Just wanted to give my 2 cents regarding this drone video, sorry for the late post but I've been on a cruise for the last week and stayed off the interweb.
I love what drones can do but this was a little uncomfortable to watch with how close it got to the crane cables and flying above workers so high above the ground.
It is ironic but it's really just a matter of respecting Universal's rules. If you were in the park shooting photos over a wall and got caught, Universal has control over that situation and could ask you to stop. Aircraft flying over their property they really can't control.
Although, I believe flying a drone over populated areas is now illegal in this country. Too, 400' is the max altitude now. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
You're dead on - rules explained below.
I own a few drones and use them for personal-use videography, if I wanted to charge people money to shoot aerial photography/video for them I would need a commercial license. I so happen to be studying for this right now (about halfway through the course) so here's my thoughts on the video:
Awesome video, I appreciate the cojones he had to do this because this particular flight was definitely NOT legal.
The most obvious reason is because of his flight over I4 which is illegal for drones (cannot fly over highways).
Also because of what
@Teebin mentioned:
§ 107.19 Remote pilot in command.
(c) The remote pilot in command must ensure that the small unmanned aircraft will pose no undue hazard to other people, other aircraft, or other property in the event of a loss of control of the aircraft for any reason.
There's no way the pilot can ensure the drone would pose no hazard to the construction workers on the steel of the volcano (imagine if a gust of wind/radio interference causes the drone to lose control and crash into a worker, causing them to fall). Just to show how often this occurs, here's a video of one of my crashes that was later determined by DSLR Pros (where I buy/service my drones) as to be radio interference; this is playing a round of Disc Golf in Iceland, radio interference happens around 0:23 seconds.
§ 107.39 Operation over human beings.
No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft over a human being who is:
(a) Not directly participating in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft; or
(b) Not located under a covered structure that can provide reasonable protection from a falling small unmanned aircraft.
Pretty simple.. cannot fly over people not directly participating in the operation of your drone.
Another reason why the drone operator should be worried, Universal Orlando straight up says drone's are not allowed over it's property:
Universal Orlando forbids unmanned aircraft, which could potentially be deployed from public roads surrounding the resort.
"We prohibit guests from using drones in our park due to strong safety concerns," said Universal Orlando spokesman Tom Schroder. "Any unauthorized drone observed over our park will be reported to the FAA and local law enforcement, regardless of its point of origin or operation."
"As a private property owner, you have the right to that column of air over your property," said Haggard (Aviation Attorney), who indicated airspace below 500 feet is generally considered to belong to the landowner. The FAA requires traditional aircraft to fly above 500 feet in public airspace.
So yes, this guy could be sued by Universal Orlando.
I've thought long and hard about bringing a drone up to shoot some stuff from areas off property (like the high school's field behind Universal), but even still that's risky.
Finally, here's the rest of the footage from our Iceland trip. I'm putting it here (shameless plug) because someone mentioned something about the quality of the camera/drone, but this could have been easily shot with a drone that costs less than a grand and a GoPro black (4k video). Some parts are of our family but feel free to skip around to the drone parts. I'll put it in a spoiler since its not extremely on topic,
Feel free to bump up the quality to 4k.
For those wondering, I named the drone baymax because it was our white-colored buddy who followed us around everywhere.