Just curious, is shooting a bottle rocket from a multi-rotor illegal?

Jc803

Jc803

Member
First off I'm not going to do this. Just want to see how far these crazy FAA laws go. This is only a discussion. I understand actually doing something like this, even if its legal, would bring negative light to this hobby.

I enjoy making strange multi-rotors. So far I have a tennis racquet, cardboard box, a shoe, and a toy corvette coming soon. But I'm wondering if making one that can shoot small bottle rockets would be a problem. Not at people. Just at targets like the ones I use to practice shooting pistols at.

I know you cant mount weapons on multi-rotors of course, but fireworks are not weapons.

I've checked with my state laws and bottle rockets are fine as long as you are over 16.

So what would the lawyers have to say about this.
 
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As fun as that may sound, with the growing concern of multirotors in the US, this may just give the crybaby, reactionary, whimpy, whiner, sissies in our population more reason to be outraged, offended and threatened by multirotors and their owners. If you do it please dont post video of it so the fear mongering media cant pick it up and do a scare piece trying to get the weak and frightend within our population to wet their pants.
 
Remember that kid who rigged his quad to fire a handgun? Remember what happened to him? Want the same? Do what you asked about, because you'll probably get what he got. Why would you even consider doing something so crazy?
 
" Why would you even consider doing something so crazy?"
I dont think its crazy. 90% of the fun I get from this hobby is challenging myself in the builds. Most my builds, (tennis racquet, shoe, cardboard box, and so on) I only fly once or twice then move on to the next thing.

"Remember that kid who rigged his quad to fire a handgun?"
Never heard of it. But without looking up any type of laws my common sense would tell me thats very illegal. Not saying I am going to try this firework thing out, just seeing how far the laws go, but I dont consider a deadly firearm and firecrackers to be in the same category.

"this may just give the crybaby, reactionary, whimpy, whiner, sissies in our population more reason to be outraged"
I absolutely agree. People now days drive me crazy. Of course I wouldnt upload a video. Just getting an idea of how strict the laws are. It amazes me that I'm still allowed to walk out my house with 100s of acres of emptry land behind me, and shoot targets with my CZ Scorpion Evo S3 (bad ass gun) and still be fine legally, but the "drone" stuff is getting out of hand.

Since I've posted this I've come up with a better idea. Building a multi-rotor out of an electronic semi auto NERF gun. I see it as win win. Its more of an engineering feat which is what I'm looking for, and I get to laugh at anyone who thinks a flying NERF gun shooting foam bullets should be illegal.
 
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The sad part is that we pay their salaries so that they can come up with the nonsense regulation.
 
Fine, do as you wish, although I don't think the FAA and the FBI will condone it. Simple things lay the groundwork for more dangerous things. I'm not saying you'll do it, but other less savory people see it and might come up with a similar more devious plan based on a harmless principle. Just thinking here.
 
You guys are killing me.

I'll just build one out of a turd. That would be an engineering feat. A dog turd.

Wonder if PETA would make that illegal though...
 
Jc803 said:
You guys are killing me.

I'll just build one out of a turd. That would be an engineering feat. A dog turd.

Wonder if PETA would make that illegal though...
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I somewhat agree with you, but I also agree with loneRC. The idea and challange of invention I totally understand and support. For it's purity and the challange. I would have just moved forward with it without saying anything and I would keep it to myself. However the problem comes if you cant help but bring forth your ingenuity for all to see. Some will see it for the impressive engineering marvel that it is, while others will go into a red alert panic and call their congress person and demand protection, laws and retriction that will have an impact for all of us in the multirotor hobby. So for the protection of all in the multirotor world, consider how your inventions will impact us all. If its for the purity of the creativity and for personal challenge, then go for it. Keep it to yourself and know that you overcame the challange. If its for credit, or other self serving reasons and you youtube it, post it and look for accolades, just remeber you are hurting all of us and will help ignite the future blanket laws the will ban, restrict, control and govern our hobby. I dont know about you, but I already feel the Govt is way too involved in our lives and I would prefer they stay out of my hobbies. Every jackass that flys near an airport, spies on his neighbors, flies over crowds, the beach, the freeway... these are the people that are the face of the multirotor hobby and those are the examples that will be used to make policy and laws that impact us all. A gun, a rocket, any projectile or payload that can be transfered into a violent delivery system is at the heart of all the fear the general public has toward "drones" along with the impression that they provide a method for individuals to invade the privacy of others.

So think about that and what you plan to accomplish and why. What you make might impact my ablity to fly my quad around my own land. It might hurt my ablity to access parts and designs and future quad platforms. It might force me to undergo fruther govt scrutiny, licensing, certification, cost me money and it just might make my friends and neighbors think Im a phsyco freak that is a deranged violent deviant just because I have an interest in quadcopters. All because govt lawmakers and the media presented our hobby that way to the general public.
 
Another way to look at this is through the eyes of aircraft companies that build multi-million dollar surveillance aircraft for the government. With the advent of quadcopters like the Phantom 3 and 4, a $1,200.00 platform with a camera on it would eventually put them out of business. Quads are silent and practical as spy equipment. I'm sure Lockheed Martin has had something to say to their lobbies in congress to get these laws passed against HOBBY CRAFT! Shifty, greedy SOBs! Then everyone can understand why our US budget is in the trillions of dollars. And, in a sense, we are to blame as well because of our flippancy about our hobby and using quads for more that what they were intended. Think about that awhile. Smart greedy people pick up on that and start to feel threatened. I think it's more the corporate lobbies than ma & pa Kettle seeing a quad fly over their barn.
 
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14 CFR 91.15Are you going to be recording it or doing it commercially? If not who would know hahahaha, but unless the video gets attention they would *likely* do nothing.


Now if you take the necessary safety precautions then it is perfectly legal, so would discharging a firearm. However I don't know what would be considered safe or reasonable precautions.



14 CFR 91.15:


" § 91.15Dropping objects.
No pilot in command of a civil aircraft may allow any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight that creates a hazard to persons or property. However, this section does not prohibit the dropping of any object if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property. "

Here is a link if you wish to look through the FAR.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.15
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/chapter-I
 
LoneRCRanger said:
GJH105775, the links you gave caused my computer to lock up on me. Don't know what's wrong with them.
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Not sure, but cornell.edu is as trusted as amazon.com. You might have adware inserting popups and ads into random sites? For example ads on Google or Wikipedia?
 
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