Drones banned over downtown Atlanta

[Ervin Farkas]

The use of drones has been banned practically in the whole downtown and midtown Atlanta by the GA Building Authority chaired by the Governor himself.

Article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Georgia: Keep drones away from the Gold Dome | Political Insider blog

Here's the actual whereas and therefore: https://cmgajcpolitics.files.wordpre...resolution.pdf

TV news spot: http://forum.dji.com/thread-23775-1-1.html

And your opinion?

[Les Wilson]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

.....And your opinion?

Nice fact oriented post Ervin. My two cents are that as long as governing authorities can't act to protect the public interest and safety due to lack of legal authority, then laws like this will be made. This is actually good for drone operators who already know it was a bad idea and wouldn't do it. With this law, those who can't make that judgement have it made for them.

[Greg Boston]

Ok, let's keep this on topic, civil, and without over the top hype scenarios.

My opinion, is that many of these recently enacted bans are done out of misunderstanding. I think that 99 percent of flyers are really wanting the beautiful, wide angle scenic aerials that give a new dimension to photo/video much as the GoPro and others did for sports/action photo/video.

In order to be a free society, we must accept some risk of accident/injury. There are already civil remedies for events like that. Could someone with nefarious intent use a UAV for such purposes? Yes it's possible. But how much liberty are we willing to concede for the sake of safety and security?

That being said, in this instance, there is a nearby heliport and that could be problematic due to helicopters having the same versatility in their operation as multi rotors do. But I also feel that the FAA should be the ones defining the limitations, not local governments.

-gb-

[Mike Watson]

If the Georgia Building Authority (?) decided to not let planes fly over downtown Atlanta, would they have that authority?

I'm confused. Are quadcopters regulated as aircraft or some kind of ground equipment?

Every knee-jerk law I see made, I roll my eyes harder at the lawmakers.

But how much liberty are we willing to concede for the sake of safety and security?

Ten years ago I'd have assured you that the TSA would either have a little more common sense a decade later, or the good-thinking people of America would have chased them back to the hole they crawled out of. As it turns out... I was wrong.

[Mark Williams]

I only fly my quad over my own property or where I have permission from the land owner to do so. Never over people, buildings or cars. About 60% of the people I personally know who fly could care less about safety or whether their craft is being a nuisance. I think that figure is probably indicative of flyers as a whole in the U.S. No wonder government is rushing to enact silly rules. It is because most people just don't give a crap about acting responsibly.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Mark Williams

It is because most people just don't give a crap about acting responsibly.

And they never will. So the question is, do you annihilate a burgeoning niche video industry? Because this will kill all those drone companies and lose every job associated with them.

[Tim Paynter]

This is traditional over-stepping of authority and the beginning of a long trend of regs like this one. Five miles? That is a long ways in an urban center. Herlicopters should be able to transistion to flight lever in a lot less territory.

But then, irresponsible people are at the heart of it all, and a fairly uninformed public.

[Mark Williams]

Originally Posted by Gary Huff

And they never will. So the question is, do you annihilate a burgeoning niche video industry? Because this will kill all those drone companies and lose every job associated with them.

IMO unless you have a FAA license/waiver new drones being manufactured should be chipped for a maximum 100 ft. altitude and 200 ft. range. More in line with a toy. This may kill the low end of the industry but not the upper end. If you have an FAA license/waiver then your drone is unlocked to fly under the parameters established by the FAA for commercial operation.

[Mike Watson]

The problem with the height/distance limit is that the toy drones don't have GPS in them, and don't go much farther/higher than that anyhow (and probably wouldn't do much damage). It's the bigger ones that seem to be getting in trouble.