At what point do stunning photos allow someone to break the regulations?

[orfordness]

OK I';m in a FB argument discussion with a photographer from my home town:-

https://www.facebook.com/flythaigreen/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

Can I get peoples considered opinions on his shots (especially the ones over reading at night!)



Steve

[Rommie]

If he is qualified then some of the shots are ok, as for the ones that he has taken over the top of a firework display, roundabouts etc he is in breach of the regs.

•Keep your drone within your line of sight and at a maximum height of 400ft (122m)
•Make sure your drone is within 500m from you horizontally
•Always fly your drone well away from aircraft, helicopters, airports and airfields
•If fitted with a camera, a drone must be flown at last 50m away from a person, vehicle, building or structure not owned or controlled by the pilot.
•Camera-equipped drones must not be flown within 150m of a congested area or large group of people, such as a sporting event or concert

the shots over the fireworks and funfair are not in line with the regs

[H_Simpson]

Pointless replying really.

[orfordness]

Pointless replying really.

I';m begging to think, You know what. I';ll just do the same as everyone else and turn a blind eye

[Fletch]

Reading is in Class A Airspace .... So he shouldn';t be flying at all (if my memory serves me correctly)

[Mark_Felton]

Shame I don';t work the road from there anymore, could of redirected couple of Pumas or Merlins and Police heli to drop in and say Hi to him. 
And I agree with H_Simpson, no point replying to the original poster on FB (I presume that';s what he meant when he said ';no point replying' as he will just ignore you and carry on doing what he wants. 

[iRobot]

Yep,,,, some very nice pics!, I';ve even liked his page 

[Jumpy07]

If they have a PfCo, with night time approvals, then probably legal, if no PfCo then probably not.

[iRobot]

Some of the agricultural and plant machinery shots are fantastic!

I do like seeing some good urban flying also,,, anyone who hasn';t seen it yet, we';ll worth a watch 

http://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=SsbcY5_c3So

[richardg6paj]

I saw this brilliant picture (taken from a video) on a Fb friends page. The pilot of the Phantom is a qualified commercial pilot. He was getting lots ooos and aahs and many likes on how spectacular the picture is, someone asked how high he was flying his response was around 200ft. The picture is of the Humber Bridge and I know for a fact that the towers are 500ft ASL. So telling a few porkies I think, also was taken above thick fog and not far from a very busy road.
So it seems even those that should know better will take the risk to get the shot to die for.

[Two-Six]

The Reading guy should stick to flying in the countryside. 

The "PROBLEM" is that at least 500 people probably saw his drone over central Reading and probably 499 of them instantly went "those things should be banned".

So for the sake of this guy getting some likes on his arse-book pages, making an extra £3.79 on youtube clicks and getting a little closer to becoming a celebrity.   Its ultimately bad for everybody else.

Those 499 people would love nothing better than to see all drones banned.  A few of them might actually be bothered enough to write to their MP or call the cops and a few of them might actually work for "THE AUTHORITIES" and might actually have the very real ability to pull strings in high-up places.   

The ban would obviously include everything that flies and is remotely controlled.

I am sure he would argue that he was flying within the rules..Perhaps he EVEN was complying with a few of them a bit now and again, so in his head he has done nothing wrong.

I know Reading pretty well and I really can';t think of anywhere in central Reading where you could operate a drone or any other flying radio controlled thing of any size without taking some big and very unreasonable risks.

If I flew my Bixler or my Trex450L Helicopter in central Reading over the station and the "IDR" I would obviously be some kind of massive mentalist, one step away from being sectioned and detained under the mental health act. 

However because its a drone, its all automatic and it never goes wrong (most of the time) its just fine.

Obviously.

Still we won';t need to worry about it for very much longer massive restrictions on all RC aircraft are on the agenda.  All the authorities need is a few more years to engineer the public mindset, a bit more propaganda and a few more idiots doing stupid stuff and putting it on youtube and it will be mission accomplished. 

Its a given, a must-be.

To pour petrol on the fire, I do think that mass market autonomous flying vehicles should be banned, immediately.  Its just too easy for irresponsible people to operate them in very irresponsible ways. 

Lets bring back the whole thing about if your are a noob/idiot your RC flight will end in disaster almost EVERY time.

That will swing the balance back to where it should be, it a strong dis-incentive for noobs and idiots to attempt RC flight.