What Happens If You Shoot Down a Drone-

You guys are gonna get a kick out of this one. So some people make it really hard to tolerate ignorance. So I was just flying my Mini 3 Pro. I just got done flying over the new hospital that's being built in our area. I haven't flown over it in a while and I wanted to check it out and see how it's going. It's almost done. Looks really cool. I'll put some shots here up on the screen. So I got done flying, put my drone away, walked around the front of my vehicle and then this car pulls up and this guy rolls down his window and he says, did you just get done flying a drone? I said, yes. I fly over here quite often. I like to document the hospital and how it's going. And he said, I'm glad I caught you today. I've seen you fly over here before and I wanted to let you know that you can't fly over that area. And I said, why is that? And he said, it's a construction area and I know that it's illegal to fly over a construction area. And I'm like, really? I said, I think you're wrong. And immediately I knew this guy was like talking out of his butt. So I said, I'm a licensed drone pilot. I've been flying over this hospital for three years since they started it. I'm very familiar with the rules of flying drones and I think you're wrong. I think I can fly over here. And he said, no, I'm sure of it. I read it on the internet. You can't fly. You can't fly over a construction area. Oh, you read it on the internet. And I didn't say that, but so I said, okay, fine. I'm done anyway. I'm leaving. I got my vehicle and he's like, if I see you fly here again, I'm going to call the police. And I had to bite my tongue. I wanted to say, great, let's do it. Let's call him right now. But I didn't because I didn't want to escalate it any further. I didn't want to be sitting there for another hour. I wanted to get home and have some dinner. So I said, okay, fine. And I left. And as I'm driving home, I'm like, you know what? We're going to see more of this. I think in personally, I think remote ID is going to cause more interactions like that. Now this wasn't bad, but there's going to be situations where people are going to be at risk. And so I wanted to post a video that I made about three years ago, and it has to do with shooting down a drone. I think there's a lot of people that think it's okay to shoot down a drone. So I made this video. I targeted towards those people that are not favorable towards drones, and I made it as educational as I could. And so I want to play that video again, because I think a lot of you that are here now on the channel weren't here three years ago. You know, the channel has grown a lot. And I think the information is really valuable still today. It's probably more valuable than it was back then, because as we get closer to remote ID, there's going to be more situations where there's going to be interactions between drone enthusiasts and not drone enthusiasts. So anyway, here's the video. If you have any comments about it or questions about it, let me know down in the comments. I'd be happy to have a conversation with you, whether you like drones or whether you don't like drones. So thanks, guys. Have a good day. Enjoy the video. Everyone, welcome to 51 Drones. My name is Russ, and on this channel, you'll find a variety of content related to drones, related tech gear, tutorials, reviews and comparisons and things like that. So watch some of my videos. And if you like what you see, go ahead and join the community by hitting that subscribe button and the notification bell. So let's put it out there. A lot of people hate drones. They fear them. They think they're dangerous. They think every drone in the sky is invading their privacy. What prompted me to make this video today is that in the last week, I've had two people threatened to shoot my drone out of the sky with a shotgun. And this isn't the first time. So let's talk about that one first, as it seems to be the most common response from those people that don't understand drones. Now, the first time that I experienced this was when my neighbor was over and we were discussing me flying my drone. And I asked him if it ever bothered him when I flew a little too close to his house. And he replied, No, I have a shotgun that'll take care of it. And I just laughed it off. But then a few weeks later, I got the same response from another gentleman that values his Now I totally understand the privacy issue. That topic ranks right up there with religion and politics. But when people see a drone, they automatically assume that someone is watching them or recording them. And yes, it can be very unnerving to hear that buzz flying above you or your property. And it's not just the peeping Tom issue. There's also the concern of law enforcement using drones to survey private property. And also there's the concern that there's local governments using drones to determine property value without your consent. All very valid concerns. Even myself as a drone enthusiast, if I saw a drone hovering above me or my family, and obviously viewing us, I would be enraged. But I would never, ever shoot it down. I would call the authorities just the same as if I caught a peeping Tom looking in our window. Now one reason that I would not shoot at it is because of the safety issue of stray ammo falling or hitting something that I'm not intending to. And secondly, and more importantly, a drone is an aircraft. The sky is governed by the FAA. And yes, even the sky directly above private property. The Aircraft Sabotage Act protects all aircraft from any threat. Sorry, but that's how it is. If you shoot down an aircraft, whether it be a drone or a 747, it is a federal crime and could result