FPV flying now banned in Los Angeles.

[Old Guard]

LA City Council has unanimously voted to severely restrict RC flying and outright ban FPV flying altogether. The ordinance takes affect early December, after the Mayor signs it into law. Here are some of the more interesting bits:

1. No Person shall operate any Model Aircraft within the City of
Los Angeles and within 5 miles of an airport without the prior express
authorization of the airport air traffic control tower.

So with the Van Nuys, Burbank, and Whitman airports, this literally covers the entire San Fernando Valley. This also puts into question the future of the Apollo XI RC Airfield, which has been there 65+ years.

3. No Person shall operate any Model Aircraft within the City of
Los Angeles beyond the visual line of sight of the person operating the Model
Aircraft. The operator must use his or her own natural vision (which includes
vision corrected by standard eyeglasses or contact lenses) to observe the Model
Aircraft. People other than the operator may not be used in lieu of the operator
for maintaining visual line of sight. Visual line of sight means that the operator
has an unobstructed view of the Model Aircraft. The use of vision-enhancing
devices, such as binoculars, night vision goggles, powered vision magnifying
devices, and goggles or other devices designed to provide a “first-person view”
from the model, do not constitute the visual line of sight of the person operating
the Model Aircraft.

This seems pretty straight-forward. FPV is out. FPV racing is out.

4. No Person shall operate any Model Aircraft within the City of
Los Angeles other than during daylight hours defined as between official sunrise
and official sunset for local time.

So, flying indoors during nighttime hours is now a misdemeanor? Who writes laws this vague??

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Full ordinance text. (PDF warning.)

Drone pilots could get jail time, fine for violating new L.A. ordinance via LA Times.

 

[bhursey]

Doesent most of the fpv raceing occure over there? Is it really that big of a problem to come to this? Seems like every one is forming knee jerk reactions. There is a ton more stuff to worry about.

 

[razor02097]

Oh wow... seems like hurried legislation... they are jumping on the bandwagon before it even gets there

 

[StuartPB]

The UK restrictions are:

Article 166 of the ANO 2009 includes specific regulations for small unmanned aircraft and Article 167 of the ANO 2009 includes additional regulations for small unmanned aircraft that are 'equipped to undertake any form of surveillance or data acquisition'. In summary, they prohibit unmanned aircraft from flying in congested areas, flying close to people or property, flying for aerial work purposes or flying beyond visual line of sight unless permission has been given by the CAA.

From the Air Navigation Order 2009 Publication date: 06 May 2015
General Exemption E 4049:

b) The person in charge is accompanied by a competent observer who maintains direct
unaided visual contact with the SUA sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to
other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding
collisions and advises the person in charge accordingly.

So we are prohibited from flying a SUA beyond visual line of sight and we need a competent spotter which would seem the more sensible approach. I get that some may be flying with FPV and taking risks but a blanket ban isn't the answer.

 

[bhursey]

The UK restrictions are:





So we are prohibited from flying a SUA beyond visual line of sight and we need a competent spotter which would seem the more sensible approach. I get that some may be flying with FPV and taking risks but a blanket ban isn't the answer.

Thats the same as ours. The AMA rules is to use a AMA register spotter and to stay line of site.. It sounds like in this law in LA that does not matter.. http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/550.pdf

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Honestly though, who is going to care if you're flying FPV? I mean, are police officers now paroling the freaking flight line? Has anything actually happened in LA to prompt them to make a law against model flying or is it the the typical Hollywood-knee-jerk-and-over-regulate type of law. I think it's the latter.

Hey D.J.
Que up Tool's Ænima.

 

[mrwzrd59]

The idiocy and uninformed snap to judgment skills of "government" officials is astounding! I'll keep flying here in Indiana and the Barney Fife types will have to come and get me! It would be different if a drone had flown into a movie theater or school and gunned down innocent people but I just don't see how model aircraft ever present much risk to anybody?

Where's the proof that so many people are flying to endanger???

Next time they need help locating missing children, hikers, persons etc... I'll have to say that I cant help them because it's against the law!

 

[makattack]

I'm *guessing* that this is a knee-jerk reaction to that Inspire that was being used commercially to film a reality show by following a car, hitting power lines and causing a power outage...

 

[BeezerFish]

My bigger concern is the West Coast seems to set the trends on laws/ regulations and then everything moves East

 

[Balu]

My bigger concern is the West Coast seems to set the trends on laws/ regulations and then everything moves East

I'm just happy that it usually stops at the ocean.