[RICH1]

The 2 ladies on the golf cart have stepped up their game!

[Rheinl271]

Might also be police activity. Sumter uses drones.

[Cliff Fr]

Originally Posted by TNLAKEPANDA

that’s funny

That golfer running better be careful or he will have a heart attack. He was justified in wacking the rc car though, imo

[jarodrig]

Originally Posted by Lil GTO

It very well could be the CVS pharmacy drone. They’ve been using drones to deliver prescription drugs out of the store on 466 for several months now.

OP said it was @ 11 PM !

Doubt it would be my type of delivery 🤔

[jrref]

I bought a drone last month and had a lot of the same questions.
For all the information you need about Drones see DRONE FLYERS CLUB - Home

Fortunately we have one of the most experienced drone pilots living here in the Villages and the president of this club, Don. He has all the "official" answers.

At a high level,
The Villages doesn't restrict drone flying since the FAA regulates the airspace.
There are recreational and commercial drone flyers. For Recreational flyers recent changes by the FAA require you to take and pass a TRUST test and register your Drone with the FAA.
You can see the TRUST information here FAA TRUST Online Portal for Recreational Drone Operators - Pilot Institute
You can register your drone here FAA Drone Registration Technically you can't buy a drone over 250 grams and just fly it like a toy. If there is a complaint with the FAA you will be facing some serious problems depending on your situation. One of the big reasons you need to do all this is Safety AND you might live near an airport and or restriced airspace where you need to get permission to fly your drone even lower than 400 feet so the FAA want to make sure you understand the basic recreational flying rules.

If you make any money flying your Drone, even using footage on your YouTube channel, since you get some amount of money from YouTube your flying is considered Commercial. Then you need to get a Part 107 Commercial Drone pilots license. There have been some YouTuber's getting notifications from the FAA about this. Whether you agree or not, this is the way it is.

At the end of the day, the FAA is concerned about safety and is taking steps to enforce the rules.

The Villages also gives a Drone course given by Don which is also very good explaining everything you need to know. The Villages Drone Flyers Club flys once a week so if you are interested in Drones you can talk to Don and or the other members there or join the club that meets once a month.

[airstreamingypsy]

There goes skinny dipping in the pool.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by EdFNJ

OH, you can't shoot them down and gun laws aside it would be a "federal offense".

Well, crap... There goes my evening plans... PULL!

[davem4616]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

My brother says that if he ever sees a drone flying over his place, it's coming down. And he's a hell of a good shot.

His "place", by the way, is 80 acres about an hour south of the Canadian border deep in the woods of Northern Minnesota. People up there value their privacy.

IMHO anyone living that far out in the boonies has very little to worry about when it comes to 'peeping Tom' drones

[triflex]

I was playing golf early one morning and looked up and there was a fella in his lanai smoking a cigar. The only thing he was wearing was his cigar. He puffed away like he was commander of the universe. A real porch pioneer he was.

He had the mindset of Lewis and Clark and the body of Homer Simpson. $1M+ house too.

Buck naked posh-porch-pioneers don't care about your drone.

[Goldwingnut]

Ok, I guess it's time for me to ring in on this one. I spend about 2 hours in my class taking about the laws here in Florida that apply to drone flying and I've had my run ins with the FAA in the past so I am VERY familiar with the laws and rules as they apply. A lot of good and accurate information has been put out in this thread, jrref and edfnj have posted some great information that is spot-on. I'll try to limit my comments to 4 areas:
1) Can you fly a drone over The Villages/homes
2) Can you shot down a drone
3) Why are they spying on me
4) Flying a drone at night


1) Can you fly a drone over The Villages/homes

As EdFNj stated, I've a link to document on the applicable laws for flying drones (I give this to all my students in my classes), you'll find these on my download page HERE
There are 3 laws that apply in Florida 330.41, 330.411, and 934.50
330.411 is the easiest, in short you can't weaponize a drone in any way here in Florida.
330.41 is in my opinion a drone pilots friend and similar laws exist in almost every state. The short version is that the State and FAA make the rules not the cities, towns, counties, or other government body. Here's what it says"

330.41.(3)(b) Except as otherwise expressly provided, a political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance or resolution relating to the design, manufacture, testing, maintenance, licensing, registration, certification, or operation of an unmanned aircraft system, including airspace, altitude, flight paths, equipment or technology requirements; the purpose of operations; and pilot, operator, or observer qualifications, training, and
certification.

So The Villages (the community, the CDD's, and the developer) can't make any rules nor enforce any restrictions.

934.50 talks about search and seizure using a drone and discusses privacy and surveillance. Key in this discussion is the definition of what surveillance is with the salient points being recording an image, sufficient visual clarity, and intent. All of these must be met. The first is generally easy to prove, intent you must prove they were trying to look at you, and visual clarity is the easiest to defeat. I dig into this one a little more in #3.

2) Can you shoot down a drone
In a word, NO! The FAA considers a small Unmanned Aircraft System or sUAS (the correct term for what most consider a drone) the same as any other aircraft and the same laws that protect other aircraft from being shot at or discharging a weapon inside an aircraft protect drones. The FAA is prosecuting on this offense.

