The FAA fact sheet, which is an interpretation of their rules, says “You currently cannot fly a small UAS over anyone ... not inside a covered stationary vehicle.” So, you can’t fly over anyone in a moving vehicle.
With all due respect, this above quote seems taken out of context. The FAA doesn't mix their words. If it's against FAA rules to fly over a moving vehicle, there will be an explicit paragraph citing that rule. Again, this is why I wanted to see the rule. I can't find it. I see where you're connecting dots, but that's not really how the FAA rule book operates.
Disclaimer: I'm no expert on the FAA, but I know their M.O. Still looking for the rule....
This makes sense since hitting a moving vehicle may cause an accident.
While I agree with your assertion that a drone impacting a moving vehicle MAY cause an accident, the odds are so slim as to not base legislation on. How many times has your vehicle been hit by a bird? Or a tire? Or something falling out of the bed of a truck? Me personally, at least a dozen times throughout my lifetime. Last year my truck windshield was plowed with a semi lug nut which almost penetrated the windshield. Did I wreck? Not even close. Would a drone smashing into a windshield cause an accident??? No more than a bird would. Do people crash because birds smash into their windshield?
Millions of birds are killed annually by moving vehicles. Yet no mention of this causing auto accidents.
www.fws.gov
Hell...I was hit by a bird on my MOTORCYCLE about 20 years ago and didn't even come close to wrecking. Hurt like a mother-f***er.
Also, flying a sUAS over moving vehicles when you know drones are not reliable and prone to flyaway or fall out of the sky for any number of reasons would be considered by most reasonable people to be reckless flying..."
Well then by that logic the FAA should make a rule regarding full scale aviation flying over vehicles, which has done orders of magnitude more damage to vehicles, property and life. Right?
You can't have your cake and eat it, too. You can't tout that a 3 lb. drone over vehicles is "dangerous," and then completely ignore real statistics that show ACTUAL carnage and damage caused by full scale aviation. Make sense?
...which is also against the FAA’s rules.
Again, with all due respect, I still haven't seen that rule.
You would likely meet and be judged by “reasonable people” in court if your activities cause a vehicle accident.
Agreed. But, to date, how many car accidents have been caused by drones? Now compare that number to the amount of drones sold times the average flight count of each drone, and we'll get some real-world numbers regarding the chances of a drone causing a car accident. The problem is that there seems to be zero auto accidents attributed to UAV collision. So that number brings "the odds" to zero.
Here's the data I could dig up.
Full scale aviation carnage:
I can't find any statistics regarding UAV-caused automobile accidents. Logically, if there were any appreciable number, it would've been reported and tallied by someone somewhere.
Synopsis:
* No reported car accidents due to drone activity.
* No explicit FAA regulation regarding flying over moving vehicles.
* Lots of full-scale aviation falling out of the sky causing all manor of carnage and property damage.
Discuss.
D