...
Before watching please take a nitro &, whatever you do, don't be standin ...

hahaha! awesome!

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 07:49
For Cactus Bert & watuse...
Before watching please take a nitro, grab a defibrilator &, whatever you ...

Great video but very boring, it was 12 minutes to long to watch. The best part was your oxymoron at the end when you stated you support law enforcement. TOO Funny!
Also why attack me? I'm just the messenger. I speak only the truth. Agreed some countries may not have a total ban, but extremely hard to get a license or permit to fly which effectively is a ban to the hobbyist.

"Malaysia: While we are waiting for more information from the Transport Minister we do know that Malaysian Drones need approval to fly for both hobbyist and commercial use cases"

Hahahahah!

You've never been to Malaysia...

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-23 10:57
"Malaysia: While we are waiting for more information from the Transport Minister we do know that Mal ...

Speaking of Malaysia, I'd be extremely cautious in that country and all the others, including, let's say, Indonesia, that are fans of corporal punishment.

50 lashes with a bamboo cane in the town square would not be a good time.

As someone who has lived here more than 10 years I very much doubt the local police would care in the slightest, as long as you're not annoying people.

That goes double for not annoying any VIPs (which is the same anywhere in the world; Malaysia is just a bit more honest about it)

The answer in the USA is simple.  Drones smaller than 250 grams. (.55lb) do NOT have to be registered and are EXEMPT from regulations.

The Mavic is drastically smaller & lighter than the Phantom.  If this trend continues...  We will have drones with all the same fantastic capabilities... that are small enough to be EXEMPT from these regulations.

Make drones that weigh less than 250 grams.  Problem solved.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 07:49
For Cactus Bert & watuse...
Before watching please take a nitro, grab a defibrilator &, whatever you ...

Fantastic.  I really enjoyed that!  

Hope you had a license to do that...  

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 12:17
I wouldn't expect your attention span to exceed more than a few minutes.  I do support law enforce ...

I'm getting the understanding that Dirty Bird is try to do his best to discredit me without even knowing me or who I am in the community.

It's interesting that a person can say anything on the internet just on a whim with no facts to back them up. When others are trying their best to keep the freedoms we have and not have them taken away.

I am all for teaching the younger generation about proper safely with drones or whatever else they are trying to learn. Teach them the proper rules and safety at the start so that innocent people don't get hurt or injured.

People are mostly fickle, take the red sweater dude on the election debates. Just having him speak sets a chain of events off of red sweater sales! People start showing drone videos breaking the law or if they are not breaking the law they don't state they have permission letting others assume it's OK for me to copy you. I know that people follow by example, good or bad.

I've did my time volunteering in the Air force as well as my time as a Boy Scout leader. I was a Millwright in the sawmill industry all my life. (I used to have a saying: The more we idiot proof something on the job site the better they make the idiots) I don't believe that anymore, people,.... most people do want to do well and succeed. I also was a First Aid attendant in the sawmill. I'll know first hand what happens when people try to break or bend the safety or training rules. I've been in the back of too many ambulances rushing young adults to the hospital not to have that fully engrained in my memory.

I know we will alway run into the Dirty Birds, it's a fact of life and all we can do is feel sorry for them. THEY JUST DON"T GET IT! Some never change.

Lets all stand together and keep the freedom of being able to fly drones as a hobby intact, without all the red tape and bureaucracy and erosion of what were our rights. There is only one way..... act responsible, don't be a Dirty Bird!

Personally I don't know Dirty Bird, he might be an OK dude???
But I cannot condone his disrespect for others.

The new quads are so easy to use that it's actually to their detriment. They're so accessible even a child could fly one, and unfortunately also the adults with the sense and maturity of a child. I wish it was more like R/C, where you had to have a certain level of knowledge, skill, and dedication to succeed. People that could fly an R/C aircraft usually also had enough common sense to avoid causing problems, so the hobby was pretty low on the public's radar. That's not really the case with drones.

One thing I'm really concerned about is that up to this point, FPV was really only in the realm of the R/C hobbyists (to my point above). While I think the new DJI FPV goggles are awesome, I can pretty much guarantee that someone is going to hit a bystander while using them, and I think you can imagine how that's going to go.

