Quote:
Originally Posted by Arizona_928
So they’re allowed to operate with impunity…
Wait until they start strapping rpg’s to the front like in Ukraine…
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Talk to the FAA. They "own" the skis in the USA and make the rules governing any "aircraft" from drones to the airlines and even hot air balloons and model rockets that get above a few hundred feet.
As an aerial photographer, unless there is a TFR (temporary flight restriction) or a restricted airspace like area 51, and places like the Ft. Sill artillery practice range, we can fly over it. We have mapped several airports even USAF bases and Army bases. Even the FAA facility itself.
We had one client that is in the waste water disposal business. He was looking to buy a competitor that was wanting to sell, but would not allow anyone on the property to see the operation. We flew the competitors site and our client could see the various dirt moving equipment, and the evaporation ponds. It let him know what that business was worth.
We were flying another site that was next to a nuclear power plant. Our airplane had to fly directly over the power plant to make turns. A local county sheriff saw the airplane and read the tail number. He called the local airport to have them call the pilot and tell him to stay away from the power plant or he would shoot down the airplane! The tower told the sheriff he can't do that. He looked up the FAA registry of the tail number (anyone can) and found the name of the company, and asked what the home airport was. He met the pilot on the ground and was wanting to arrest him. Our pilot was a long time very experienced pilot and he told the sheriff he has no authority whatsoever over where he flies. The sheriff finally backed down when he talked to an air traffic controller at that airport.
That same pilot was around in the 1970s when a president in Air Force one changed his mind on where he wanted to go. There is always a TFR around Air Force one, and our pilot clipped the edge on it. He said all of a sudden a F-16 came screaming past as he trundled along at 100 knots running the aerial camera. He said the same F-16 came past again, almost standing on his tail to move that slow. He was met by the FBI when he landed and and had to show them why he was there, and they eventually admitted there was no danger to the POTUS.