Flying over a commercial ship leaving Port? Legal or not in US?

ianwood · May 4, 2015

Good on you to check. As long as you keep a safe distance, you're probably OK. Anything that may be sensitive, have a lot of security or other attention, etc. is probably best to avoid.

Despite the abundance of opinions on which laws apply and which don't, there aren't many lawyers here. The best advice I could share is to use common sense.

maxwell smart · May 5, 2015

I would stay away from the port if there is a security staff there. It is a tough decision ,you could loss the phantom to some cops with big egos.Be aware at all times.
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J.James · May 5, 2015

Hum this is an intresting ? being that in ny state its not only illegal to take photos of any water way or bridge I noticed in my boating regulations and rules there is a law that says its a crime if any one on a boat sees any one on the banks of any water way or taking pictures or if you see any one near any bridge and you dont report them. Which is as retarded as can be. Esp considering there are a few parks I know of that are RIGHT UNDER bridges that cross the Hudson river. and there are also all kinds of people that come and take nature pics all over new york lakes and along the Hudson valley. So that is one law that is to be not meant to be obeyed and only a true ****** or a big time loser would want to even consider obeying that law that they have to report any one just for them being in a public park looking at the water or taking pictures.

johan · May 5, 2015

J.James said:
Hum this is an intresting ? being that in ny state its not only illegal to take photos of any water way or bridge...

Can you provide proof of this? Google can find no evidence that any such law exists.

maxwell smart · May 6, 2015

J.James. That law is unconstitutional. If no one obayes it,cant work. I hope no one fallows that law.
Communism at its worst. That is going to far.
We have to get political , and watch the people we vote for.

Hughie · May 6, 2015

Getting permission is a general problem I run into quite a bit. For piece of mind it is good to have been given it. However, if the person you ask does not know, or has the slightest bit of doubt about endorsing the flight they will always say "no", to cover their own arse. Better to piss off one R/C flier than loose their job

.

My local council have told me I am not allowed to take off from any council land at all. More fool me for asking in the first place.

Meta4 · May 6, 2015

J.James said:
in ny state its not only illegal to take photos of any water way or bridge

I find this very hard to believe, it just doesn't sound right.
I know the US has given away a lot of freedom out of paranoia but if true, this would be the sort of thing you'd hear of under communist Russia in the bad old days.
Thirty minutes searching and I can't find any evidence it's true.

Here's something interesting and intelligent on the topic ...
The War on Photography
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/the_war_on_phot.html

J.James · May 6, 2015

The law that says its a crime not to report someone for it is in the ny state boaters handbook. Tho it did not specifically say what the statute or the penal code was for the law or even what the name of the charge would be other then it saying it was a class something or other misdemeanor. But I'll see if I can find an on line copy of the book. Because my hard copy is on my boat and not here right now.

Tho it also mostly only said the part about a boaters requirement to report any one they see doing certain very innocent and perfectly normal things that only a complete brainwashed a-hole nazi or commie would think was wrong. Or some thing that they should go waist there time and the cops time to even consider reporting.

It was so stupid I read it over a few times to make sure I was reading the comical BS right. But the first thing I thought of is how unenforceable it even would be. Considering even if I did see some one and didn't report them I dont know how the goverment could know what I saw or didn't see. esp while I'm driving my boat and paying attention to more important things. Like things in the water and staying in the channel. Or hot chicks in skimpy bikinis.

who · May 6, 2015

OP you're getting a lot of different response. I personally won't want to deal with port authority or an police officer even if there wasn't any law against it. To me, it's just common sense to not fly over restricted area like police station or even private companies unless I'm really high up. If I need a badge or a twic card to enter the property then I won't fly over it. It also depends how high your up. At 400ft I don't think anybody care, you're too high to even get notice. Now if your 13ft off the ground buzzing around......yeah expect somebody to knock it down

J.James · May 6, 2015

Wow now this is weird I just read over the new ny boaters guide and there is about 20 less pages then ones published just 2 or 3 years ago which was 88 pages. http://www.nysparks.com/recreation/boating/documents/NYSBoatersGuide.pdf

now not only does it not mention a word about any thing to do with any of the DHS bull crap I also cant find any thing else that was in the whole section that pertained to suspicious activities. and some other things that it used to say you cant do such as coming within certain distance to a military ship and not being allowed to stop under any bridges or tie off to any mornings of any bridges. Which I know there is at least one bridge on the river that has a big huge sign warning thats its illegal to stop under bridges and to blast your horn at the next bridge were they are doing work on it to warn them that you are approaching and to reduce speed to 5mph

RichWest · May 6, 2015

I know nothing of Maritime laws to specifics, but many of the ocean going vessels retain sovereign rights within US territorial waters. As an example, for US territorial waters. So the restriction to fly over and around maybe governed by the flag state of the vessel or even international treaties. Further many ports may be designated as International, giving the flagged state extension of their sovereign rights to the point of rest within.

