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Insurance Company Flew a Drone to Take Photos of Man's House and Canceled His Policy (petapixel.com)

submitted 1 year ago by seasonone@opidea.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] BettyWhiteInHD@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And there are still conditions under which drones can legally fly over your property without it being trespassing, similarly to airplanes:

An entry above the surface of the earth, in the air space in the possession of another, by a person who is traveling in an aircraft, is privileged if the flight is conducted[xi]:

for the purpose of travel through the air space or for any other legitimate purpose,

in a reasonable manner,

at such a height as not to interfere unreasonably with the possessor’s enjoyment of the surface of the earth and the air space above it, and

in conformity with such regulations of state and federal aeronautical authorities as are in force in a particular state.

I'm not a lawyer, but I do fly drones for fun and money. I can fly a drone over peoples' property no problem most of the time entirely legally. It's shitty in this particular case and fuck insurance companies but I don't think people claiming criminal trespassing is based in reality. You do not control the airspace above your property. I still hope they consult a lawyer and challenge this particular action against them.

[–] eth0p@iusearchlinux.fyi 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I have the full context of the legislation you're quoting, but my interpretation of that paragraph is that it only applies to aircrafts that are carrying passengers.

. . . in the air space in possession of another, by a person who is traveling in an aircraft, is privileged . . .

You're the one who does this for a hobby, though. I'm sure that you know the laws more than I do :)

[–] BettyWhiteInHD@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah maybe and perhaps one day there will be a case and a lawyer who will argue that same point.

Personally, until there are specific laws against flying over private property with specifics regarding altitudes I feel comfortable about flying drones above private property both professionally and recreationally. There have been some attempts by private entities and local governments to restrict public airspace for drones and so far I know really of NYC successfully being able to do so. Public airspace is public airspace and the FAA has been treating drones as aircrafts that need to follow their rules like all the other aircrafts using the airspace.