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California Legislation May Allow First Responders To Take Out Drones
Required Snark writes: During the recent North Fire that burned vehicles on I-15 in California, firefighters had to suspend aerial operations because of the presence of drone aircraft, according to CNN. Quoting: "Five such 'unmanned aircraft systems' prevented California firefighters from dispatching helicopters with water buckets for up to 20 minutes over a wildfire that roared Friday onto a Los Angeles area freeway that leads to Las Vegas. Helicopters couldn't drop water because five drones hovered over the blaze, creating hazards in smoky winds for a deadly midair disaster, officials said."
In response, state officials have introduced legislation that would allow first responders to disable drones in emergency situations. A second bill would allow jail time and fines for drone users that interfere with firefighting efforts. "Senate Bill 168, introduced by Gatto and Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, would grant 'immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations.' Los Angeles County fire Inspector David Dantic declined to comment on the specific legislation, but said his agency's aircraft cannot operate safely if a drone is in the same airspace."
In response, state officials have introduced legislation that would allow first responders to disable drones in emergency situations. A second bill would allow jail time and fines for drone users that interfere with firefighting efforts. "Senate Bill 168, introduced by Gatto and Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, would grant 'immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations.' Los Angeles County fire Inspector David Dantic declined to comment on the specific legislation, but said his agency's aircraft cannot operate safely if a drone is in the same airspace."
I don't think most drone operators are Republicans, myself. I do think many of them are peeping Toms who need to have their remote control aircraft shot out of the sky on a regular basis.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I really hate these what if scenarios. Has anything like that ever happened? And if not, what are the reasonable expectations that it could happen in the future?
All of this drone nonsense is just hyperbole to the extreme. I have never heard of a drone colliding with a helicopter. Also because airspace below a certain altitude is public space where one can fly such a drone legally, it's kind of a grey area as when not to fly drones in that space.
Emergency services are all fine and dandy, but i have seen video of firefighters purposely trying to knock down a drone that's flying a good 100+ft away from them with a pressurized hose for no good reason.
Either you make it illegal and propose fines for people flying drones in restricted airspace (and you better damn well have a way of communicating when and where a restricted airspace is) or you suck it up and figure out a way to keep your personnel safe.
You do not allow people to arbitrarily destroy private property.
Just classify drones as pets. Then whenever the police are called out on a case, drones would automatically get shot first.