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The FAA is just saying that students fall into these rules:
http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/for-recreational-users/
Basically, it says do not be dumb, dangerous, or otherwise abusive to those around you.

If the teacher (a paid professional) is the primary pilot, however, then the teacher falls under these rules:
http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/for-business-users/
That teacher will need to get FAA permission and may need a license, depending upon the details of what is being done with the drone. The teacher researching autonomous transcontinental flight will probably have more hoops to jump through compared to the teacher who is trying to take a short-range aerial shot for filmatography school.

The FAA is just saying that students fall into these rules:
http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/for-recreational-users/
Basically, it says do not be dumb, dangerous, or otherwise abusive to those around you.

If the teacher (a paid professional) is the primary pilot, however, then the teacher falls under these rules:
http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/for-business-users/
That teacher will need to get FAA permission and may need a license, depending upon the details of what is being done with the drone. The teacher researching autonomous transcontinental flight will probably have more hoops to jump through compared to the teacher who is trying to take a short-range aerial shot for filmatography school.

Normally you shouldn't have to dive your 'drone' because you shouldn't be operating it in the same airspace as aircraft operate anyway. However, I've seen with my own eyes, and youtube is filled with operators violating the tenets set forth by the FAA. As a matter of fact, just a week ago I witnessed one in my neighborhood being operated: within 4 miles of an airport (as a matter of fact it was headed toward the active approach vector), over a populated area, looked to be about 500' up, and went so far that there was no way the operator could have been in visual sight of it unless they themselves were in a vehicle. I disagree with you and would label this operator as an idiot. This one vehicle violated at least 5 of these guidelines. It's only a matter of time until there is an incident, and the operator will not be the one who gets killed or injured. As a matter of fact, I have read several stories where the aircraft had to change course or stop operations because of the proximity of one of these.

Last I checked, "restricted airspace" for drones included some hilariously large areas - check out what appears to be the official map. Note that includes five miles from airports (why I can't legally fly drones at my own house) and anywhere in a national park.

RC Aircraft have flown safely and legally for years at designated areas where those type of vehicles are allowed to fly. Somebody sticks a couple more rotors on an RC aircraft and now somehow people think they ought to be able to fly them anywhere they want?

Last I checked, "restricted airspace" for drones included some hilariously large areas - check out what appears to be the official map. Note that includes five miles from airports (why I can't legally fly drones at my own house) and anywhere in a national park.

I think that we're going to need a definition here... What exactly is a COA?

Already defined. And here.

There are already classes of manned aircraft that do not require the operator to have a pilot's license to operate.

There are. So?

There are rules and the operators are required to follow those rules, but without a licensing requirement I expect that enforcement could be challenging sometimes.

You must be kidding. You don't think the FAA would take any action against an ultralight pilot who violated the rules just because no formal license is involved?

Operators need to not fly over property that they have not sought and received explicit permission to fly over.

That would not be first on my list of rules that need to be created. As you point out, there are other pilots already operating, and none of them need permission to fly over property they don't own. That's part of the national airspace concept -- to prevent a patchwork of local regulations and limitations that would make flying nearly impossible.

Imagine if a private pilot trying to make a cross-country flight of just 100 miles had to get permission from every property owner whose property he might fly over before doing so. What a nightmare. And when one says no?

Operators need to not fly in heavily populated areas.

That would be higher on my list, along with proximity to persons and building limits. (Which there already are.)

These rules DO apply to drones. In fact, the FAA talks about them all the time, and even has an informational website to explain it to drone users: http://knowbeforeyoufly.org/fo...