In the majority of issues, there are two sides.  And often, one side is winning and the other side is losing; not often do we see both sides losing.  But in the case of recreational drone flight, we are all losers.  Whether you are a drone flyer, a person with no interests in drones, with the government, or avidly against drone flight, we are all losing.  Since the "boom" of drones over the past two years, mostly due to the lowering cost of drones due to technology advances, they have become a hot topic.  Drone racing is taking off, aerial photography and videography is becoming more affordable and popular, and people are finding new and creative ways to fly their recreational drones to help them with everyday tasks and jobs.  But at the same time, people are up in arms over unsafe flying, public privacy laws, and aircraft interference.  Due to this, the government implemented rules and regulations to govern non-professional drone flight that are incomprehensive, not effective, and need immediate change.  For reading convenience, I have broken up the article into three parts: Drones in Everyday Life, The Database, The Issues and How to Fix the Issues, and The Community of Drone Flyers.

Drones in Everyday Life

Jay Barrman, an editor for SFist, compares the drone flying situation to bikers in San Francisco (and likely anywhere that has a large presence of bicyclists).  Generally, people view cyclists as a burden.  They cut cars off, fly down the sidewalk, ride right in the middle of the lane at a casual 10mph, and cross roads without looking among many other things.  But when you actually think about these bikers, those people don't make up the majority of bikers  Think about how many bikers you pass when you're driving compared to the amount of bikers you get stuck behind because they wanted to ride 10mph in the car lane.  It is only a small percentage of users that drivers have issues with, but since the driver has an issue with it, they remember that instance.  They don't remember the biker minding his own business in the bike lane or on the sidewalk.  The same applies to drones.  The media, especially social media, has blown out of proportion the issues with drones.  No news station ever reports "Drone Flyer Safely Takes Photographs in the Middle of the Park!" (which they shouldn't, nobody cares about that) so the only times the public hears about these drone incidents are when issues arise.  "Drone Flies Close to Helicopter" and "Homeowner Shoots Down Drone Over House" are more like the articles the public sees when it comes to drone flying.  And unfortunately due to that, a large stigma gets put on the whole drone flying community  --  they are a bunch of stalkers who overstep boundaries. And just to clarify, by stalking I don't mean spying; actual spying would require more than just a drone buzzing around (that wouldn't be very sneaky ... ). By stalking I mean making people uncomfortable by staking videos and photos of them from the air.

Over this past winter, I was one of the around 700,000 people to receive a drone for the holidays. (Reuters)  When I got my drone on December 25th, the FAA's recreational drone regulations had just gone into effect four days prior  --  meaning I had to register my drone before I was able to legally fly it.  And that entire process took me roughly 5 minutes.  Had I ever flown a drone before in my life? No.  Had I looked up how to fly a drone? No.  I just walked out in my backyard, put the battery in, and off I want.  I, like most drone flyers, took my time and learned how to fly the drone correctly. But, there was nothing stopping me from walking down to the nearby airport and flying my drone up.   There was nothing stopping me from putting my GoPro on the bottom, and flying it over to my neighbor's window. 

The Database

One of the first major faults is the government's plan for their database. One month after creating the database three-hundred thousand people had already registered their drones, trusting the government with their sensitive information. (Morgan)  Creating the database, and giving users a unique "code" to display on their drones is one of the few great ideas the FAA came up with in their regulations.  It holds people more accountable for their actions, since their drone can be traced back to them.  When consequences are put on the table, people are much more likely to be careful with their drone.  Makes sense, right?  But, the government didn't leave the database that simple.  The government for the longest time hid the fact they planned to make their drone database available to the public.  "I've been trying to get to the bottom of whether names and home addresses of model aircraft or hobby drone owners  --  including children as young as 13  --  will be made available by the FAA to the public once the FAA's new unmanned aircraft registry goes live on Monday. It seems a simple enough question. But it took a while to get a straight answer." writes John Goglia for Forbes.  And after a long and painstaking process with contacting the government, Goglia finally got his answer  --  the FAA is planning on releasing names and addresses to the public upon a search in the database.  Yes, I am all for having a database  --  keep people accountable for their actions.  But this database should be available to the eyes of authority figures only.  I don't want my name and home address out there for millions to see and I know the majority of the recreational drone flyers feel the same.  Parents don't want their middle-schoolers name out on the internet for anyone to look up.  The potential for misuse has no limits, from setting up burglars with houses prone to being broken into, all the way to sexual predators hunting down children.  Yes, both are extreme cases and unlikely to be a daily occurrence.   But, for the few people this could happen to, it would be tragic for those involved.

