Idk if anyone had a similar problem before, but I live in EU by the countryside, at first there were only a few but now it happens more and more often to see drones passing over my house, I am sure they are civilian drones because law enforcement has no reason to use them since the area is quiet (and honestly I doubt they would be able to do so), however it bothers me enough to know that there are people who get over the fence and enter my property going to look at what they want, does anyone have any advice on what to do?
This works if they fly low enough
Police drones. Surveillance “for your protection”
Fuck them!
That some dystopian shit!
Portsmouth Ohio, fat redneck throwing a bottle of shit Australian beer and the police not executing a no knock warrant and murdering him for his crimes?
I call bullshit.
He’s white, it’s okay.
Didn’t know they drank great northern piss in Ohio.
They don’t. They’re a QLD couple that got in trouble for being absolute legends and knocking down their neighbour’s drone.
That guy deserves an award
I never understood anti drug drones. You’d think criminals would just go inside or get a pavilion
That photo is real but that caption isn’t.
That was taken in Australia with one of our better beers front and centre
You can also use an anti-drone gun
I think you have the legal right to prohibit flying above your property. Do it, make a sign and report everyone who violates it to the police. Flying on someone’s property with a camera drone is illegal anyways.
EDIT: Also check if you legally can physically eliminate the drone in that case. It’s the most effective strategy.
OP is in EU, but here in the US property owners do not have rights to airspace.
However, spying with cameras or nuisance noise would be reasons for legal action.
Could I shoot one down if it were spying on me?
Not in the US. You can report it to the police and the FAA, but it’s a federal felony offense to shoot down any aircraft, regardless of whether it’s a $100 drone or multi-million dollar full on airplane. But like the other poster said, voyeurism and harassment laws still apply. And also, if the pilot is out of sight of the drone, that’s a hefty FAA violation (assuming they don’t have a specific FAA waiver that’s hard to get) and something you can report.
In the US, you own the airspace up to the highest point of your property, including structures (and maybe trees). You also technically own your underground property to the center of the earth, but you may not have mineral rights to it.
you own the airspace up to the highest point of your property
Nope. Part 103 pilots often fly inches off the ground and it’s totally legal- usually farm fields. This is called class G airspace and extends from surface to 700 or 1200 ft AGL. The United States government has exclusive sovereignty of airspace in the US from the surface up, and any citizen has the right of transit through that airspace.
Honest question, but I couldn’t help but package it sarcastically:
How would you report that? Catch the drone and ask who it’s owner is? Ask the police to do a 100 man wide area search around your house?
New drones being sold in the USA are equipped with something called remote ID. In theory, it enables law enforcement to wirelessly identity the drone, who it’s registered with, and where the pilot is standing. This is very new though, and very few, if any, police departments have the tools needed to make use of it. It’s also possible to read remote ID from phones, but without the database, it only gives you so much info. Owners of older drones are supposed to attach a remote ID module to them in order to maintain legal flying, but someone being voyeuristic with their older drone probably isn’t following the rules.
EDIT: Also check if you legally can physically eliminate the drone in that case. It’s the most effective strategy.
Just tell the police you were clay pigeon shooting and the drone flew into your path.
Well that works but it’s better to keep everything legal to avoid assigned surveillance
That’s incorrect. At least as a generalization. For example: In The Netherlands, you do not own the airspace above your property. The EU laws for drones do state that you can’t just film people without permission, though. Operators of camera drones also need to register and get an operator id.
Hmm it isn’t the first reply that says it so I guess airspace isn’t owned by the property owner in the EU. Very unfortunate but not that big of a deal. I hope at least shooting down a camera drone can be considered self defense there.
Drone pilot from Germany here, they have no place hovering over your property, more strictly even they’re not allowed to fly in any way that allows them to view your garden from above. You can shoot down the drone and it’s their problem note that this is in Germany not the US (which surprised me tbh).
However, that said, could be that it’s the same pilot again and again, even if it’s different birds. Normally they are very cooperative, just ask them to stop and they’ll apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Since op didn’t mention seeing a pilot, I’d suspect that the drones are flown out of sight. So asking them to stop can be difficult. Of course asking nicely, by downing a drone, might get the message across.
I wonder if I could shoot down drones here in Denmark as well.
Flying out of sight only underlines the illegality of the act. In Germany you need to keep relatively near to your drone and technically need to be able to fly by sight only (so can’t stand in a building/car and then not see your drone).
Same in DK, and my comment was meant to underline that. If you see a drone and no operator is around, then something is definitely wrong.
I mean, years ago, I had a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ drift away, on account of my own inexperience and stupidity. This was right when it had just come out, and way before drone licenses and laws forbidding drone flights in populated areas. So no laws were broken; and it was done with no malicious intent… But these days?
