Filming 75,000+ people from the sky!

[xzoticskillz]

My 45mm lens on the Inspire 1 X5R shooting the Austin City Limits music festival in Austin TX last week. Shot 4K raw. Enjoy!

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[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

Nice but highly illegal without a waiver. No flying within 5 miles of crowds that size up to 1 hour before and 1 hour after.

 

[xzoticskillz]

I believe you are mistaken. Nowhere does it say flying within 5 miles of crowds is illegal. Not sure if you're serious or just trolling.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

I'm serious and the limit is actually 3 miles, not 5. It's all in the 107 rule. It specifically is in relation to sporting events, but also states 'Or Venue'. The whole point is to keep drones and full scale aircraft away from venues of that size for safety reasons. But I would think that's common sense. A crowd that size would draw news, broadcast and police helicopters in the area so you wouldn't want to interfere in those operations.

Airspace Restrictions

 

[UASguy79]

I didn't see any illegal flying, from what could be see he flew in a safety area not over the crowd and the event didn't fall under the Major League Baseball
National Football League
NCAA Division One Football
NASCAR Sprint Cup, Indy Car, and Champ Series races.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

You left out the last part of that where it says '.. or Venue'. Not to mention flight at night. And you have to reasonably expect to be flying over people when you're that close to 75,000+ people.

ven·ue
ˈvenˌyo͞o/
noun
noun: venue; plural noun: venues

1. the place where something happens, especially an organized event such as a concert, conference, or sports event.
   "the river could soon be the venue for a powerboat world championship event"

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Kinda a neat video tho. Question. Where you sanctioned by whoever put that on to do the filming or is it just something you did?

 

[MGS]

Word

 

[xzoticskillz]

You left out the last part of that where it says '.. or Venue'. Not to mention flight at night. And you have to reasonably expect to be flying over people when you're that close to 75,000+ people.

ven·ue
ˈvenˌyo͞o/
noun
noun: venue; plural noun: venues

1. the place where something happens, especially an organized event such as a concert, conference, or sports event.
   "the river could soon be the venue for a powerboat world championship event"

"And you have to reasonably expect to be flying over people when you're that close to 75,000+ people."

- Ok I'm going to have to totally disagree with you there, your wording "reasonably expect" is straight up subjective and inferred, thereby invalidating your argument. Your entire point is based on implicit interpretation. The reality was the event was held at a park with no TFR's in place and also flown during civil twilight in which you have mistaken for "flight at night". Last time I checked the FAA clearly mentions flights 30 min after sunset (civil twilight interval) are perfectly legal and appropriate. The drone never even came close to breaching the perimeter of the event, let alone flying over a single head. Multiple pilots were flying their UAVs around the perimeter of the music festival, they did so all safely and "legally". If everybody started interpreting the FAA's guidelines to their own liking, nobody would be able to fly anywhere.

 

[xzoticskillz]

Kinda a neat video tho. Question. Where you sanctioned by whoever put that on to do the filming or is it just something you did?

Thanks, I wasn't commissioned by anybody. I created this as a passion project.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Even tho

Thanks, I wasn't commissioned by anybody. I created this as a passion project.

As far as the legality goes I didn’t think you where breaking any laws. It’s clear in the video there is a wood line separating you and the crowd so the chances that you flew over someone is very slim. You can tell by the sky being orange that you still where within the time limits to fly. As far as the wavier for flying around an event like that it is a grey area as how the faa has it written. When they say venue, are they referring to just what they have listed or are they referring to all types of venues. If they meant all types of venues I would have thought they would list it as such say all types of venues over a certain size group of people. The faa needs to be more point on about their rule writings. With that size of crowd my guess is they would probably want to know about it but I’m not sure if they would want to be bothered by it either because if everybody got a waiver for any event they flew a drone at they would have millions of them to go thru and wouldn’t be able to keep track of them all.

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

You can interpret it any way you like. I'm not the one that would be subject to FAA scrutiny. I'm just saying flying that close to 75,000+ people is totally against what the FAA is trying to do safety wise and is the driving factor behind the rules around flying near sporting events and venues.

The fact that there were other drones flying in the area alone is a whole other concern and not proof that it was 'safe' to be flying there. And 'reasonable' is a valid legal criteria that is used ALL THE TIME.

My post was for your information so you don't get in trouble by having proof of your actions in a public forum like Youtube. It's one thing to do that for someone and have a small audience, but promoting it, especially on YT, may just wind up getting you in trouble if someone decides to file a case with FAA and link your video as proof. It seems to be happening more and more these days and I wouldn't want to see someone on this forum get in trouble.

 

[MGS]

I used to frequent various firearms training facilities and there was always at least one person who would want to try and scrutinize the legalities of what I had. The first question I ask is if they were law enforcement, as expected no. Have a good day...

I have always carried the proper permits and paperwork, but that has and always will be a matter between myself and the powers that be.


Being policed by other operators and what they hold to be compliant and non-compliant flight operations is ridiculous.

 

[RobH2]

If you are a certified Part 107 pilot I'd be a bit cautious about how much you share this. I'd expect that if the FAA saw it they might contact you and you might risk losing your certification if you didn't have a waiver to fly at night and over crowds. It's nearly impossible to get a waiver to fly over crowds at all. Even as it appeared that you did a lot of zooming and didn't fly directly over the main body of people, I'd expect there was still a good number of people outside the fences and under your craft. Should you have accidentally smacked into one of the other drones over the crowd causing both to fall, someone could have been seriously injured.

I like what you produced but l think you pushed the envelope and did some illegal flying.

 

[Sputnik]

I'm curious what lens you were using at about 1:28 to 1:33?

 

[Alancctv]

My 45mm lens on the Inspire 1 X5R shooting the Austin City Limits music festival in Austin TX last week. Shot 4K raw. Enjoy!

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hI..

Really good.....would you mind telling me what programmes are you using for editing and adding music......I have an X5R and would like to get more out of it....I am in the UK..night flying is ok if you have permission from the CAA ( your FAA)

Again..nice work

Cheers

Alan

 

[Jim G]

GREAT VIDEO....nice work.