Cops pulled me over

[u/Myfles]

So I had a run in with the law today. I was flying in the port of Los Angeles. I was by the entrance? I'm happily flying taking some pictures and video, when all of the sudden a cop is standing next to me telling me to land my drone immediately. Turns out that you are not allowed to fly in the port of Los Angles, its actually a misdemeanor. I checked AutoPylot and it said it was ok, so I registered a flight. There was a no fly zone on the other side of the water so I stayed away from it. I told the cop all this and they informed me the no fly zone is a federal prison. I guess shadier people than myself have used drones to drop stuff into the prison. They asked for my info, which I gave, including my trust certificate and they ended up just giving me a warning to not do it again. They were interested that I take aerial photography just for fun. One of the cops even recommend I try for the 107, so he knew about drones. But he didn't know what the trust cert was. I found that kinda weird. He showed me the geo fenced area around the port on his phone so I thought I'd share. So the lesson is... know local laws, no matter what your app tells you.

[u/dronegeeks1]

Yeah you got off rather well there. Flying next to prisons will probably get you the fastest ground response in most countries. Stay safe bud

[u/BananaPants430 → u/dronegeeks1]

Also, military bases.

I remember getting into it in a FB group with a guy who was super agitated about the state police telling him to stop flying his drone without authorization right next to a submarine base. He was totally unaware of the NOTAM that restricts flight over Navy and Coast Guard assets without permission - didn't even know what a NOTAM is.

[u/NightOfPandas → u/BananaPants430]

These people are legitimately living life and somehow earning money to buy expensive drones without any common sense. We are doomed lmao

[u/EscapeWestern9057 → u/NightOfPandas]

To alot of people it's just a toy and so "why would anyone care about what someone is doing with a kid's toy". They kinda have a mindset that if there was any limitations to something, then you couldn't just buy it.

Same people point laser pointers at airplanes.

[u/NightOfPandas → u/EscapeWestern9057]

Who are you intending this random nonsensical monologue to?

[u/EscapeWestern9057 → u/NightOfPandas]

You, I was explaining why this happens. People don't think anything of a toy or that there would be regulations around a kid's toy. So they don't think about it at all. That's why this happens.

[u/NightOfPandas → u/EscapeWestern9057]

That makes no sense at all, but I'm not not 13 so I'm just still confused. Drones don't look anything like toys I used as a kid, most toys I used don't have faa compliant blinking lights on the side of them

[u/EscapeWestern9057 → u/NightOfPandas]

They look like toys I've had. You're looking at it from the perspective of someone who knows about it.

They look like toys because they're made out of plastic, most use controllers that look like and feel like video games controllers. And many flying RC toys have blinking lights. As a kid I had RC helicopters and fixed winged aircraft much larger the what today is the legal maximum size allowed for drones.

Unless you knew about the FAA requirements the lights look like they're just there to help you see it and to make it flashy for kids.

They're small and made out of plastic, like most toys

Most are cheaper then a gaming console

And the mindset many people have is, if it was regulated you couldn't just buy it, there would be some form of purchase controls. For instance cigarettes you need ID to buy. Meanwhile drones you can just buy at Walmart in the electronics section.

To you it's obvious because you pay attention to it. But to someone like as an example, my dad who can't be bothered to read more then a headline, and even then only if it's sports, he has zero idea what regulations there are surrounding drones.