A colleague of mine went for a quick trip with his ahem 'phantom' over Stonehenge last week while the monument was closed. (and flying within all the rules).
The National Trust Nazi's rather than approach him from outside the wire decided to throw stones at his platform with the intent of knocking it out of the sky...
If the attempt had been successful... any idea what the stance would be on this from a legal perspective?
I'm just curious
There seems to be a general "feeling" from the public that drones are bad and you can do what you like to stop them... which also includes picking them up and stealing them if they crash, or throwing stones at them, or didn't the police once grab the controller off of someone flying.
I'm sure they could have been done for criminal damage, whilst the stone throwers would have claimed they were keeping the monument and people safe (although obviously not) Until something actually ends up in court though, it's really hard to tell what will happen
I had someone throw a stone at my tricopter once. I was flying along a river near where I live, I had done a couple of passes before I noticed some people on one of the banks, an older man and some kids. As soon as I realised they were there I avoided that bit, but when I watched the footage back I saw him throwing a stone at it on one of the passes!
At first I felt a bit bad as I hadn't realised they were there, but the more I thought about it the more it annoyed me. I wasn't flying low enough to give them any cause for concern (other than the default assumption that I'm trying to spy on them or something, copters are good for spying when travelling about 40mph don't you know?), and if he had actually hit the tricopter then it could have easily fallen out of the sky and ended up falling somewhere close to them, then who would be to blame?
There really is a public mindset (no doubt due to the media) that drones are bad and anyone flying one must be up to no good. Whenever people find out I fly them the first thing they ask (after how high can it go) is 'oh, do you use that to spy on your neighbours? HA HA HA HA!'. Usually I try and explain that a camera on a stick would be a far easier way to spy on anyone if I really wanted to, but that normally makes me look worse...
I'm not aware of anything in the UK media, but in the states a guy got in trouble for shooting a quadcopter out of the sky as it was flying near his property. He was done for criminal damage if I recall.
It is quite clear. Provided that there are no local byelaws prohibiting flight over Stonehenge and provided the flight was carried legally (LoS, separation distance, etc,) Articles 137 & 138 of the ANO (CAP 393) could be invoked. they are :
SECTION 19 PART 1
Prohibited Behaviour
Article 137
Endangering safety of an aircraft
A person must not recklessly or negligently act in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft, or any person in an aircraft.
Article 138
Endangering safety of any person or property
A person must not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property.
The CAA classify a drone as an aircraft. If video of this stone throwing was recorded it could be used in evidence.
Even if the flight was carried out illegally, I think this action by the stone throwers could be classed as endangerment.
I think its terrible behaviour to throw stones at it! \0/
This only happened to me recently, lads at the park trying to bring my Skyhunter down with a football:
Skip to 2m49s (I tried posting the link to start at the right time but it won;t work on the forum :( )
https://youtu.be/1HgDiqvrb3E?t=2m49s
This guy had rocks thrown at his plane a couple of years ago.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOJ8fEzSjoE#)
I can understand it if it's over private land in a way. but public and it's criminal damage I would have thought.
Nope, you don't own the airspace above your private land. Do I have the right to shoot down a 747 coming in to land, just because it flies over my house? Same rules.
The permission you need when it comes to land, is the permission to be on the ground in that land... i.e. the place you sit and fly your plane/quad from.
The only other "rules" relevant here aretThe distance from people, structures and vessels NOT under your direct control... (which is 50m) and not flying over or within 150m of a congested area or open air gathering of more than 1000 people
So as long as you're 50m away from a person's house/garage/car and this property isn't in a congested area (wonder what the legal definition of that is?) it's fair game.
Another thing that is often frowned upon is flying over people... again, as long as you're 50m above them it's fine (according to the rules, as long as there aren't 1000 of them lol)
I think when the law was conceived governing airspace over private land no one envisaged drones flying 10m over someone's private garden.
I don't think people would object to a drone 1000m above. but they would 10m. whether there should be a legal limit who knows.
perhaps a rule of thumb should be if you can hit it with a stone/catapult/football then it's too low?
I know this won't be a popular view here. but we can't have drones flying over people's property all the time. at the least it will highlight the lack of privacy laws in the UK.
on a side note- there aren't many people who can make a stone/football go 50m. So if a drone pilot is worried about their kit getting hit- they are probably too close to the person! ;)
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on June 30, 2016, 10:11:43 PM
I don't think people would object to a drone 1000m above. but they would 10m. whether there should be a legal limit who knows.
There is a legal limit defined in Article 167 of the ANO and already referred to above by BlueFlyer.
167 Small unmanned surveillance aircraft(1) The person in charge of a small unmanned surveillance aircraft must not fly the aircraft in any of the circumstances described in paragraph (2) except in accordance with a permission issued by the CAA.
(2) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (1) are:
(a) over or within 150 metres of any congested area;
(b) over or within 150 metres of an organised open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons;
(c) within 50 metres of any vessel, vehicle or structure which is not under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft; or
(d) subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), within 50 metres of any person.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), during take-off or landing, a small unmanned surveillance aircraft must not be flown within 30 metres of any person.
(4) Paragraphs (2)(d) and (3) do not apply to the person in charge of the small unmanned surveillance aircraft or a person under the control of the person in charge of the aircraft.
(5) In this article 'a small unmanned surveillance aircraft' means a small unmanned aircraft which is equipped to undertake any form of surveillance or data acquisition.
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on June 30, 2016, 10:11:43 PM
I think when the law was conceived governing airspace over private land no one envisaged drones flying 10m over someone's private garden.
There are many rules and laws in force today that were conceived before much of today's modern technology, but thems still the rules.
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on June 30, 2016, 10:11:43 PM
I don't think people would object to a drone 1000m above. but they would 10m. whether there should be a legal limit who knows.
There is a legal limit... 50m and if I'm honest I'd be surprised if an unknowing individual would even be aware of my skywalker gliding overhead at that height.
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on June 30, 2016, 10:11:43 PM
I know this won't be a popular view here. but we can't have drones flying over people's property all the time. at the least it will highlight the lack of privacy laws in the UK.
I agree mate, which is why I go out of my way (quite literally) do to my FPV activities out in wide open spaces in order to minimise any problems people might have with what I'm doing (which is simply having fun flying a RC plane, nowt sinister)
me too- there's nothing exciting about flying over people anyway! :)
although I would like to fly over some surfers once- I think that would be fun. Although not when the surf was good because I would rather be in the water!
I was surfing a week ago and saw a phantom hovering around. pretty balsy to hover over water really. I would have paid for some decent footage of me but it's only a drone it can't work wonders! :D