Don't think nobody will know it was you if you shoot one down. The pilot knows where the aircraft is and telemetry data is recorded in the flight software that they are using on the ground that can be used to determine incident location. Most aircraft also have cameras that will save a copy of the video they shoot on the ground station system so even if the aircraft is a total loss or unrecoverable there is a record (see my video of the Brownwood bridge move for an example of this). If that video footage show identifiable evidence of the incident, you're screwed and will be caught.

I love the tennis racket comment that Dana1963 made, if they are close enough to you to hit with a tennis racket, they by all means do so, the S.O.B. is breaking the law and invading your privacy and deserves it. Beyond that range, you are braking the law.

3) Why are they spying on me
They're probably not, even at a very moderate altitude of 50 ft the field of view is wide and most things are small, at 100 ft (still very low and in risk of trees) hundreds of homes become visible and you are not likely of any interest.

Just because they are over or near your home doesn't mean they are looking at you. Yes the camera can be pointed straight down but most pilots only do that when they are landing. Just because someone is standing in the street or near your home doesn't mean they are looking in your window, the same applies to drones. Just because you see a drone flying over doesn't mean it's looking at you; if a car goes past your house is the drive looking in your window or are they looking where they are going? The same holds true when flying a drone.

As far as the cameras go, what you see on CSI or NCIS when they "zoom in" and "enhance" a picture and magically get a crystal clear image is all great television fiction and not reality. At 150 ft a 30 lb dog becomes a mass of colored blocks when you try to zoom in too far (make it 10% of the viewable image or less). At night it's even less effective or useful. This goes back to 934.50 when it talks about "sufficient visual clarity", it doesn't exist to meet the definition of surveillance. It makes great television but it simply isn't real.

4) Flying a drone at night
In early 2021 the FAA changed the rules about flying at night to make it easier. It's not blanket permission to fly at night and has several rules that MUST be followed, the big two are: 1) lighting (strobe) that must be visible for 3 miles and 2) a special test from the FAA that you must pass. If these are met (and the rest of the rules) the pilot is in the wrong and if caught stiff fines are imposed.

I've met all the requirements for flying at night and have done it several times, most recently when shooting the Christmas lights at the town squares. Overall, it is too risky to do casually and without a lot of planning - the trees are too hard to see in the dark - it's not worth risking a $1500 bird (again) to do without strong consideration of the dangers and consequences.

If you see someone flying at night without the lighting requirements being met (the lights that are standard on all drones do not meet the visibility requirements) they call the police/sheriff to investigate or follow it to where it lands and you can then file a complaint with the FAA.


At the Drone Flyers Club meetings we talk about these very subjects frequently and we emphasize courtesy and respect for our neighbors and others and following the laws. We don't want anyone to be "that guy" who annoys the neighbors or is on the evening news due to stupidity. But of course we all know, you can't fix stupid.

[golfnut]

Originally Posted by AzAuSenior

The drone in question was out surveilling the neighborhood at 11 PM; not the kind of monitoring one would expect from a drone club or Gold Wingnut. We're not concerned about legitimate drone use, but rather exploitation by others using drones for questionable purposes and what can residents do when suspicious drones are observed operating in a neighborhood.

What does a suspicious drone look like, as opposed to a legitimate one?

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by golfnut

What does a suspicious drone look like, as opposed to a legitimate one?

This one might raise suspicion...

[rockyhyder]

We had a drone in our neighborhood for a while. It’s like living with a peeping Tom! I contacted everyone I could think of and was basically told TV has no rules against drones. The Sheriff had a detective call me to get enough info to check the guys license status. I started documenting every fly over near my house with cell phone video, building a case file of evidence to eventually get the guys license revoked, have him arrested, sue him or get the law changed. Don Wylie (the nut with a gold wing) was no help, he gave nothing but reasons why drones can fly legally, and the federal law is not nearly as liberal as he claims. My advice, read the federal law yourself so you understand what is legal and not, start documenting the flights and contact the Sheriffs Office to get a case file started. It will take a little time but you will eventually get the right video and with the right lawyer and circumstances you might even get a nice paycheck.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by golfnut

What does a suspicious drone look like, as opposed to a legitimate one?

This ??????? (see attached) ...

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by rockyhyder

We had a drone in our neighborhood for a while. It’s like living with a peeping Tom! I contacted everyone I could think of and was basically told TV has no rules against drones. The Sheriff had a detective call me to get enough info to check the guys license status. I started documenting every fly over near my house with cell phone video, building a case file of evidence to eventually get the guys license revoked, have him arrested, sue him or get the law changed. Don Wylie (the nut with a gold wing) was no help, he gave nothing but reasons why drones can fly legally, and the federal law is not nearly as liberal as he claims. My advice, read the federal law yourself so you understand what is legal and not, start documenting the flights and contact the Sheriffs Office to get a case file started. It will take a little time but you will eventually get the right video and with the right lawyer and circumstances you might even get a nice paycheck.

Nice story but what was the final result ? Did you subpoena his videos? Did you have a nice payday? Did the FAA get involved? Was the pilot identified? Was he arrested ? Did he lose his license? Did you sue? Sign a complaint? Any news articles ? Police reports? Sounds interesting so I'd be interested specifically in that case and how it ended up. In Florida there must be a public record somewhere. Any reference info? Did the "other website" (the one we can't name) have a story on it?

I do agree somewhat that Federal Drone Laws aren't quite that liberal since I have been reading them but your story does sound just a bit overzealous.