Not even the DK police, who have some very well-trained drone operators, can fly their drones out of sight.
Seeing a drone with no operator once? Something might have gone wrong, let’s not judge too harshly, but seeing a drone with no operator regularly? On your property? If you have a hunting permit, a shotgun, and a clear shot, then it might be a good time to practice your anti air skills.
FAA Certified drone pilot in the USA here. That’s wild. In the US it’s illegal to shoot down an aircraft of any sort no matter the type or who is flying it. And also, the Federal Aviation Administration is the only authority in the US when it comes to airspace, and as long as you have authorization from the FAA or are in uncontrolled space, you can fly over anyone’s property. However, that doesn’t give you the right to voyeurism or harassment. If you are intentionally spying on things that are normally considered private (peeking in a window, for instance) or repeatedly or specifically bugging a specific individual or family, then you can still be charged with those crimes. Also, unless you have a specific waiver that’s rather hard to get, you have to be within line of sight of your drone. If the drone pilot is not following the rules, they can be hit with hefty fines. Even though drones can be bought easily, there’s still strict rules that the FAA has for both recreational and professional flying, and anyone operating a drone outside those can and should be reported.
FAA Certified drone pilot in the USA here. That’s wild. In the US it’s illegal to shoot down an aircraft of any sort
That’s even wilder to me, since you have several states where you are allowed to shoot anyone trespassing on your property, but a drone, who can record and video and infringe on your privacy is illegal?!
That’s like prime capitalism. Human lives are worthless, but don’t damage my property. What?
It’s all about property rights here. You can always just make more people, right?
It’s because it counts as an aircraft. Getting licenced to use your drone for anything more than “wooo, flyin mah drone” covers a lot of the same stuff a private pilot would know like reading the maps, airport landing procedure, and airspace. They treat it like an actual airplane. And you can’t just start blasting at airplanes because they flew over your house. If it’s doing more than just flying over it has to be addressed legally.
Yeah, that’s fair. I think the main reasoning is that shooting something out of the air can cause it to crash on people or light stuff on fire. I also don’t like the “stand your ground” and “castle doctrine” laws, so I think both shooting people and shooting drones should be illegal.
Honestly they should get a good video of the drone and report it. If the police do nothing sent it to the community
Jesus F Christ, what???/some random bullets.flying through the air ? Some kid a few blocks over shot whikie playing in the yard, thats ok, was shooting at some asshats drone but missed?
Juat moon the drone and be done with it, like a sane person
Birdshot exists
Was done with an air rifle, making it a little bit better, but it still very much surprised me due to the very same reasons…
Get yourself a little beehive OP.
Every time you see a drone, report it for killing your bees, sit back and watch the EU busybodies go fuckin mental about it
The cunt who’s doing it will be in The Hague within a week 😂
The best bet is to let your local aviation authority know. They are generally the ones with the actual powers, as well as the knowledge to apply them.
At least in the UK, the laws cover anything that leaves the ground under an open sky. There are exceptions for RC toys and drones, but they have limits. One of the limits is you cannot fly within a certain distance of anyone or anything not under your control.
Basically, most places require your permission to fly over, or near to your land. If they are overflying, they are breaking the rules.
It’s worth noting, depending on the size of the system, it can be difficult to judge distances. The ones I work with are large. We regularly have officials insisting we are massively out of our flight area. GPS logs show that it was well within the entire time.
“I think there’s something wrong with the door switch on my old microwave oven. I’ve been testing it outside for safety, that’s why it’s out in the back yard pointing upwards with the door open.”
Wait… other than cook any bird or animal that might land inside, what would this do? I thought household microwaves were nowhere near capable of doing anything at any distance.
I’d just go to the local print shop and have the most disturbing image put onto some large poster. Like a Hi-Res close up of a butthole with some form of issues.
I think the idea is to create a ton of noise in the 2.4GHz band which is commonly used to control drones. It’s not going to “cook” a drone at distances further than a few feet, you’d need a maser (microwave laser) for that.
Yep, a microwave emits orders of magnitude more signal strength than any control system will. My microwave at home, even closed, leaks enough to introduce noise in my wireless headphones if I stand close.
Precisely.
A 1200 watt microwave is essentially like a 1200 watt bar heater if you’re outside the oven cavity. To a person, it will feel pretty warm at a distance of a few feet as the energy is basically unfocused as it exits through the open door.
But to a drone, it’s 1200 watts of RF noise near a receiving device that’s tuned to listen for signals that are typically around 0.00000001 watts. It would be like trying to hear a pin drop at a rock concert.
Do need to make sure you point it upwards though as it will cause havoc with microwave motion sensors and a bunch of other sensitive listening stuff. Also, good luck getting wifi within a hundred metres of it.
