Secondly, the 500′ height restriction is a two-edged sword: above that, and you have to get clearance from the FAA to fly there; below 500′ and you’re trespassing. There are also private property issues, as noted, as well as restrictions about flying over public roads and highways. It’s a huge tangle.

Just out of curiosity: would light birdshot (used by pigeon hunters) cause damage to a drone at, say, 300′ distance? That’s a hundred yards, and from memory, birdshot is pretty much a spent force at that distance.

All that said, I know what I would have done if I’d seen a drone flying over a hunting area, scaring away the birds… and loading up a couple barrels’ worth of 00 buckshot would have been Job One.

Oh, and I don’t think that FAA regulation necessarily invalidates my point about trespass. The aircraft it is addressing are merely passing over, not intentionally hovering over private property to spy on it and annoy the owner and his guests. If I were running the club I would still seek a permanent injunction.

TPO, I never said that pigeons aren’t a “ruddy nuisnace”. The city version is dirty and nasty. Its country cousins make a pleasant enough sound, but I have no problem with shooting them. Whatever made you think otherwise?

FAR 91.119: Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes….
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(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500ft above the surface (so yes AGL), except over open water or sparsly populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet of any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.

So as I interpret that, in non-congested areas (for eg, the countryside in rural Virginia or Wiltshire), below 500ft above ground level, over open water or in sparsely populated areas (think the Arizona desert or Scottish Highlands) within a bubble of radius 500ft around said person, vessel etc.

All very sensible if you ask me. And just a thought, a drone is not manned, but it is still operated by a person, so the above rule still applies. From personal experience, flying at 120 knots at 500ft, everything tends to happen all at a rush, great fun for the adrenaline rush, but much more sensible at 1000ft where everything slows down considerably.

I suspect that as the cost of the technology comes down, we will start to see more and more of what the original post describes.

Tally Ho

250′ for designated no-fly zones, although there’s a few pilots near me who don’t quite seem to follow the whole AGL/ASL difference

The critical point you make is providing it doesn’t cause a nuisance – whether the gyrocopter hassling the hunt recently kept to 500′ I don’t know, but they certainly managed to cause a nuisance before killing one of the supporters.

Laird – pigeons *are* a ruddy nuisance. They’ll eat crops quite happily, crap on everything and frequently carry parasites. Like many other species where we’ve has an impact, there is a need to redress the imbalance we’ve caused (and not farming isn’t really an option). In the more built up areas, the ready availability of waste food boosts the population, but for some reason there’s a gang that gets quite stroppy about anybody else waving guns around in urban areas and intruding on their monopoly.

- 1000 ft above terrain or buildings that are within 600m horizontally from you, over a city, town, or open air assembly of people.

- 500 ft above terrain, vehicle, or structure within 150m horizontally from you.

The above does not apply if you are landing (including deliberate discontinued approach), taking off, flying lower is inherent to the purpose of the flight (but still 150m clearance from uninvolved people&structures).

Further possible complications; if the drone were over public land/access, or if they were being run by a government agency. The ability of a property owner to recognize police markings on a small drone 50′ up is going to be limited.

If I were the pigeon shooting club [and like organizations] I would give consideration to air defense from concealed positions as part of the layout. Or perhaps the ability to covertly over-ride the controls of drones and cause them to crash. If they crash on your property, and do any damage ….

Subotai Bahadur

It can have its own dangers though.