Question for all you drone flyers... Are there laws that restrict where and or when you can fly them? I had one in or over my back yard a couple weeks ago. Thought about shooting it down, as it seemed a bit intrusive, made me feel like it was casing the place. Turns out it was some guy working for a realtor in town. Learned that when I called the local police and they caught up with him in the neighborhood. Just figured there should be rules and regulations. Seems like there is for everything else...
Shooting at or shooting down a drone is a federal crime. It's no different than shooting at an airplane, drones are "aircraft". See 18 US Code 32 (
18 U.S. Code § 32 - Destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities)
The FAA has sole authority over airspace. You don't have any right over the airspace above your property. In the same way you can't tell a 747 that they can't fly over your house, you can't tell a drone operator that they can't fly over your property.
Now, you do however have the rights to the airspace above your property that you can "reasonably use". As defined by US vs Causby (1946), that pretty much limits your rights to whatever is the highest point of your property (say a 100ft Redwood tree for example). That means a drone flying under the highest point of your property is technically trespassing.
In that case, the reasonable thing to do would be to call the local authorities and report the violation. Whether or not that does anything may just depend on where you live (I can't get my local police out for anything other than a violent incident these days).
Depending on where you live, there may be other laws that come into effect. California for example has AB 856 (passed in 2015) that says if a drone is flying over your property specifically for the purpose of taking photos of videos of you or your property, then it's an invasion of privacy. This law came about because the paparazzis were using drones to spy on Hollywood celebrities.
Obviously there's plenty of other, perfectly valid, reasons why a drone might be overflying your property. As you found out, realtors are doing a lot of drone work. Construction, survey, and maintenance are increasingly using drones in their field as well. Of course there's also just hobbyists like me who just like to see the world from another perspective.
Unless the drone is hovering over your place for an inordinate amount of time, I wouldn't worry about it. Unlike popular belief, we really can't see shit looking at our smartphones (which is what most drone users are using to fly their drones). You ever watch a movie from your smartphone? Yea, we get about as much detail, so the chances of somebody trying to spy on you as you walk naked from your hot tub is really quite low.
The dumbest thing to do would be to shoot it down. Not only is it a federal crime, what is the 4th rule of gun safety? You know that bit about being sure of your target and WHAT IS BEHIND IT. What goes up must come down, your bullets and shot are going to hit something, and you're gambling it's not coming down on a bus full of nuns or a 6-yr-old's head. Be a responsible gun owner at the very least, regardless of how you feel about drones.