That wouldn’t work
My microwave used to knock out my WiFi. Even the door closed.
Why not? Electromagnetic interference is a mother.
It scatters really easy. By the time it gets anywhere near the drone it will be far to weak to do anything. Meanwhile you would end up cooking you and everything around you. The effect wouldn’t be immediate but eventually you could get burns.
The affect of the microwave would fall off exponentially with distance. So like if it has X power at Y feet away, and you go out to 2Y feet away, the affect would be quartered. The affect on a drone isn’t going to do much, even if it really messes with your wifi close up.
I would go and have a look around, because usually they would be close by and ask them. I gly drones for 10+ years and if it’s a sports drone, it’s annoying and they should be pretty close. If it’s a dji (slow moving around) they might be just nosy assholes.
I would give them the benefit of the doubt that they just fly there because like you said it’s in the middle of nowhere. But flying over a house or property on purpose is not only a dick move, it’s also dangerous annoying for all sides.
Apparently, old-fashioned spark radios can disrupt comms for consumer drones. There are kits for people who are interested in learning about early radio tech.
I’ve not verified this myself.
causing RF interference on purpose is definitely illegal wherever this person lives
Which means finding a personal purpose for using the spark radio, that way it remains a side-effect.
Might me time for some electrical experiments.
That only works so many times before the authorities can see through the ruse unfortunately.
What about mistakingly
Not on the civilian spectrum, surely?
OP is in the EU. I don’t think anything the FCC says has any relevance to their situation.
NAL, but this is about ‘authorized radio communications’, which to me seems like the GSM/LTE spectrum and GPS and similar, not the civilian one, please correct me if I’m wrong as I’m not sure about the scope of the ‘authorized comms’ term.
Also, OP is in the EU, so laws may differ significantly here.
Get a pellet gun and shoot them down. You’ll find out quickly who is doing it when they trespass on your property to retrieve their downed hardware.
Tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American lol.
Not a bad idea overall, but not a great first idea either
He said pellet gun, not roof mounted anti-air guns
Pellet guns are harmful and maybe deadly to us, but we’re soft. Only an american would be so gun minded but insufficiently informed to think that nobody has any guns, especially the hunting rifle you’d need, powerfully enough to do anything other than crack a lense if you’re lucky. The gun propaganda here doesn’t want to share than most europeans are able to responsibly own certain firearms if they want to meet the requirements.
LOL WUT?
It was a fucking joke lol.
Wat
Wtf are you talking about?
Lol, I was just thinking this would be a problem for about 5 min before some asshole shot at it. I always thought it was hilarious when people talked about delivery drones.
Except, as we’ve found in this thread, Germany is cool with shooting down drones over your property but the US is not.
No, ignore this. Never shoot guns into the air, it’s both dangerous and stupid.
Unless it’s a shotgun firing birdshot. This is why in many places you can hunt birds, it’s really the only type of firearm you’re allowed to use, because when shot at an upward trajectory, the pellets do not maintain enough velocity to be harmful when coming down and harmlessly fall to the ground. Anything rifled though is a different story, because its that spin on a bullet or a slug which allows the projectile to maintain its velocity and be dangerous when coming back down.
Someone manufactures anti-drone shells for shotguns. No idea how they’re supposed to work (of if they do), just thought it was interesting.
That is interesting, I’m curious what the payload is.
Sure, but most people probably don’t know that detail. Hunters probably do, but for your average dumbass a simple “don’t shoot any guns into the air” rule is probably for the best.
True but it also depends on where you go. In Canada for example, this detail is explicitly taught to anyone who goes through the process of getting a firearms license.
Pellet gun, that travels like 100m at most.
I guess that’s fine if you live on a large isolated property. Where I am, the neighbor’s house is like 3.5m away.
If you shoot a pellet gun into the air and it lands on your neighbour’s property, it will do less damage than hail pellet.
Yeah that’s why I use Fireworks
I’m not sure for the EU but in the USA the airspace above your private property is public domain and since drones are classified as aircraft they are entitled do fly over your property just as an airplane or helicopter might. When a drone is being used to record and surveillance it depends on local jurisdiction.
Almost. Any drone that weighs more than .55lbs must be registered with the FAA and as part of that it is required to be compliant with RemoteID. RemoteID requires the drone to broadcast both its identification and location of the control station.
If it’s being operated over a home then it will almost certainly have to follow the rules on Operation Over People and those can be quite restrictive, especially for drones that weigh more than .55lbs.
There ARE Federal Rules for this in the United States, drone operators cannot legally fly any type of drone anywhere they want at any time.
If it’s being operated over a home then it will almost certainly have to follow the rules on Operation Over People and those can be quite restrictive, especially for drones that weigh more than .55lbs.
