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mod | 3 years ago

It occasionally crosses my mind while I'm having the time of my life flying my FPV drone.

discuss

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ceejayoz|3 years ago

If you really like sticking it to government, have you considered not donating money to them? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33020479

mod|3 years ago

What a weird flex. Can we talk about how you managed this? I really hope you didn't go back and read pages and pages of my comments to find a gotcha.

This is HN, so I assume you've built a tool to do it. I'm really curious to hear about the method.

I don't "really enjoy sticking it to the government." First of all, I just chimed in on the other guy's comment. I made a joke about FPV drones.

Second of all, the guy who is supposedly sticking it to the government didn't make that claim himself. He was accused of that by the next comment. I think he probably just wants to check stuff out before it becomes illegal, and that doesn't make him a crank.

echelon|3 years ago

FPV drones are regulated? When and why did that happen, and how has it impacted the hobby/sport?

mrguyorama|3 years ago

Drones in general are regulated, I think for size and capability, and also where you are allowed to operate them. Operating a FPV based drone requires a certain license I think, as does operating a drone "out of line of sight"

The regulations are somewhat dumb. The issue is that drones took remote controlled flying things from being a niche hobby that required monetary, time, and emotional investment, which prevents you from doing as much stupid crap that can harm other people, and gave it to everyone. Predictably, a portion of "everyone" is an asshole who is so self centered they literally don't think about the ramifications of their actions, or worse, actively enjoy harming others. These people started flying drones in places like airports, and legislators suddenly got spooked that every idiot could cause a bird-strike equivalent issue, or just drop a poorly operated drone from 100ft onto someone, which would really hurt them.

Basically, "the public" is offensively irresponsible, so they lose their toys. Drones are just a modern day radio spectrum, with similar cutouts for kids to still play with toys.

Most people ignore the rules because the FAA doesn't police it that much, though they reserve the right to.

mcculley|3 years ago

Drones in general are regulated in the U.S.

There are many restrictions.