in prison time. Now has anyone ever been prosecuted to that extent? No, but there has been some hefty fines handed out. If you happen to see an obviously malicious drone hovering above you or your property, call the police. They may have the resources to track the pilot and then you can take legal action. If you shoot it down, you have basically shot yourself in the foot when it comes to pursuing any legal action for the drone owner. If you see a drone traveling over your property, it is more than likely just simply flying somewhere. A good analogy would be you don't question every vehicle that drives by your house, right? But if a vehicle stops in your driveway and the driver starts taking pictures or video of you, you should probably be concerned and you're going to call the authorities. You're not going to shoot at the car, you're going to call the cops. Now this is an issue that I'm afraid will never be resolved, but the bottom line is it's very dangerous and very illegal to shoot at a drone. Now the other huge topic of discussion is drone safety. Safety for the skies and for everything and everyone on the ground. Now there have been a number of drone sightings near airplanes and airports that make the headlines. Like nothing gets the views and the clicks like the thought of an airplane falling from the sky due to some idiot or even worse someone with malicious intent to harm. It is another very valid cause for concern, but I do want to point out that sightings is not the same as incidents or near misses. Now here's a quote from John Ruprecht's website. John is a well-known drone attorney and he has an endless treasure chest of drone rules related content on his site. I'll put a link down in the description, but the quote says some commenters specifically found fault with the FAA's reliance on increased number of UAS incidents reported to the FAA by manned aircraft pilots. Several commenters noted that the AMA analyzed those reported incidents and found that out of the 764 reported records only 27 of them or three and a half percent were identified as a near mid-air collision with nearly all of those involving government authorized military drones. The commenters noted that most of the incidents have merely been sightings of UAS. One individual pointed out that the FAA has published no analysis of its own sightings data nor has it disputed the AMA's analysis of that data. In fact there has not been one single documented report of a civil drone coming into contact with a civil aircraft. For three years in a row the sightings that would qualify as a near mid-air collision are right around 3.4 percent. In 2017 the AMA found that of all reported sightings 2.9 percent actually took evasive action to avoid the sighting. That's just 27 times. Now yes 27 is even too many times but the biggest problem with all of this is that the FAA has never released any data on those evasive actions. There's nothing published that tells anyone what the actual sighting was in those 27 cases. So here's what I wish for every citizen to understand. Everything in the sky is not a drone. The prejudice and the fear of drones that is exploited is what has brought us to this point. To put things into perspective I want to show you some statistics. In regards to birds and planes here are some documented facts. There are over 10 billion birds flying in the U.S. and there are just over 1 million unmanned aircraft flying in the United States. There have been 160,000 wildlife strikes since 1990 and 14,314 of those have been bird strikes. There have been zero unmanned aircraft strikes reported and 238 wildlife strikes resulting in injuries or fatalities and there have been 37 bird strikes resulting in injuries or fatalities. So wouldn't it make more sense to be talking about bird safety just as much as we talk about drone safety? Now I would never want anything to strike an airplane that I or my family was riding in but I will tell you that I would rather take my chances with a Mavic 2 Pro hitting the plane than a 16 pound goose. There is absolutely no valid evidence at all demonstrating the damage that a drone would do to an aircraft. It's all speculation and I say valid because there have been demonstrations published but they were irresponsibly conducted and the results of one of the biggest tests was even completely fabricated. So the biggest takeaway of this video is that the only way that the fear of drones can be minimized is for those of us who know about them to educate those of us who don't know about them. The rhetoric and the fear being constantly spewed out by irresponsible media for the purposes of clicks and views tremendously prevents any progress and on the other side when drone enthusiasts lash out at those irresponsible reports it just provides more fuel for them it just makes them want to make more irresponsible videos. Also nobody likes to be told that they're wrong even when they are wrong. The better path the one that helps both sides is education and understanding. When your neighbor tells you that they're going to shoot your drone out of the sky don't tell them that they're going to go to prison because of it. Tell him that you understand his concern and offer him a discussion. Ask him why he wants to shoot down your drone. That gives you a better chance to educate and hopefully remove some of his fears. So this is a discussion that's going to go on and on forever so tell me your thoughts in the comments and we'll visit about it. If you got anything of value out of this video please click on that thumbs up button be sure to subscribe to keep updated on this topic. I want to sincerely thank you for watching today and as always fly safe and fly smart.