This is why we can't have nice things...

A tourist flew a drone into a Yellowstone National Park hot spring despite a park ban on drones.

Park spokesman Al Nash said the drone's operator reported that the aircraft crashed into the picturesque Grand Prismatic Spring last weekend.

Tourists witnessed the crash.

The drone is submerged in the spring's 160-degree waters. Officials hope to remove it.

"Our concern is about any potential impacts to the iconic Yellowstone thermal feature," Nash said.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/tourist-crashes-drone-into-yellowstone-hot-spring/article_14cf7a67-47d2-543b-bc82-d1477d1e1de1.html

That'll get the Park types up in arms.

Wait till some dipshit drops one of those babies into a daycare outdoor play area and cuts some child's face.....

I'm glad they're making themselves welcome, anyway.

MTV

I myself am not a huge drone fan .....

The Parky's will be holding a candle light vigil tonight. Glad they have something to bitch about besides my exhaust.

Yup,give them enough rope. We can just sit back and watch the games begin..

the sad part is it will take another "drone" to get the first one out.

I'm wary of the RC quadcopter craze for my own personal safety in aircraft, but I'm also not eager to see them over-regulated because that doesn't bode well for precedents in other avenues of aviation. They're already bound by AC 91-57 to maintain less than 400 AGL and 3 miles or more from airports, so now it's a land use issue, similar to what we also face. I think it's silly that "drones" are banned in national parks; a little electric doo-dad can do what exactly? Clog a geyser I guess. What about wilderness? If not, I suppose it will be soon, just like mountain bikes and paragliders.

I hate to devolve into worthless sarcasm but we live by the law we fizzle by the law.

Zzz wrote:I'm wary of the RC quadcopter craze for my own personal safety in aircraft, but I'm also not eager to see them over-regulated because that doesn't bode well for precedents in other avenues of aviation. They're already bound by AC 91-57 to maintain less than 400 AGL and 3 miles or more from airports, so now it's a land use issue, similar to what we also face. I think it's silly that "drones" are banned in national parks; a little electric doo-dad can do what exactly? Clog a geyser I guess. What about wilderness? If not, I suppose it will be soon, just like mountain bikes and paragliders.

I hate to devolve into worthless sarcasm but we live by the law we fizzle by the law.

Agreed,
People have been flying R/C airplanes for many many years. Now it is the drone craze and every government official from the head of the department of the interior to the guy that cleans the Groover at the parks seems to have an interest in regulating them

Next thing they regulate will be how many key-strokes we are allowed per post on BCP!!!!

Zzz wrote:I'm wary of the RC quadcopter craze for my own personal safety in aircraft, but I'm also not eager to see them over-regulated because that doesn't bode well for precedents in other avenues of aviation. They're already bound by AC 91-57 to maintain less than 400 AGL and 3 miles or more from airports, so now it's a land use issue, similar to what we also face. I think it's silly that "drones" are banned in national parks; a little electric doo-dad can do what exactly? Clog a geyser I guess. What about wilderness? If not, I suppose it will be soon, just like mountain bikes and paragliders.

I hate to devolve into worthless sarcasm but we live by the law we fizzle by the law.

But that's where I fly. Wait. No that's 500 ft...

Zzz wrote:...we live by the law we fizzle by the law.

Fur shizzle!

I don't think we need to be regulated, I just think people need to be held accountable for their actions. I'm not really sure exactly how you do that but peeping into apartments and dropping these things into geysers etc. is not cool.

I also think the RC community operates with a greater sense of responsibility than what we are seeing with the recent "drone" craze. Two different issues in my opinion.

CW

I agree. Traditional r/c models and drones are two different things.

R/C models: Require real skill to operate. To get even reasonably good requires time, commitment, money and skill, not necessarily in that order. Other than electric park flyers, they are generally operated at designated model fields, often with their own rules above and beyond the AMA & FAA. People are taught by other modelers who explain the rules and generally lead by example with their commitment to safety.

Drones (quad/hexa/octo-copters): Gyro stabilized to the point that any yahoo with a credit card can fly one somewhat competently almost immediately. Often these people don't even realize that the AMA/FAA exists and have no idea how much damage they can do to someone with one of these things. I have electric models with much smaller motors than the typical quadcopter, and the power they can produce is awesome.

There will eventually be a high-profile injury or death that is going to force the government's hand. No telling if it will be a midair with a real airplane/helicopter or a kid who is killed when a runs into one flying through a mall, but I'd put the odds on it happening, unfortunately.

clippwagon wrote:I don't think we need to be regulated, I just think people need to be held accountable for their actions. I'm not really sure exactly how you do that but peeping into apartments and dropping these things into geysers etc. is not cool.

I also think the RC community operates with a greater sense of responsibility than what we are seeing with the recent "drone" craze. Two different issues in my opinion.

CW

CW, "....I just think people need to be held accountable for their actions." AMEN, AMEN
That would cure a lot of problems in the world today.

Doug

Trouble is that the FAA is going at this bassackwards. In the infamous Pirker case, the FAA's position appears to be that they can regulate drones because they say they can regulate drones--but as the Administrative Law Judge found, they have no regulations allowing them to regulate drones. It's before the NTSB on the FAA's appeal, and I don't know when it'll be heard. But it seems like a hoky position to take, and the legal department's time would be better spent putting together a NPRM on drones that makes sense.

Cary

In a geyser is nothing, hell id like to chase buffalo around or elk out of the elk refuge, possibilitys are endless.