“While I like the idea of this survey the big issue for me other than a lack of substantiated evidence of any “drone strike” is that for a wide part of the hobby footage of the flights is posted and accessible to the public. You may notice that people are rare in any freestyle or race or cinematic video. While there is a social aspect in the online presence, most flyers are actually looking to make interesting footage and can’t get far enough away from people. The theme is empty parking lots, abandoned buildings(so much so that the term “bando“ was coined) , wooded areas, empty parks, waterfalls, remote rivers, etc.. The more scenic the better. Most of this flying poses much less risk and liability compared to atv riding and is often done in similar areas. Perhaps some irresponsible kids and paparazzi scum have easy access to a geofenced but autonomous and stabilized dji but they don’t take part in our online community and wouldn’t have the patience to learn to fly or to tune an action cam or to tune a pid controller or learn battery safety, or select a power train or to learn aerodynamics of a fixed wing and how that interacts with cg for stability, they don’t have the patience to learn photography and cinematography. Or to imagine a rotating body in space to see how control mixing works with cameras angles to get level pans without a gimbal. But we learn these things and more as we explore the rules of our environment and equipment and try to break them. There is a play element. For one individual it may be getting an epic shot of a landmark or landscape. for another it might be going places they physically can’t. For another it might be testing the limits of the physics of flight. While many flyers might be prone to mischief as our minds try to alleviate boredom the act and preparation of flying satisfy that in ways that other activities never could. It’s more accessible to those with limited finances than actual aircraft. It’s involved. It’s educational. And for the most part it’s not motivated by malice, or danger. It may feel like mischief but those who take part are extremely safety conscious and the online community does a fair amount of self policing. There are better ways to spy than with a mini drone. They make noise and the batteries don’t go very far. And using a self built model aviation platform to scope out some fire or celebrity plane crash takes an awful lot of dedication and puts an awful lot of dollar at risk for a rare occurrence. If anything the consumer market should be regulated, not the obscure and uncommon self builds. I understand the push towards clubs as it can allow for a group education, self policing, property insurance and accountability of where you fly. But as long as the club requires you to fly on club property it will not satisfy the itch most are trying to scratch. I’m all for get togethers. I’m all for barbecues and soldering irons on picknick tables and sharing knowledge. But it won’t replace flying below the tree line down a waterfall or a rocky river. Or chasing an atv or getting an amazing sunset in shot over a watery or desert horizon. I’d show up for soldering irons and food but would rather do the flying as far from people as possible.”