Drone Mind

I live in New York City and I recently got a drone from the brand DJI.  This is the Chinese company that has much of the share of commercial drones in the USA.  After I got it, I learned that DJI has been in the headlines recently because the US government is going to ban their sale in America because of security concerns.  Or maybe it’s part of the tariff fight.

In any case, I have been very excited to use it in parks for recreational flying (flying for fun) but I first searched up my local laws. It turns out, I had to first get my drone registered with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to be able to fly anywhere in the country. I also had to take the TRUST (The Recreational UAS Safety Test), which was a pretty quick and easy task.

This was all for the FAA and ordinarily, anywhere else in the country, I would be good to fly. But in New York City, I later found out, there are much more restrictive laws. To fly a drone for recreational purposes in NYC, you have to complete everything I have already done, plus you have to obtain a permit from the NYPD. This NYPD permit is MUCH harder to get then any of the federal permits. It requires you to pay $150, you have to apply 30 days before the time you’re going to fly, you can only select/make the permit valid for 5 days maximum, and the cherry on top is that most of the time you get declined and they don’t refund your $150. If you get caught flying without a permit, you can face fines ranging from $250 to $1,000, it can lead to criminal charges and a criminal record, and it can result in up to 90 days in jail.

The FAA has jurisdiction over everything in the air, but NYC has gotten around this by controlling where you can take off, land, and fly a drone from. Effectively, New York City has banned drones for everything other than business. I think that this is probably for good reason, though. If just anyone can fly a drone, the sky in New York would be full of drones, there would be MANY accidents and people would be trying to do all sorts of crazy things. Still, I think that these restrictions are pretty much a ban on drones. I hope that there becomes a better way to fly drones in New York City.

There are, however, a couple of safe places where you are allowed to fly drones.  One of these is in Calvert Vaugh Park in Brooklyn and that’s where I had my dad drive me one Saturday morning.  I met a group of drone enthusiasts there who are part of the Seaview Rotary Wings Club (https://www.flysrw.com).  They were flying their drones and fixed wing aircraft.  I met people with a lot more experience than me and I learned a lot about custom drones, the limitations of DJI, and a lot more. I found that there is a big drone culture in NYC and one day I hope to join it.