Boston Marathon to use drones this year.

A good idea... but typical governmental hypocrisy.... YOU can't fly one due to mainly safety concerns... but THEY can use one if it is deemed in the "public interest"... in this case, security.
 
A good idea... but typical governmental hypocrisy.... YOU can't fly one due to mainly safety concerns... but THEY can use one if it is deemed in the "public interest"... in this case, security.

That doesn't seem even remotely hypocritical. The same argument would apply to all kinds of LE and military capabilities.
 
That doesn't seem even remotely hypocritical. The same argument would apply to all kinds of LE and military capabilities.

I guess I would differ - I see is in many instances of what I would consider hipocracy in my area: Me and you - not OK to fly in State Parks, but if the rangers need to they can...
 
I guess I would differ - I see is in many instances of what I would consider hipocracy in my area: Me and you - not OK to fly in State Parks, but if the rangers need to they can...

Well - as I mentioned - emergency services, law enforcement, the military, and numerous other certified personnel are authorized to do lots of things that the general public is not. Primarily that's because those agencies have control over their training and operations and have a much better expectation of being able to do them safely and within their regulations, but additionally because they might only do them when they are essential, as opposed to unrestricted, uncontrolled public use. Why do you regard that as hypocritical?
 
Well - as I mentioned - emergency services, law enforcement, the military, and numerous other certified personnel are authorized to do lots of things that the general public is not. Primarily that's because those agencies have control over their training and operations and have a much better expectation of being able to do them safely and within their regulations, but additionally because they might only do them when they are essential, as opposed to unrestricted, uncontrolled public use. Why do you regard that as hypocritical?

I do not disagree on the safety aspect, as a matter of fact I wish anyone who wanted to fly outside a "safe to fly area" such as wide open areas or an AMA airfield would need to take a pilots competence/performance test. I'm extremely surprised the 107 cert does not require a pilot performance test - meaning being able to fly manually, not by pushing a take off and return to home buttons.

On the hypocrisy side, I've seen some of the Emergency/Law Enforcement pilots and some are no better pilots that the newbie general public.
 
I do not disagree on the safety aspect, as a matter of fact I wish anyone who wanted to fly outside a "safe to fly area" such as wide open areas or an AMA airfield would need to take a pilots competence/performance test. I'm extremely surprised the 107 cert does not require a pilot performance test - meaning being able to fly manually, not by pushing a take off and return to home buttons.

On the hypocrisy side, I've seen some of the Emergency/Law Enforcement pilots and some are no better pilots that the newbie general public.

Fair enough - unskilled operators should not be certified for that kind of work. But now you are talking about setting the qualification bar for the public use significantly higher, and that would lead to a lot more squealing. Can you imagine the chaos that would result if every recreational activity that carried a risk of damage or injury required a performance-based certification?
 
Fair enough - unskilled operators should not be certified for that kind of work. But now you are talking about setting the qualification bar for the public use significantly higher, and that would lead to a lot more squealing. Can you imagine the chaos that would result if every recreational activity that carried a risk of damage or injury required a performance-based certification?

Agreed, I do not want more regulation, especially for the hobbiest/recreational user/general public.... but in the case of getting your 107 cert or governmental agencies seeking exemptions I think a performance test should be in order.... let's take the thread topic, the Boston Marathon as an example... if they are going to be flying around over people I sure hope the pilot has skills and not dependent on apps that will do everything for you...

On the flip side, if hobbiest were willing to go through a certification process with a performance test maybe we could gain back some of the public lands we can not currently fly in...
 

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