Consumer Drone Safety Act

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/06/19/this-senator-wants-the-faa-to-clamp-down-on-the-drone-you-got-for-christmas/

Yup, something should be done of course. A private pilots license ... will never happen. The FAA can't ground a million recreational users because of their bureaucratic delays. I just returned from a week in Yellowstone. Every path has a sign with a DJI Quad and a big red slash through it saying so flying in the park. A few idiots ruined it for everyone. Although kinda nice to not have a bunch of noisy quads flying everywhere. Probably the best they will do is 400 foot above ground, line of sight, not over crowds or public buildings, not over traffic or highways and not within the air traffic area of any airport. I think we can all live with these kind of restriction. They will be similar to the AMA rules governing remote control aircraft.

The NPRM has already gone through the public comment period and they anticipate that it will become a ruling early next year. It is very favorable to commercial application of drones and is a common sense approach to regulating the commercial use of drones. Who would have thought the FAA would have come up with such a proposal. Good for them, you can read more about the detail if your interested at ACUAS.org.

Regarding drones in National Parks, they give all sorts of BS reasons why they banned drones, yet they allow people to base jump, hang glide, ride motorcycles, etc.. Drones are probably the most benin use of technology that can produce incredible footage that can be shared with others less fortunate that can't visit the park in person. Imagine what Yosemite might be like if they would have prevented Ansel Adams from shooting the valley. He spent weeks on the valley floor with his equipment and pack animals, which could be argued did far more damage to the eco system than a drone might, yet no one complained about that. I'm not either, just pointing out the hypocrisy, nor am I comparing Ansel Adams photography with footage from a drone. But who knows if there's an Ansel Adams with a drone out there? What is the National Park Service the arbiter of whether drones can fly there? If it wasn't for Ansel Adams there would be no Park Service and Yosemite would have been stripped of its timber decades ago.

And still they drowned Hetch Hetchy. You're right - no drone is likely to compare to that damage. I'd rather see drones than RV's ...!

I find that the sound they make is really annoying. I visit the national parks regularly and don't feel this is the place for them. The NPS policy on drones is one of the controversial ones that I fully support. The Ansel Adams analogy is really a stretch and makes no sense to me.

Agreed, keep them out of National Parks. Can't hunt or shoot in NPs so no problem at all keeping remote control aircraft out. The restrictions won't be all that bad since they will apply to all remote control aircraft. The AMA will be watching for too much restrictions.

What about the people who can't visit our National Parks? The Adam's analogy is not such a stretch when you consider that through the Sierra Club he brought incredible imagery to people who would never have the opportunity to see it first hand. That imagery was the inspiration for the creation of the NPS itself, yet if the NPS had been in place at the time he might not have been allowed to pack in so much equipment to take the shots in the first place. Drones can provide different, but equally impactful footage of these parks to people who will never experience them.

https://vimeo.com/111055495 Drones are not bad, Government bureaucratic pinheads are...

If you can't visit the National Parks there are plenty of inspirational videos that you can watch. PBS, Ken Burns, and the NPS website just to name a few. There are literally thousands of videos that have been made. In fact I have made some. An aerial perspective may give one a great overview of the park but for me the interesting details are on the ground. No disrespect but comparing the ecological impact Ansel Adams and his gear had on the park when he sold his first Yosemite photos in 1922 to the millions of visitors the parks receive today really isn't anywhere near the same.

As a federal park ranger for over 32 years, now retired, I saw the harmful impacts visitors had on the natural resources on a daily basis. Unauthorized land clearing, poaching, off-road vehicle operation, woods fires from unauthorized camping, vandalism to historic sites just to mention a few as well as daily incidents of disorderly conduct and criminal acts. The biggest dilemma for management in dealing with these type problems is balancing the restriction of personal freedoms vs. the need to protect the resource.

Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against RC aircraft. I have flown them but have done so from a nearby RC club field and my brother's farm. I would never fly one in a park or any other public place because I am not the only one there and I don't want to annoy or endanger others.

Oh no ... Sierra club, you mean that private organization that believes it should have access to everywhere and lock it up so no one else can visit or see it unless it's through their eyes and their cameras. No one else can drive in because they might ruin it for everyone yet they have their big gas guzzling super trucks and now we know drones that are authorized entrance. It's easy for someone in the big cities like New York or LA to agree when they will never have the ability to live in the beauty of the mountain and deserts and take it away from those who live in these areas and enjoy and protect the land. I will give in they have helped save some areas but they sure have taken a huge amount of America away from those who can't walk, hike or have illness, old age etc etc and now can never have access to enjoy it. They indeed have saved a lot of beautiful land for the young and healthy and their members to explore. The western states where the Federal Govt has raped by taking land, restricting use as a wilderness area are not friends with MOST of what they do. Our tax dollars are wasted by the billions protecting endangered insects that evolution should have got rid of a long time ago. Sierra Club is not a friend in most cases.

I know, this is a hot subject, very political and an argument that no one will ever win ;)

Hopefully we all can agree to disagree regarding the Sierra Club. Peace and Love to all ;)

Although this is a dated thread, I would like to weigh in...I understand both agruments, but have to concur with Mark29 on the comparrison to Ansel Adams, apples and oranges...don't get that either.
The drones should be regulated somehow, for obvious safety reasons. I know that if I film on private property and sometimes in parks etc. I need to get permission. You can't just having them flying around unregulated, that could be a very serious safety issue as I have witnessed with a few knuckheads. All we can hope for, is that the regulations imposed, will still enable us the opportunity to create stunning videos!