What constitutes "commercial use"?

wow.. Flying drones in USA simply sucks. Too much BS to deal with. Good luck guys

Our government agencies like to forget it is they who work for us and they have no other power than what we give them... at least that's how it's supposed to work.
 
Can ya'll back waaay up to help me understand the central issue:

> What is the FAA's objective in targeting 'Commercial Use' (however you may interpret it) ?

Is it just a safety issue? i.e. allowing commercial use would fill the skies with drones and they are not ready for how to control those kinds of numbers safely yet? .. and the commercial use criterion is just a convenient means of creating a 'barrier to entry' to limit the number of drones in the sky?? (as opposed to something like 'only blue eyed males making > 1MM may legally fly')

I'm just trying to understand the thinking as to why commercial use has anything to do with it.
 
> What is the FAA's objective in targeting 'Commercial Use' (however you may interpret it) ?
Things are gradually changing but this has come about from the FAA only understanding full sized airplanes and trying to make everything fit their full-sized aviation mentality.

If you want to fly a small plane for recreational use, the licensing rules are simpler than if you want to captain a Boeing 777. Ever since they came to be the FAA has required a higher standard for commercial pilots. They just applied this thinking to small drones.

But it makes no sense to allow the same photography and flying for recreational use but say it is illegal if you sell the images.

It's not about aviation safety, which should be the only issue for the FAA. It has become a restriction on trade with the FAA saying who can and who can't sell photos.

There is no need for FAA interference or airplane qualifications to fly around at treetop height shooting a few real estate pictures. It's just that the FAA is taking a long time to admit this.
 
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Thanks, that helps frame things up for me... and now I understand that my misunderstanding was understandable!
(btw - Queenstown 2015 pics are extraordinary.. need to bump up NZ on the bucket list)
 

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