Your property rights do not stop at the ground. No one has the right to fly a drone over your property. There’s just usually not much you can do about it.
This is not correct. Navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA alone. Part 107 rules state that in fact you may not fly a small unmanned aircraft more than 400 feet above ground level or within 400 feet of a structure. So, if someone is flying a drone around, they must fly it fairly close to the ground (though a little quadcopter at 400 feet would be pretty hard to notice).
You may be thinking “the airspace above the surface that could reasonably be used in connection with the land” seems noticeably vague. At what point does my airspace end and the public highway begin? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to this question, but generally, the government considers the public highway to start around 500 feet in uncongested areas, and 1000 feet otherwise. Flight over private land cannot interfere with the enjoyment and use of the land.
What about the airspace below 500 feet? Can helicopters, drones, or hang gliders legally fly above my property? In 1946 in the case of the United States v. Causby, a large military aircraft flew 83 feet above a farmer’s land startling his chickens, causing them to kill themselves by flying into walls. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the farmer. So we are at least entitled to 83 feet. What about the space between 83 and 500 feet?
Well… this appears to be rather unclear and is still undecided.
Like I said, navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA, but what is “navigable airspace” is not quantified. And the rules say small unmanned aircraft cannot exceed 400 feet.
Your property rights do not stop at the ground. No one has the right to fly a drone over your property. There’s just usually not much you can do about it.
This is not correct. Navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA alone. Part 107 rules state that in fact you may not fly a small unmanned aircraft more than 400 feet above ground level or within 400 feet of a structure. So, if someone is flying a drone around, they must fly it fairly close to the ground (though a little quadcopter at 400 feet would be pretty hard to notice).
No one is flying the drones 400+ feet off the ground for surveillance… The cameras would have to be far too good/expensive for that to be practical.
https://www.landsearch.com/blog/property-air-rights
Hope their drones go higher than 500 feet.
Keep reading. The very next bit from that page:
Like I said, navigable airspace is controlled by the FAA, but what is “navigable airspace” is not quantified. And the rules say small unmanned aircraft cannot exceed 400 feet.