The Images Were Stunning; at Times Even Dramatic

The images were stunning; at times even dramatic.

Beginning near water level on Hires Run, the camera pulls back slowly to reveal Buttermilk Falls, dropping 46 feet between snow-dusted banks to the icy basin below. Then, abruptly, the view cinematically ascends up … up … up … above the towering evergreens and hardwoods before turning to the plateau-like view to the north.

This is just a piece of a video that can be found on YouTube, showing the area just west of Seward in Indiana County, produced by a private drone flying near its permitted ceiling of 400 feet.

Technically, when these images were being captured, the drone operator was breaking the law – although he probably didn’t know that at the time. Buttermilk Falls is located on Indiana County Parks land, and Indiana County does not permit drones on county parks because of noise, privacy and safety.

A quick review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines reveals there are a lot of places where drones aren’t permitted, including the areas near airports, helipads and government or military installations. Drone operators are also restricted from sporting events, NASCAR races, wildfires and any areas where there are temporary flight restrictions.

Other places over which drones should never be flown, according to authorities, include schools, businesses, crowds of people and private property. Even lightweight drones can cause serious injuries if they fall from a significant height.

And if the drone weighs more than one-half pound (technically point-five-five pounds or more), it must be registered with the FAA. Operators who don’t register their drones could be slapped with civil and even criminal penalties.

In other words, if you or someone you know got a drone for Christmas, don’t just toss all of the related materials aside, run outside and start flying. Drones carry significant responsibility along with those sophisticated cameras, and operators of unmanned aircraft are considered aviators.

Now this doesn’t mean the federal government – or local authorities for that matter – are hostile to drones. The world is just beginning to explore the wide range of hobby and commercial uses for unmanned aircrafts, including parcel deliveries by shippers, agricultural uses, medicine deliveries, wildlife surveys, maintenance surveillance of high or remote areas and safety inspections of aircraft, just to list a few.

Drones could save lives. They can beessential in search and rescue operations, especially in remote areas. And law-enforcement agencies already are finding them to be valuable tools in their ever-escalating challenge of holding civil society together.

But think about some of the more-recent technological advances, their promise and the results. For all of the communication advances captured in smart phones, people have become glued to them and less communicative in some ways; social media is making many of us much less social.

Now we can become aviators for less than $1,000 and fly nimble little machines with sharp-eyed cameras over a distance of a couple of miles. At the very least these drones are noisy and capable of stressing wildlife or annoying someone who is out, seeking a quiet solitary walk in the woods.

Drones can record someone’s actions without their knowledge. If their batteries fail, they can drop from the sky and injure someone or damage some thing. Reports are increasing of drone interference withother air traffic.

Then consider that drones can carry many things besides cameras. While payloads can be helpful,such as life-saving drugs, a Connecticut teenager has made headlines for firing weapons fixed to hobby drones.

It would seem that once again we are heading into a new technology with potential for results both very positive and very negative. At a height of 400 feet we can see stunning views and dramatic images of drones’ potential but in which direction will they fly?

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For more information on Federal Aviation Administration requirements and registration, visit