The issue also isn't just with releasing the names, it is about how the government was hiding this information from the public.  Goglia took days of emails and calls to get a straight answer from the government about whether they were making their database public.  There is a long history of distrust between the public and the government, and this certainly doesn't help the FAA's cause.  The government has had a long history of cover ups and hiding their true intentions, like the extreme case with the NSA a few years back.  And to many people, seeing the government hide yet another one of their programs is leading members of the drone community to be disgruntled and angered.  People don't want to comply with the regulations, and many are out flying their drones without registered, and there are also members of the drone flying community who are withholding from flight.  The government's actions are hurting a large and rapidly growing community, as well as creating an environment where people don't feel safe registering their drones and feel the need to fly without proper registration.  While there are many things about the FAA regulations that can be fixed, there will always be a stigma within the drone flying community due to the mistrust.  Whether the government plans to come out and say they made a mistake by being secretive, take away the plan all together, or just let it be, that stigma will be there.

The Issues, and the Solutions

One of the largest issues with the current FAA regulations is the lack of education given to drone flyers before they begin their flying.  The FAA just informs potential flyers of the laws  (which need to be reformed anyway).  Before we let a person drive a car, they not only get informed about the laws of the road, but how to drive the car.  And before we give them a chance to get their permit, they have to pass a test.  And after that, they need to pass six supervised hours with a driving instructor before even getting a permit.  Now obviously comparing a car to a drone has some differences, but both are person operated machines.  Operating any machine in a free space should require education, tests, and experience before being able to do it freely.  Imagine we let a 16 year old go right out on the road alone after passing Driver's Ed.  I don't think that would end well.  Cars, planes, boats, construction equipment, guns ...  you name the machine, there is a license to operate it.  Drones needed to be treated in a similar fashion.  I am not proposing we implement a plan that requires users to takes months of classes and pass tests to fly a drone, but they need to be not only be told the laws, but tested on them every so often and need to be taught how to fly the drone.

"Since drones first became big for recreational use, the technology in drones has evolved tremendously.  Three years ago, this technology was so expensive, so unattainable, that only the professional cinematographer could afford it," said International Drone Racing Association CEO Charles Zablan in an interview with The New York Times. Zablan said that now a full drone racing kit with flying google can be bought for about $1,000." (Graham) The most recent drone to be announced by DJI, one of the well-recognized drone manufacturers, is the Phantom 4 and it has technology in it that five years ago people would have laughed at.  This drone can essentially fly itself.  With auto take-off and landing, users can set a point on a screen that shows a live video feed from the drone and the Phantom 4 will automatically follow that object around.  And you never will have to worry about hitting objects, as the Phantom 4 comes with object avoidance, and will automatically stop or fly around the obstacle. One thing that the FAA overlooked in their regulations was the advancements in technology.  Just like cars in several years will all be required to have back-up cameras, drones need to have safety requirements as well.  Several large companies, such as Google and Amazon, have been researching and testing advanced technology on their drones that makes flying them even safer. "Bio Inspired Technologies of Boise, Idaho, is doing just that. It is building a sense-and-avoid system using a memristor, a resistor with a memory. Like the synapse in a biological brain, the memristor changes when impulses pass through it. Crucially, it is able to remember the impulse after it has stopped." (Hambling)  