That is incorrect… If you actually read the law you are trying to reference you will learn it’s a prohibition on flying over “open-air assemblies of people” and if you read the final rule report (found on the very bottom of the page you linked under resources) on page 128 & 129 you will see how the FAA classifies “open-air assemblies of people”.
The FAA received a few comments addressing the proposal to prohibit Category 3 operations over open-air assemblies of people. One commenter recommended the FAA clarify what it means by an “assembly of people” and provide a quantity or density of people that constitute a significant risk. The FAA has declined to define this term by regulation; rather, the FAA employs a case-by-case approach in determining how to apply the term “open-air assembly.”58 Whether an operational area is an open-air assembly is evaluated by considering the density of people who are not directly participating in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft and the size of the operational area. Such assemblies are usually associated with public spaces. The FAA considers some potential examples of open-air assemblies may include sporting events, concerts, parades, protests, political rallies, community festivals, or parks and beaches during certain events. Some potential examples that are less likely to be considered open-air assemblies include individual persons or families exiting a shopping center, athletes participating in friendly sports in an open area without spectators, individuals or small groups taking leisure in a park or on a beach, or individuals walking or riding a bike along a bike path, but whether an open-air assembly exists depends on a case-by-case determination based on the facts and circumstances of each case.
While the FAA refused to strictly give a definition, what was provided is enough to construed that private property does not constitute an “open-air assemblies of people”.
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy though. It’s the cameras that make it illegal, not the drone intruding in the first place
That is incorrect on a federal level, your milage may vary with city/country/state laws. Federally in the United States the right to reasonable expectation of privacy does not extend to outside of your house per Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57 (1924). The government is allowed to surveil you from public airspace without a warrant per Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445 (1989).
There’s only a reasonable expectation of privacy in private. As the courts have ruled many times, it’s something is visible from the street or from the air, it’s probably not private.
No expectation of privacy from the street, yes, at any elevation, sure. But if youre flying a drone over my property within the private airspace I own, that is trespassing
How far up do you own, I didn’t release anyone owned space above their place.?
In the United States that is not true. The airspace above your private property is only sorta yours. You are entitled to do whatever you like with the airspace however you do not have the right to dictate what can fly through your airspace.
Since drones are classified as aircraft by the FAA they are entitled to transit the navigable airspace just as a manned airplane might [1]
Navigable airspace is defined in ‘public law 85-726 -AUG. 23, 1968’
“Navigable airspace” means airspace above the minimum altitudes of flight prescribed by regulations issued under this Act, and shall include airspace needed to insure safety in take-off and landing of aircraft.
In most parts of the EU you’re not allowed to fly over private property.
Actual airplanes must have a hell of a time abiding by that rule then.
Addendum: drone licenses and permits doesn’t allow you to fly over private property or main roads.
Yes I meant drones, not airplanes or helicopters.
If I remember the rules correctly you are allowed to fly over private property as long as it isn’t fenced off. You cannot overfly buildings without permission. You can take pictures of private property without permission as long as they don’t contain anything personally identifiable (ie. don’t take pictures of people, but no people is fine).
This is the first search result that came up for me, and claiming the opposite
That site is full of false claims with zero sources to back up those claims which is pretty funny seeing as that article is claiming to be written by a retired corporate attorney. The site is also chocked full of SEO tricks which is possible why it was the first result that came up for you. For example on 5. the word drone is stealthily a link to another irrelevant article about drone deliveries on a different as sketchy site. Link hiding is a well known trick to gain the system and bump up your page.
there’s a software package floating around to hijack drones and remote control them yourself. it might be time to test the drone’s security capabilities
Just looked it up for Germany: over residential areas you need either “an explicit permission of the owner”, or “it is very light (<250g) and has no ability to record video, audio or radio” or “it is more then 100m above ground, not in the night and some other fingerprint” [1].
In all EU you actually need a registration on your some clearly visible [2].
So, of they are below 100m or in the night, just call the authorities. If you live a bit outside it might just not clear from above that it’s private property.
[1] https://dipul.de/homepage/en/information/geographical-zones/legal-basis/#accordion-1-6 [2] https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/light/topics/travelling-drones
Are you legally allowed to own a shotgun?
Don’t shoot down drones. In the US it counts as shooting down an aircraft and you’ll have the FAA knocking at your door
OP stated this was in europe. Out of the FAA’s jurisdiction. The EASA may have similar rules though
I’d be very surprised if that were true for ones not registered with the FAA.
Do you own a shotgun? Just shoot it out of the sky.
Just kiding that’s a terrible idea
Clearly. Use a boomerang instead.
Honestly that might work if you are going the destructive route
