I'd agree that drones, like the traditional toys you mention tend not to pose a safety risk unless they bump into you. Kites/frisbees/skateboards etc. typically don't carry cameras, however, whereas it's quite easy to equip a small drone with one. Isn't it conceivable that a small drone equipped with a camera could monitor a facility (prison/bank etc.) from above and uncover and exploit security flaws that exist in that facility? I'm interested in hearing your take on the issue of drone regulation though as I see from your profile you are far more qualified to discuss it than I am. Edited the 'many' to 'some' in my earlier post. Source is the NYT article I posted.

How much "extra data" do you suppose flying your own drone over, say, a prison might get you - compared to scoping it out on Google maps/earth? My guess (having looked at a lot of things I'm curious about fro above) is that it's a vanishingly small amount of extra information for significant learning curve and a not insignificant chance of discovery while launching/landing/flying the drone.

As to regulation? Hard question to answer, but I find it hard to believe treating everything from 1/2 a pound up to 55 pounds the same makes any sense - consider what two orders of magnitude in weight means for motor vehicles. 300lb worth of motorcycle is treated differently to 3000lb worth of car, and very differently again to 30,000lb worth of truck (or 30lb worth of bicycle).

I think there's an important difference between non-commercial and commercial use of drones - I know when I'm flying for fun, there are conditions and circumstances in which I choose not to fly, where it'd be way to easy to accept additional risk as an aerial photographer if it meant getting "the shot" and thereby earning the money.

I justify to myself that my small quads weigh less than a football, and I've got control over them so I'm significantly less likely to hit somebody accidentally. I've intentionally flown my quads into myself to see just how much it'd hurt, and while I'm comfortable saying "I wasn't injured" I'm 100% certain that the mother of a small child wouldn't see things the same way. It kinda hurts, but at least with the plastic props it doesn't break the skin. (I wouldn't do that with the carbon fibre props on, I'm too chicken for that...)

If _I_ were making the rules, I'd probably ignore anything under ~500g or 1lb, they're no more dangerous that a skateboard in my opinion, and far less likely to be used by creeps/crooks/terrorists than a cellphone camera. From maybe 500g up to somewhere around 2 or 3kg should be considered fundamentally different, but still in the category of "potentially dangerous toy if misused" - perhaps treated similarly to a gocart or a dirtbike - if you want to own and use one away from people, no problem, but if you want to ride your dirtbike around town it's gonna need lights/rego/insurance. Once you get up towards 5g or more, you're getting up to where I'd also like to see operators to have demonstrated some basic training/understanding of the risks and an acknowledgement that they understand and accept responsibility for them - I'm thinking along the lines of ham radio operators license here - you'd need to read some theory, sit an exam, but mostly you'd lose the "I didn't know it was dangerous" excuse.

That's almost certainly not "good enough" to work out properly in a lawyer-happy no-universal-healthcare society though. Which is sad (both for US based drone hobbyists, as well as those of us from elsewhere who's local laws are very likely to be heavily based on US laws...)

(Note: from a non US point of view, I find it astounding that "drones need regulating", but it's a fundamental human right to buy an assault rifle at a gun show with no paperwork. The perspective and risks and responses seem all way out of whack from half a planet away. Not saying "all guns are bad", but surely "very few drones are as dangerous as an AR47" is unambiguously true...)

Thanks for sharing Bigiain. Interesting discussion. Have wanted to get into drone photography. Am a painter, so think this would be an interesting new domain for me (provided that I can find a canvas large enough!)