Drones raise worries about privacy, safety
By Erika Norton
For the first time, drones were popular on holiday wish lists. But with their increasing popularity comes the realization that no laws exist to regulate their use.
With an estimated 700,000 drones sold during the holidays, local police are keeping a closer eye on the sky.
“My opinion is, after the holiday season, you’re going to see it explode,” Chief of Vernon Township, N.J. Police Randy Mills said. “The problem is, the cheaper they are and the less reliable they are, the more prone they are to crash and land where they’re not supposed to land.”
Drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, are small, remote-control devices that fly without a human pilot onboard. Many include cameras. Most are used recreationally.
Local police departments say they haven't received complaints about drones. And no drone sightings have been reported near local airports, including Stewart International in Newburgh, N.Y., according to FAA records.
Nevertheless, some say community safety — and potentially privacy — could be at risk.
Warwick Chief of Police Thomas McGovern said the department's only experience so far with drones has been positive, when Warwick resident Larry Miri used one to photograph the annual Apple Fest outdoor street fair. Flying drones over crowds violates FAA guidelines (see sidebar), but Miri received special permission from the Warwick police.
“He actually came here and demonstrated it to us before we gave him permission to use it at Apple Fest,” McGovern said. “We didn’t want to create any tension in the crowd.”
Miri promised the drone would be safe.
“Because I fly in full GPS mode, (the drone) will not allow us to go higher than 400 feet, and it won't even start up within five miles of an airport," Miri told The Warwick Advertiser in October. "Extremely safe this way."
The police department in Milford, Pa., plans to follow FAA and state mandates, but has no plans to regulate drones within the borough of Milford, said police Chief Jack DaSilva. Chief Chad Stewart of the Eastern Pike Regional Police Department in Pike County also said his department has no plans to regulate beyond FAA guidelines.
While there have been no complaints about drones in the Village of Goshen, police Chief James Watt said some residents have asked about flying them. Watt said he's talked to the village board of trustees about a possible local law regulating drone operation.
“It’s a very popular, coming phase,” Watt said. “And it’s one of those cases again, as we see so many times, of technology moving faster than legislation.”
The FAA's guidelines for recreational drone users do not have the force of law. However, this may change.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta wants owners to register their drones, and recommended as much to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
"Pilots with little or no aviation experience will be at the controls of many of these aircraft,” Huerta wrote in a blog post. “Many of these new aviators may not even be aware that their activities in our airspace could be dangerous to other aircraft — or that they are, in fact, pilots once they start flying their unmanned aircraft."
Parker Gyokeres, owner of Propellerheads Aerial Photography in Middletown, N.Y., and a member of the board of directors for the Professional Society of Drone Journalists, uses drones for commercial photography and cinematography. The company’s aerial photography, of the wedding of U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and Randy Florke, even made The New York Times’ Style Section.
Gyokeres says the FAA hasn't yet enforced its guidelines.
“The professional film community has just been flying as safely as possible while they’ve been working on certification,” he said.
Gyokeres said he fully supports drone registration. In the meantime, his company three months ago filed for an exemption for commercial use. The company continues to work as it awaits the FAA’s response.
Much planning is done before a drone flight to guarantee safety, Gyokeres said.
“We do a lot of checking to make sure the airspace we’re going to fly in is safe, that we’re not flying over people,” he said. “We have aerial insurance for our drones, and we have business insurance, and I’ve got employees that require certification.”
Gyokeres believes safety, more than privacy, will be the biggest concern about drones. He recommends first-time buyers practice with a small craft indoors before flying big drones outside. There are also a number of online tools to learn how to operate specific drones, he said.
“They are relatively dangerous pieces of equipment,” Gyokeres said. “They’re covered in spinning blades, and if you fly at head level, someone’s going to get cut. The issue is going to be education, to teach people how these things operate and how to operate them safely.”
Retailer Best Buy has teamed up with the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) to teach consumers about drone safety. Best Buy locations will provide AMA safety information with all drone purchases and offer one-year AMA memberships. And all employees who sell drones are required to take an online class about safety and the differences between products.
Robert Breese of Monroe, N.Y., also uses a drone for recreational photography. He believes drones can be used safely to produce beautiful results.
“From a photography and an artist’s standpoint, it’s a remarkable tool to use for stationary photography and video,” Breese said.
After his drone — a DJI Phantom 3 Professional — turns on, he said, it links up with five different satellites. The drone knows its precise take-off point, allowing the operator to use an override button that will return the drone to that point.
Bresse said it would be hard to use a drone for “peeping Tom” purposes. It would be difficult to fly close enough to a building to eavesdrop, he said.
“I have cameras and lenses that can take a much better picture through somebody’s window from pretty far away than I could with a drone,” Breese said.
Professional photographers, as they combine art with business, want to explore the exciting possibilities the new technology opens up while staying on the right side of the law.
"We’re very constantly conscious of all of the different requirements that it takes to run a business in addition to flying drones," Gyokeres said, "so it’s been an interesting adventure."