Slashdot Mirror


How You Too Can Be Shut Down By the Feds For Flying Drones

An anonymous reader writes "University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Matt Waite waived a government cease and desist letter recently received for his experiments using 3-pound, $500 drones for news reporting (specifically, for a story about drought in Nebraska). He gave journalism organizations the lowdown on what they can expect from the government on this front going forward and said he's posting his experience in trying to get certified by the FAA on GitHub so they can follow along."

5 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Tin foil by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Funny

    My hobby eye in the sky is legal. His professional eye in the sky is illegal.

    Mine is a scale predator drone. I use it to 'real world troll' groups with paranoid populations. e.g. Occutards, gun shows, teabaggers, privacy advocates, protestors in general.

    Completely legal as I'm doing it for fun.

    Hint for anybody thinking of joining the fun. Put a plant in the group to spot the drone just as it completes an orbit and disappears. Otherwise they won't see it. At 400 feet AGL a five foot wingspan drone is about right.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  2. Re:RC plane? by Megahard · · Score: 4, Funny

    My television certainly should qualify, it does nothing but drone when it's on.

    In that case, my wife would also qualify.

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  3. Re:God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Which one, Zeus? G-Zeus? Anubis? Yahweh? Thor? Brahma? Quetzalcoatl? Ba`al adh-Dhubab? Vishnu? Me?

    My bet is on myself.

  4. ESL? ETL? EFL more likely. by rueger · · Score: 3, Funny

    You know, even by Slashdot standards this summary is remarkably incoherent. And that's ignoring the waived/waved confusion.

    "he's posting his experience in trying to get certified by the FAA on GitHub so they can follow along."

    Likely his problem was that the FAA doesn't use Github for certification. They have their own computers and application forms and stuff.

  5. Re:God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I'm pink. And invisible. Furthermore, I am a unicorn!