I beg to differ. Not sure of the legal definition of airspace but the courts down here have ruled that any rc vehicle within one's property boundaries is treated as trespass. The sticking point on drones was determined if it can be knocked down by means other than projectile than it is fair game. Laws applied to negligent discharge of a weapon, bow or slingshot or even a thrown rock still apply.
The story I mentioned involved the thing hovering over a backyard swimming pool to the point the homeowner snagged it with a large towel. Owner showed up to claim, police were called, judge ruled trespass among other things I cant recall and I forget the disposition of the drone but it definitely was lost to the owner.
Obviously this wont work with one more than 30ft. up (unless one has a decent arm) so I'm thinking disabling video with a laser pointer or reflection off of my shiny white behind.
Then the ruling was contrary to federal aviation regulations, or, some dimwit journalist pooched the facts.
Lemme tell ya a little story about the summer of 97
there we were, trying to get a good groove together with my newly formed garage band.
45 minutes into the session a sheriff deputy pulled in to inform us of complaints.
Didn't take too long to figure out who dropped the dime.
Was the whack job nearly a half mile down the road.
Well, a few weeks later, we switched to skeet.
Cop, pulled in again ...... great.
This time it was a story of lead raining on his world.
Nothing out of a shotgun could make a half mile trip, and the angle of fire put it a solid half mile behind him.
This piece of work even went so far as to bust out a window on the wrong side of his truck, trying to gain credibility.
I showed the deputy the ballistics section of the Lyman manual on that one.
Suffice to say, the game was on whether I wanted to play or not.
All through this, I taught myself to fly rc planes, and was a student pilot.
Going through the FAR/AIM which is all the aviation regs you wanted to know but were afraid to ask, I happened across some of the stuff regarding airspace.
We shot skeet the following week with a bird on standby.
my problem person was a paranoid sort, well stocked with tinfoil.
Well, we went from skeet, hello officer, to cross country rc flight thereafter.
Howdy sheriff, I bookmarked it for ya.
Trust me sir, I'm just as sick of seeing you as you are of me.
Those regulations gave me a foothold in the war. Enough of one to ultimately prevail.
As the summer burned on, the trusty Mustang was getting kinda rusty, and it seemed like a good time to address the old steed.
So, and it didn't surprise me, the squad pulled in, again, now with reports of drag racing, now that the stang was starting to take shape.
Engine and transmission where in the garage, separate of the car.
This made the claim clearly impossible, but showed me his next move.
Once back on the road, I made sure he was gone, prior to the shake down cruise, cause I would be needing this asset shortly.
After a good break in road trip I took the back road express to home at 4am.
Readied the other Mustang, a p51 fitted with a disposable camera, and just cruised around past his place a few times.
The fool wasn't above trashing his own stuff to sell a story.
I sat at the edge of a tree line along a dirt road with the 51, till I saw him get in his truck, and proceed to tear up his front yard.
The p51 worked pretty well as a camera ship.
Step next was back road express to a 1 hr photo place, making pretty good time.
Deputy pulled me on the way back and I handed him the pictures instead of my license.
The whack jobs demise was due in large part, to knowledge of the laws governing flight. He was treated to skeet every weekend for two months straight.
