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Judge shoots down Newton drone ban
By adamg on Thu, 09/21/2017 - 2:34pm
A federal judge ruled today that Newton went too far in banning drones from flying over the city without the prior permission of landowners whose property the drones might pass over.
US District Court Judge William Young's ruling is a victory for Michael Singer, a local doctor and drone aficionado who'd filed the suit earlier this year. In his ruling, Young wrote:
Newton’s choice to restrict any drone use below [400 feet] thus works to eliminate any drone use in the confines of the city, absent prior permission. This thwarts not only the FAA’s objectives, but also those of Congress for the FAA to integrate drones into the national airspace. Although Congress and the FAA may have contemplated co-regulation of drones to a certain extent, ... this hardly permits an interpretation that essentially constitutes a wholesale ban on drone use in Newton.
The Newton City Council said the ordinance was an attempt to protect residents' privacy.
Neighborhoods:
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 Complete drone ruling | 62.32 KB |
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Comments
Air Rights
What's the law regarding air rights? How low before you're in violation of someone's property rights?
83 feet above ground. That's
83 feet above ground. That's the lower limit that the Supreme Court stated in a case from the 50's.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Causby
If you live within 5 miles of
If you live within 5 miles of Logan Airport you are supposed to let Traffic Control know before using it. I am 100 percent sure this is not happening right now, I would be curious to see how that moves forward as it includes many communities. Personally living in one of them I would not mind if the FAA just outright outlawed non commercial drones within that 5 miles bubble.
https://blog.hivemapper.com/where-not-to-fly-a-drone-in-boston-a0a7f7431163
Some interesting readings:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/so-your-neighbor-got-a-drone-...
Implemented in software
DJI drones, the most popular consumer drones, won't take off or fly in prohibited areas.
That would be over the
That would be over the airport itself, but in a 5 mile bubble you can fly as long as you report. Does the software have the ability to coordinate that? I ask because I don't know... it would be a cool coordination effort if it did.
Haven't tried it, but you can
Haven't tried it, but you can explicitly unlock the drone for flying in a no fly zone through the app. It would clearly be intentional (otherwise, they drone says "can't take off"). Unlock lasts only a couple days. Not perfect, but filters out the numbskulls and probably tracks the rest.
DJI tightly controls their drones, probably to avoid backlash or some horrible bad-for-business event.
Of course
"Of course, nothing prevents Newton from re-drafting the Ordinance to avoid conflict preemption."
Newton residents
will have to have their slingshots at the ready.
slingshots are actually
slingshots are actually illegal in Massachusetts too!
This is huge for the TLF's plan for a strategic air campaign
leading up to its invasion of Newton.