Leave it up to uninformed politicians to screw things up yet again…
On April 2nd of this year US Senate Bill S-1249 was introduced. This piece of legislation could have a very negative effect on the home inspection industry and other industries where the commercial use of drones are involved… This bill will essentially change the definition of “navigable airspace” as it pertains to unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and will require land owner permission to fly over their property at altitudes below 200 ft AGL. The airspace from the ground to 200’ AGL will be defined as:
“IMMEDIATE REACHES OF AIRSPACE.—The term “immediate reaches of airspace” means, with respect to the operation of a civil unmanned aircraft system, any area within 200 feet above ground level.”
As far as drones go, the definition of navigable airspace will change to:
NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE DEFINITION.—Paragraph (32) of section 40102 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: “In applying such term to the regulation of civil unmanned aircraft systems, such term shall not include the area within the immediate reaches of airspace (as defined in section 44801).”
As a Part 107 Certificated UAS pilot (like myself) knows, the FAA currently has jurisdiction from the ground up, which means they regulate and police us as home inspectors when we are using our flying cameras to inspect rooftops and pieces of properties not really accessible. This bill would also change that to giving local and state governments the jurisdiction of the first 200 ft of airspace. Should a local or state gov’t decide to create some stupid drone regulation (which they will) that prevents you from flying over a home you are inspecting, the only way to circumvent the regulation is to fly above 200 ft. Who can inspect a roof from that high up??? Ridiculous…
The whole premise for this “Immediate reaches of airspace” is based on a SCOTUS ruling from 1946, United States v. Causby, 328 U.S. 256 Where a farmer sued the gov’t because military aircraft were flying too low over his property, even though his home was directly inline and in close proximity with a local airport runway that was being used as a training field for military pilots, resulting in his chickens dying from the noise…
Being part of several drone groups, I just felt I should do my part and let it be known that there is something new “coming down the pike”. Reach out to your US Senator and request they amend this piece of legislation in such a way that will exempt home inspection services from this ridiculousness…
I am thinking that your average homeowner would like this bill. So, should this bill actually become US law, the end result could be that we will need to get advanced written permission from the Seller to fly a drone during an inspection for a Buyer. Something you would think the Seller should be inclined to accede. However, in the hopefully rare instance that the Seller refuses, then we would need to use some other less-suitable method and list that as an inspection limitation.
We have a couple of towns here in CO that have ordinances that allow it. Some were shut down in court but others still have it on the books even though it’s a felony
And the neighbors if you were to cross the property line, not to mention the local jurisdiction could have there own stupid regulations. Good thing I still have a doca pole…
Could you imagine having to hold an FAA Part 107, a state license/cert, AND possibly a permit from the local city/town? It would turn into a big money grab at the expense of a small business owner…
