The police report says drone crashed into the 4oth floor. And the man who crashed the drone into the famous building charged with crashing the drone. The man claims he asked an officer an officer told him it will be okay to fly there. There is no intel which drone was it, but Sean Nivin Riddle was charged with reckless endangerment and illegal navigation of an aircraft in and over the city. And he says; ” He just wanted to shot a couple of seconds of video for non-profit purposes.
All I wanted was to shoot 5 seconds of video to promote a non-profit. I asked a cop 20 minutes before I did it. He said it was fine.
— Sean Nivin Riddle (@SeanRiddle12) February 6, 2016
But to the FAA Empire State Building and almost the rest of the Manhattan is a no-fly for drones because of its heliports and helipads. So what are the rules of flying drones in the U.S?
There are a few guidelines for any drone flight that every drone owner should keep in mind:
- Never fly over people or roads
- Never fly higher than 400 feet from where you launched
- Never fly within 5 miles of an airport (or restricted military space)
- You can fly within 5 miles of an airport, but be mindful of height restrictions. The further away you are from an airport, the higher you can fly. For example, at 1.5 miles you can fly up to 35 feet, at 5 miles you can fly up to 400 feet. This DJI resource is helpful for better understanding no-fly zones.
- Drones are banned from all National Parks.
For the map; Empire State Building is not in the No-Fly zone but because the helicopter it is. If you are drone owner plan your flight before you go outside and check everything. Even an officer told you it is ok, it might not be. And flying in the areas like Manhattan can be dangerous for the people around because that area which Empire State Building stand is very crowded. You can easily hurt people even that is not your intention.