One of the most common features available in drones is GPS.  Drones currently use GPS for automatic return to home features, which allows a user to click a button and the drone will fly itself back to you automatically.  This technology is not costly, and there are many drones with GPS technology for under $200.  Taking off and landing are two of the most dangerous times for drone flyers, as at this point the drone is closest to humans and other obstacles.  Just recently there was another crash that took place during a landing that could have been prevented by GPS systems.  "The workday was winding down in Cape Town, South Africa yesterday when David Perel heard a strange buzzing sound while sitting in his office. Before he could figure out where the sound was coming from, there was a loud bang and glass shattered all over him and something had hit him in the head." (Borrello) Perel luckily escaped with no injuries, despite being wacked in the head by a drone that has the force to shatter a window.  This incident could have been prevented with the requirement for all drones to have GPS capabilities.  Not only does it make taking off and landing safe, but GPS opens up a wide range of other features that could easily be implemented with a few lines of code.  Drones could be restricted to stop going up at 400 meters, which is the highest a drone is allowed to fly under FAA laws.  A geofencing system could be set up, which would prevent drones from flying in restricted areas, specifically in big cities and around airports.  This feature would have stopped the drone from flying into Perel's head.  Making GPS a requirement for drones, which is a feature already in many drones, could increase safety on an astronomical level.  One of the recent uses of this technology has been through the app called "Airmap". "Airmap already maps drone flights by signing up individuals and manufacturers to share their GPS data on the platform, while helping them navigate safely by offering access to its Web app that shows things like restricted airspace.

Airmap's now using its drone mapping software to build a 'Digital Notice and Awareness System' dashboard specially for use by air traffic controllers, who will be able to get real-time location data about nearby drones and contact the pilot directly if they need to." (Styles).  The technology is there, and it is being put to use.  But until that use is required by law, it will only help so much.

The Drone Racing and Recreational Drone Flight Community

Restrictions on recreational drone flight also takes a toll on the hobby of drone racing.  You may not have quite heard of the "sport" of drone racing just yet, but all of the people taking flight with their drones say they'll be having the last laugh. "I can see probably in the next 12 months a worldwide league" says one drone flyer, Chad Nowak. (Drone Racing Australia).  And he may not be wrong.  Drone racing is already taking off, with races going on at sites such as the Miami Dolphins stadium, and drones going as fast at 80mph. (Cawley).  "For now, drone racing has a decidedly narrow audience. But Nicholas Horbaczewski, CEO of the Drone Racing League, sees a roadmap in the growth of competitive video gaming, estimated to generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenue by 2020." (Fitzpatrick) There are investors, racers, and importantly  --  fans.  Drone racing looks like it is straight out a science fiction movie, and as they come flying by at 80mph they can be quite intriguing  --  especially when they crash, Wired.com points out.  And I can attest to that, I have been online searching for videos of "drone crashes".  For some reason, humans have always been drawn to destruction.  And drone racing provides danger free, high speed collisions and crashes. Flyers are ecstatic about the new found fan base and recognition for what was once just a simple hobby.  It is drawing comparisons to the gaming industry  --  once just a hobby, now a multi-million dollar industry.

Drone regulations currently have no specifications on people who are drone racing, and these are the people that are drawing crowds of people.  Just like NASCAR drivers aren't held to the same restrictions as everyday drivers, people who are racing drones should not be held to the same standards as the everyday drivers.  Imagine NASCAR with speed limits. Exactly.  There is a reason professionals are held to certain standards, and that is because they can handle more than an average person.  They have experience in the field, and they are educated on how to properly operate their machines.  Holding professionals to the same standards as the common drone flyer is not fair to professionals, and hinders the professionals who are looking to practice racing, or race out in the open.

As mentioned before, the government didn't do itself any favors by hiding that they are planning on making the drone database public, but the government isn't just associated with privacy issues.  The government has had a long history of issues with the public when it comes to restrictions and regulations as well. Their current regulations on drones is not exhaustive, and doesn't accurately represent all parties involved in drone flying.  Drone flyers need to fight for a new set of regulations, and the public needs to support them.  The general public is affected too  --  I am sure most of the readers have seen someone flying a drone at some point in the last year, or seen a video online from recreational drone flight.  And it is likely that video online wasn't showing somebody safely flying their drone  --  it was likely somebody misusing their drone, by flying in restricted areas, stalking people, or the drone coming crashing down.  Creating a better, more effective set of regulations for drones will create more interest in the hobby, and will create a safer hobby, which is necessary. Drones are projected to have sales reaching 20 million by 2020 according to Juniper Research (Smith).  Creating a new set of regulations for recreational drone flight has endless benefits, from boosting sales to keeping hobbyists happy and keeping everyone safe.  There is no reason the government shouldn't be working on a new set of comprehensive laws governing recreational drone flight.   

