Saw this on the news this morning. Would love to see their request for authorization to fly over crowds. I assume the NYPD is getting the required authorizations from the FAA?
NYC Police will be using drones over Times Square during New Years celebration
- Thread starter Home Inspector
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Yes - but they are probably working under a COA rather than Part 107, so it's not going to be publicly available, at least without a FOI request.
They are hanging the drone from wires. Not only that, below the area where the drone will be hanging, they have it closed off so no one can stand under the drone.
The idea is to condition people to get used to seeing drones hanging around.
The idea is to condition people to get used to seeing drones hanging around.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
From a new article linked off Drudge:
“In a first, the department will also be deploying its own drone to add another camera to the sky, augmenting the NYPD's helicopter fleet. The drone will be tethered to the ground and will have an area cordoned off below it to protect revelers in the event of a malfunction.”
I TOTALLY get the need to be safe but of all the restrictions the flying over people thing is the most difficult. In some places it’s practically inevitable.
I was with a few wedding photographers the other day and one showed off some drone footage from a large (300+ folks) reception and clearly there was flight directly overhead. The area was a roped off section of a golf club and as people entered they had to get their seating info and everyone was required to sign a clipboard where a small notice said, you acknowledge by signing you are willingly participating in drone filming of the event from overhead and you are part of the production (not sure the exact wording) He felt it was enough. In total the drone was over the crowd quite infrequently, but it did fly over to get from side to side on occasion and there were two direct overhead shots (one was the classic zooming upwards looking straight down). I think he was skirting the law quite closely, I don’t think I’d risk it.
“In a first, the department will also be deploying its own drone to add another camera to the sky, augmenting the NYPD's helicopter fleet. The drone will be tethered to the ground and will have an area cordoned off below it to protect revelers in the event of a malfunction.”
I TOTALLY get the need to be safe but of all the restrictions the flying over people thing is the most difficult. In some places it’s practically inevitable.
I was with a few wedding photographers the other day and one showed off some drone footage from a large (300+ folks) reception and clearly there was flight directly overhead. The area was a roped off section of a golf club and as people entered they had to get their seating info and everyone was required to sign a clipboard where a small notice said, you acknowledge by signing you are willingly participating in drone filming of the event from overhead and you are part of the production (not sure the exact wording) He felt it was enough. In total the drone was over the crowd quite infrequently, but it did fly over to get from side to side on occasion and there were two direct overhead shots (one was the classic zooming upwards looking straight down). I think he was skirting the law quite closely, I don’t think I’d risk it.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
I can see the article and yet "tethered to the ground" as I think about it does not make sense. Too much tension on the tether cord changes aerodynamics and yanks the drone. Too little tension or a sudden descent could cause the cord to tangle in the props. Plus the longer the tether altitude, the longer the theoretical crash range diameter needs to be cordoned off from people.
Maybe someone can get to the bottom of this with some facts.
Maybe someone can get to the bottom of this with some facts.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
(Much) Less chance of fouling the props with the tether.
Easy for the PIC to see how much slack is available.
Who cares how much is cordoned off?
Easy for the PIC to see how much slack is available.
Who cares how much is cordoned off?
get ready for some of them to be sht at lol target pratice , I personally think its a bad idea
Are you able to see publicly if someone requested or was granted access to a restricted area?
Thank you
Thank you
No - those are not standard waivers or authorizations under the Part 107 system. Permission to fly in restricted/special use airspace is granted by the controlling agency.
Why does Drone hobbiest worry so much about what Police Drones are doing???? Please....who cares!!!
Who cares? The poster who asked the question, presumably. Why does that bother you so much?
As a commercial drone pilot I earn a living using my drone. On several occasions I've submitted waiver/authorization request to the FAA to briefly fly over crowds during festivels, street fairs, etc. These were part of my proposal responding to RFQ's from various municipalities that want the event filmed. All were promptly denied by the FAA. I included significant safety precautions including limiting the time over crowds to only transiting from one side of the event to the other with the majority of the time the drone would remain on the perimeter. The reason for my post was to hopefully get some ideas on what type of justification would result in an approval. Sorry if this upset someone! BTW I'm not a hobbiest.
New Year's NYPD drones probably won't happen at all. Just saw a news report on it and the police said they would be in the air "weather permitting". It is already raining in Times Square and will continue fairly heavily with some wind until after midnight.
As a matter of fact, it was just announced that the drones are now grounded tonight due to the weather.
There's a bit of a difference between shooting for a company over an event and flying for Public Safety during an event. That's not apples to apples I'm afraid.
We fly many events a year but do NOT fly directly over any people so it can be done most times. It takes a lot of planning, ground preparation (creating landing/TO areas etc) but it can be done more often than not.
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