How to Stop Drones From Flying Over Your House With Legal Steps
Stopping a drone from flying over your house is a bit complicated process. Drones are becoming more and more popular with people who like to play with them as a hobby. Sometimes, you might see one flying around above your house.
If you don’t like this, there are things you can do to keep them away and protect your privacy. The government has made rules about where drones can and can’t fly, and you have rights too. Keep reading to learn how you can legally stop drones from flying over your house.
Things To Keep In Mind
- It’s okay for a drone to fly over your house as long as the person flying it follows the rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration. These rules are for flying drones safely.
- If the drone breaks the rules (like flying at night, too high, or too fast), you can tell the FAA. You can also talk to the person flying the drone and ask them to stop flying over your house.
- You can put up signs to let people know that they shouldn’t fly drones there. But, it’s not allowed for you to take the drone down by yourself.
- You can’t shoot it, use a net, mess with the signals, or do anything to make it stop flying. That would be against the law.
Someone is Flying Drones over My House – Is It Legal?
Drones are allowed to fly during the day and at a low height, under 400 feet (120 m), in areas where there are no other flying things. They also have to go slow, not faster than 100 miles (160 km) per hour.
The FAA, or the Federal Aviation Administration, is in charge of making sure drones are flying safely, and they have the power to say if it’s okay for a drone to fly over your house.
But if the drone is taking pictures or videos of you without your permission, it’s breaking the FAA’s privacy rules. This can be hard to prove, so it can be challenging to show that the drone has done something wrong. (Source)
There are also some places where drones are not allowed to fly, like at big games, airports, the greater Washington, D.C., and the places restricted by the government.
How Can I Remove a Drone Flying Over My House?
Unfortunately, it’s against the law to take down a drone that is flying over your house.
Drones are private property and protected by the government, even if flying above your house.
If you try to take down a drone, even if it’s flying above your house, you could go to jail for up to 20 years.
And if you cause any damage to the drone while trying to take it down, you might have to pay for it.
If the drone is being flown in a dangerous way or is hurting people or things, you can call the police. They will help figure out what to do next. (Source)
ALSO READ: Can I Fly A Drone in My Neighborhood
How Can You Stop a Drone from Flying Over Your House With Legal Steps
Install Drone-Free Signs On Your Property
You can get special signs to put up on your property to tell drone pilots not to fly their drones above your land. These signs can be made by you or ordered from somewhere.
It’s important to be careful with the signs you make or order, so they don’t say “no drone zone” because that’s not true according to the rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). If someone reports your signs, you might have to take them down. (Source)
You Can Request The Drone Operator to Stop Flying The Drone Over Your House
Sometimes, people who fly drones for fun or as a hobby might not know that their drone is bothering you. They are supposed to be able to see their drone all the time, so you should be able to see them too. (Source)
If you see someone flying a drone over your property, you can politely ask them not to do it. Even though they don’t have to listen to you, being nice about it can help them understand and be more likely not to fly their drone over your property in the future.
Register A Complaint With the FAA If You Notice A Drone is Flying Against The Set Rules
If you see a drone not following the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules, you can tell someone about it. To do this, you can find your local Flight Standards District Office using a special website and then contact them.
But it’s important to remember that just because a drone is flying over your property and bothering you doesn’t mean you can file a complaint.
The drone pilot has to be breaking the law in some way, like landing on your property or flying higher than 400 feet. (Source)
Stand United to Make the Laws to Restrict The Flying Of The Drones
Some people are worried about their privacy when it comes to drones. If you’re one of those people, you can reach out to your elected leaders, like members of Congress or House Representatives, and ask them to support laws that would keep drones from flying over private property.
You can also get in touch with a group that works to stop people from using drones if that’s something you’re worried about. (Source)
Methods That Are Illegal to Use to Stop Flying Drones On Your House
Using the Nets
The people who work for the Department of Defense have special drones that they can use to take down other drones that are flying where they’re not supposed to.
These special drones have nets that they use to catch the other drones. This way, they can stop the drones from flying in those restricted areas without breaking them. (Source)
Common people like us aren’t allowed to use nets or anything else to take down drones.
Use of Signal Jammers
Signal jamming is a way to stop a drone by sending signals that interfere with the drone’s communication system. This makes the drone go back to the person who is flying it. (Source)
- Only people like the U.S. Special Forces and others with special government permission are allowed to use signal jamming. If someone else uses it to stop a drone that’s flying legally, they could get in trouble with the law. (Source)
Spoofing the Signals
Spoofing is similar to signal jamming, but instead of interfering with the drone’s communication system, it tricks the drone by changing its GPS signals. This makes the drone fly somewhere it wasn’t supposed to.
The military sometimes uses spoofing to take control of drones that aren’t allowed to be there, but regular people aren’t allowed to do this. It’s against the law.
Using Birds to Stop The Drones Flying Over Your House
Some countries like the UK, France, and the Netherlands have experimented with training birds of prey like eagles to catch drones that are flying where they’re not supposed to.
Eagles are really good at catching things because that’s how they get their food, but some people are worried about the eagles getting hurt.
It’s important to remember that this is not something that regular people should try to do. It’s only being done in special situations by experts.
Pointing The Laser Beams
It’s possible to ruin a drone by using a super-powerful laser beam. (Source)
But it’s not allowed to do this to a drone that is flying where it’s supposed to. Doing this is against the law, and it’s also against the law to point a laser at any kind of flying machine because it can hurt the person flying it by making them blind. (Source)
Shooting The Drone
Some people have tried to shoot drones out of the sky, but this is very dangerous and against the law in many places. (Source)
You should never shoot a gun at a drone or any other kind of flying machine. If you do, you will have to pay for the damage to the drone, and you could also get in trouble with the law. You might even be charged with putting people in danger because of the way you acted.
I hope you got all the answers in our detailed guide on how to stop drones from flying over your house. Please share any other tips or tricks with us in the comments; our editorial team will include your suggestion after verification.
Can You Fly a Drone Over Private Property?
Check our detailed guide to know if you can fly a drone over private property or not.