another threat to our safety

[grumpytroll]

LAPD warns California realtors against use of photography drones | Helihub - the Helicopter Industry Data Source (http://www.helihub.com/2012/01/25/lapd-warns-california-realtors-against-use-of-photography-drones/)

I had a conversation with the local FAA controllers about this subject recently. As an organization they are trying to get ahold of this situation before it gets totally out of control.

The original topic was about a law enforcement group in Texas that announced they had purchased an unmanned helicopter for recon purposes. I asked if this thing would be required to squawk a code so ATC could give EMS helicopters a heads up when they are in the same area. The answer was no.

It might not seem dangerous to some but these things weigh in at 25-40 pounds. You can see from the article that they are going to become commonplace very quickly for many civil purposes and there needs to be some control over how they operate. You can purchase or build a UAV with camera in several different variations for a few hundred dollars and the flying part is very simple.

Imagine a private investigator having a quiet airborne camera with night optics....

Your thoughts?

[SASless]

Keep your blinds pulled down!

[hillberg]

Los Angeles FSDO VS LAPD:eek: Faa didn't say no but Hell no.:= File a hazard report to the FSDO,:} Stop the dumb dumbs before it gets too expensive.:ugh:

[bolkow]

they tried that in some part of the uk and apparently at that time did not realize they could not transmit on 35 megahertz as other remote controlled aircraft used that frequency and unless they were using a peg system they could bring theirs down as well as others if they switched on controllers at the same time. the part that worried me was that the sellers were ignorant of that or did not inform them.