Cactus Bert Posted at 2016-10-24 01:05
Great video but very boring, it was 12 minutes to long to watch. The best part was your oxymoron a ...

here you could report all his videos here to the FAA https://www.faa.gov/contact/safety_hotline/

What we need as I have stated plainly before is safety awareness with knowledge of the rules and regulations for the area you wish to fly your drone in. I personally do not want to see us turning each other over to the authorities. First of all it give the powers that be more fuel to regulate us to the point of extinction. Second is it's not cool.

What we can do with improper operation of drones in videos is point out what not to do when flying a drone. The guy with the drone in China flying from a balcony is an excellent learning video of what not to do. Another option is if your an administrator just simply remove the offending video post if it serves no purpose other than to irritate others who what to get the word out about how not to get negative media attention while operating a drone.

We just want to fly our drones and have fun doing it.

There's a little rebel in us all, just do it safely.  

Cactus Bert Posted at 2016-10-23 16:52
What we need as I have stated plainly before is safety awareness with knowledge of the rules and reg ...

Couldn't agree more. Reporting is just going to harm this activity, the regulators aren't going to differentiate between drone owners complaining about someone being irresponsible and the general public doing the same.

And also yes, there's a time/place to bend the rules. I don't always follow the speed limit, but I'm not going to be acting a fool in traffic. Being smart and having fun are not mutually exclusive.

Just read this, more negative publicity

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/10/23/authorities-open-fire-at-unmanned-drone-during-north-dakota-pipeline-protests.html

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 10:49
For Cactus Bert & watuse...
Before watching please take a nitro, grab a defibrilator &, whatever you ...

Holy Cow! I personally think that was amazing!!! Thanks for sharing!  

I don't have a drone yet, but I've been researching and waiting for the "next best thing" for over a year.  I thought that was going to be the Karma. Turns out it's the Mavic.  Meanwhile I've just been trying to educate myself. I was already aware of the Litchi app, but I had no idea you could be that precise in the waypoints!  I think it's amazing you were able to spiral around so close to these buildings going from a high elevation to a lower elevation. Incredible!  

watuse,This isn't kindergarten. Nobody likes a tattle tail. Not to mention he had police involvement.  I'm guessing you probably don't have many friends, but you can always change.  There's hope! I mean seriously. Why would you join a drone community and threaten to turn in your peers?

trance728 Posted at 2016-10-23 18:23
Just read this, more negative publicity

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/10/23/authorities-open-fire ...

This it in a nutshell. Todays news making drones look bad again.

MANDAN, N.D. –  Law enforcement officials fired at an unmanned aircraft and a large group of opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline blocked a North Dakota state highway Sunday, capping a weekend of protests.

A helicopter helping monitor a protest against the four-state pipeline Sunday morning was approached by a drone in a "threatening manner," the Morton County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. An officer in the helicopter told law enforcement on the ground that the pilot and passengers were "in fear of their lives" and that the unmanned aircraft was going after them. Less-than-lethal ammunition damaged the droned, which was then landed by its operator.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said drones flying near protests and near the area where hundreds have been camping out are not being operated according to federal regulations.

"Reports of drones not being operated within the (Federal Aviation Administration) guidelines or in a reckless and unsafe manner are being investigated and forwarded to the Morton County States Attorney's office for prosecution," Kirchmeier said in a statement. Two people operating drones during the protests have already been charged.

Here is where we might end up, drone size that is.  This is videoed at "night" in Times Square NY.  The machine that was used weights ~30grams.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2016-10-23 22:49
For Cactus Bert & watuse...
Before watching please take a nitro, grab a defibrilator &, whatever you ...

Brilliant, I loved every minute of it and the soundtrack gave it the dramatic force of it.  

trance728 Posted at 2016-10-23 15:23
Just read this, more negative publicity

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/10/23/authorities-open-fire ...

It is a federal crime to shoot an airborn drone.  This applies to law enforcement also.  Those cops broke federal law and should be punished.