Posted on 09/01/2016 9:57:26 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
"It came over my airspace, 25 or 30 feet above my trees, and hovered for a second. I blasted it to smithereens."
A woman in Virginia shot down a drone flying near her property in June of this year. It's at least the third time this has happened in the U.S., with previous incidents in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Originally reported in the local Fauquier Times and subsequently covered by Ars Technica, the shooter was Jennifer Youngman, a neighbor to actor and director Robert Duvall. She had been cleaning her shotguns on the porch when two men stopped on a nearby road and started flying a drone around the general vicinity. Youngman left the drone alone while it flew around nearby fields, but prepared to take it down and ultimately did when it flew over her land.
As she told Ars Technica:
I loaded my shotgun and took the safety off, and this thing came flying over my trees. I don't know if they lost command or if they didn't have good command, but the wind had picked up. It came over my airspace, 25 or 30 feet above my trees, and hovered for a second. I blasted it to smithereens.
Shooting down drones is a bit of a legal gray area in the United States at the moment. Opponents point out that, according to FAA classifications, drones are technical aircraft and interfering with the flight of one is a federal crime. So far no shooters have been prosecuted on the federal level. In fact other drone shooters, like William Merideth, have ultimately been cleared of all charges, though the owner of that drone is still pursuing a civil suit for $1,500 in damages.
To her credit, Youngman told Ars Technica that she went about shooting down the drone with 7.5 birdshot, which is both the most effective way to take a drone out of the sky, but also ensures that the projectiles won't do any harm on the way down. The drone, however, still can. Youngman said the crash left "two punctures in [her] lawn tractor."
The best way to avoid that might be to not shoot down the thing down in the first place.
The new version of skeet shooting? I’m in.
Don’t fly drones over the yards of rednecks....
Actually, the issue of air rights arose a century ago with large heavier-than-air craft. The issue was wrested into Federal control, with the rationale that operators of aircraft should not need to be always asking permission of every landowner. Nobody’s made an accusation of drone retaliation, er, fly in Federal criminal court YET. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t ever.
anything above 300 feet and you’re going to have a hard time hitting it with shot anyway
but if it is close enough to my property and especially close enough to take pictures in my windows, then I will do whatever it takes to prevent invasion of privacy
Now you know.......
“Normal” aircraft could do that with telescopes, keep in mind.
Hell, let’s make it an Olympic sport!...................
She should have told the guys to fly it away from her property since she saw them get out of their car and start playing with it. But then I read this:
“I don’t know if they lost command or if they didn’t have good command, but the wind had picked up. It came over my airspace, 25 or 30 feet above my trees, and hovered for a second. I blasted it to smithereens. “
Yeah. Real brains right there. Did this airhead even give them a chance to do so? Maybe she should have used her mouth instead of getting trigger happy.
Now these guys can make enough cash to buy a bunch of them.
You do not own airspace beyond what a legally built structure occupies. The ignorant ass was speaking about her “airspace”. The FAA does not agree.
Charles Krauthammer predicted three years ago that the first person to do this would become a folk hero.
I can see a business opportunity here!
Drone Skeet Shooting Ranges popping up all across the world!....................
No, you do not own airspace above your property.
A thread from yesterday on this topic with 60+ comments if anyone cares to read them.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3464600/posts
If a person wants to fly their drone over another person’s property, they should keep the elevation in excess of three hundred feet.
It wouldn’t be as noticeable and wouldn’t be seen quite as negatively.
I would be annoyed if someone flew their drone over my head when I’m out back of my home. I would consider it tantamount of spying or an infraction of my privacy/space.
My daughter tells me that a ‘drone’ flies around her property around the same time every day. She thinks it’s a military drone from Eglin/Hurlburt which is right next to her property. It’s small, about a foot or so in diameter. She says it ‘watches’ her while she is doing yard work or feeding the chickens, etc.
She is tempted to take her shotgun out..............
Kind of expensive hobby. I do remember in the army one day, they had us shoot the Vulcan at model airplanes. Only one of us got a hit though.
Lol! I thought the same thing!!!!
Not many months ago we had one hovering near one of my daughter’s bedroom windows. It appeared to have a camera attached. I looked everywhere and never figured out who it belonged to. I live in the city, so shooting it wasn’t possible. As close as it was to our windows, if I lived outside the city limits, I would have shot it down.
Kind of a set-back for quick delivery of emergency medical supplies to natural disaster areas or donated hearts, kidneys, livers, etc. in transplant emergencies.
Not to mention all the cr@p people buy from Amazon, LOL!
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