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.
“Wake up patriots ! The clock is ticking.”
Airliners flying across the US should have to deal with 15 different FAA’s as they do so? Clearly you aren’t in the aviation business. Also, you might not be a constitutional scholar. Southwest airlines based in Dallas, taking off for Denver for commercial purposes, is very clearly engaging in interstate commerce. There is a constitutional clause about that that kind of thing you might find interesting.
The FAA, cant believe I would ever go to bat for _them_. But yeah, they aren’t unconstitutional as a concept, and no, the existence of an FAA is not exactly a “patriots arise” moment.
Fly your little toy over my land and I will not have a problem but your robot is going to be a pile of parts.
“This is trespass. Over peoples private property”
No, you cannot trespass ABOVE property. You sound like the old nuts in 1908 screaming and shaking fists at the Wright brothers circling above, cruelly curdling the milk in your goats.
Brrrrrt!
Skyscraper codes are replete with airspace
Whether little drones are aircraft is the question
Are kites aircraft?
“Judicious use of some fine aluminum or titanium sheet would also render it impervious to birdshot”
LOL,,, Titanium foil! Cant wait for some lunatic to freak out as they blast away. And the drone sits there and hovers just the same, like some little hovering Terminator. All it’ll need then is a little mechanical arm that comes out and gives them the finger.
Titanium sheet... perfect.
As I said in previous post, I agree with mission of FAA in principle and the Constitution needs to be appropriately amended after the fact.
Regarding my wake up call concerning the corrupt feds unconstitutionally expanding their powers, youve evidently chosen to hit the snooze button.
Use a laser and try to be fry the optics.
Full choke 35 inch goose gun
3&1/2 inch mag
Number two BB
MAKE PESKY GNAT IS TERMINATED
No nutball, by hope you get one soon, I hoped you shoot one down, bag one...”get one”, not purchase a drone. And yes, people should be responsible and fly them above empty lots, looking down at the weeds.
What a boring bleak world. All because you’re afraid someone will see you, and maybe conduct reconnaissance to come steal your lawnchair. lol
Like I said, you go bro. Keep things out of your airspace. If I were you id publish my own little TFR with altitude restrictions!
The rights to build a skyscraper are not the same as “airspace”. Above their roofs, they control nothing. And like antennae, skyscrapers have areas where they cannot be built such as airport approaches.
But they only own what they occupy physically, same as your 2 story home.
Good for her.
No amendment is needed to create an FAA. Its covered well in the interstate commerce clause as a federal power. And this is not the tortured 1930s version.
Sure glad you don’t care.
Bwa ha ha ha ha...
Did I limit the flying to places with weeds? No.
I don’t have people flying drones over my home. The people around here have more brains cells than a grapefruit.
It’s also a good way to scout out property that a criminal might want to rob.
Yes it is.
I’m not upset that drones exist. I don’t care if folks have a great time with them. I just think you can enjoy the hobby and respect others while you are doing it.
Why would I want to defend myself for flying my drone over someone else back yard and taking pictures?
People can’t see the individual rights implications? Really?
Yes, meth addicted house breakers often use high tech toys costing 500-2000 bucks to scout things out. You watch too any movies. Break ins are not like stealing the pink panther diamond... or like Tom Cruise hanging from the ceiling like in Mission Impossible.
All houses have the same easily fenced stuff. A decent TV, some jewelry, a few guns, maybe some cash hidden in the normal places. They knock on the door. If you answer they ask you to buy magazines or for directions. If you don’t, they kick in the door and take the above named items.
I always hear people who think there is a week of “casing” going on. Its sweet that such innocence still exists.
Poor analogy. One is purposely under control, and the other is not. However, the jamming technique is a good one, although it may be illegal. I believe there may be systems that shoot nets. Anything that gums up a propeller would be useful. Minimize damage to the drone, yet can obtain possession perhaps, and call police or whoever, to resolve.
Boom. Strong work!
“but if it is close enough to my property”
...then it’s not on your property and it’s not your business.
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