Maritime laws, essentially international laws, are very complex. In the US, the USCG has responsibility to enforce maritime laws on behalf of all US federal laws and agencies. I think if you want answers to your questions, then the USCG would provide as a valuable resource.

Meta4 · May 6, 2015

who said:
To me, it's just common sense to not fly over restricted area

The OP wasn't asking about flying in a restricted area. He was asking about over and around a commercial ship that's leaving Port - ie out in open waters away from the port area.

J.James · May 6, 2015

I was VERY surprised when they told me that I cannot do this without the express, written consent of the owner of the ship and the captain.

To bad you didn't have a way to contact them before it left port. Being they probably would of had no problem with granting the request in return for some good pics of there ship under way.

bomber1712 · May 6, 2015

@RichWest I have been communicating with the USCG. They are the ones who initially told me that "it will trigger a significant law enforcement response". In a second conversation with a different USCG official (a Lt.), the story was similar. The second person told me that it is NOT illegal, but if it were reported as "Suspicious Activity", there would be a law enforcement response.

I have consulted an attorney. He looked for any mention of restrictions on drones/uav/uas within local law. He found none.

@Meta4 @who Indeed, I am talking about launching from a public park and flying over open waters. The river is used by boaters, fishermen, and others. No expectation of privacy.

I have decided, with the help of this discussion, that I am going to do this. I cannot give up the awesome opportunity I have as a citizen of this wonderful area. I will post some video (and any issues with law enforcement) here.

RichWest · May 6, 2015

Looking forward to seeing successful videos, it's an interesting subject for videos.

Just curious, Bomber1712 handle represents something good I hope......

Recce2 · May 7, 2015

Use common sense, keep a safe distance, do not become a hazard for the boat, and don't hang around too long.

bomber1712 · May 7, 2015

RichWest said:
Just curious, Bomber1712 handle represents something good I hope......

LOL! Was wondering if anyone was going to ask me about THAT! I figure I have a file 6" thick at DHS and CIA. I use that handle all over the net. Simple: Childhood nickname=Bomber Address at the first place I had when Al Gore invented the internet=1712

That's the story!

iDroneit4u · Oct 16, 2016

maxwell smart said:
You mean like this ??

Hey maxwell where did you take off in Galveston.

GMack · Oct 16, 2016

tcope said:
They also cannot detain you (for questioning) unless they suspect you of a crime or you volunteer to be detained and answer questions. Point I'm making is that someone _may_ asking you once what you are doing but they won't conduct several interviews.

Actually they can.

I'm friends with a newspaper photographer who got arrested (Detained is probably more accurate.) for photographing a mentally retarded guy who the police thought was drunk at a lake where he was working an event. He wasn't drunk (The photographer knew him from prior run-ins.) and the photographer thought it would be a news-worthy story and began taking photos. He was arrested and detained for 48 hours (Long weekend until released on Monday.), but no charges were filed. Newspaper wanted an apology, but it never happened. So much for freedom of the press even with a pocketful of credentials. Irony is he became a professor at the college teaching journalism, probably a safer occupation than being a news photographer.

Story is here: Meet the sheriff! My first arrest

As to the linked video on the seizure of the guy's drone over the LA port, the last comment says they seized two that weekend. Imho, LA has to be one of the most unfriendly photo areas on the west coast without some sort of permit. If you are flying there, likely you are in violation of something. They have a big hat of codes and ordinances to fall back on: e.g. Public safety, unsafe operation, no permit, city assigned drone number (WeHo), etc. You can get permission, but the system has grown so large in bureaucracy to the point that some other agency will often step in too, like the County Roads Dept. saying you need a "Roads encroachment permit" to park your car on their road's pullout for $1,600 for three hours while doing a commercial shoot not anywhere near the road. Ridiculous!

At some point, I can see the entire area of all LA cities becoming some huge restricted drone-free airspace unless one has a city permit which will be a nightmare and very expensive to acquire, perhaps hourly too. Likely they will assign you a monitor (cop) to that you will pay for too.