Definitely Do Not Try to Fly a Drone Above the Super Bowl - Super_Bowl_Drones_Football_86294.jpg

https://gizmodo.com/definitely-do-no...-bo-1832291210

The FBI is cautioning drone pilots against flying them anywhere near the site of
the Super Bowl in Atlanta—not only on game day but leading up to it as well.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced earlier this week that it would
put a temporary flight restriction on drones around the around the Mercedes-Benz
Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday as well as the three days beforehand, and both the
FAA and the FBI have been hammering this home on social media over the course of
the last week.

Still, the FBI’s Atlanta field office said that it had confiscated six drones on
Thursday, with officials on Friday claiming that the area around the stadium has
been “inundated” with drone activity, according to the Associated Press.

“It has taken up a lot of time for our agents and for law enforcement officers
to be targeting these drones when they could be working on other security
measures,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said.

Drones are a problem for law enforcement for several reasons, the most obvious
being potential terrorist threats. Rowson noted that drones can also be
dangerous if they lose control and crash into a crowd, or if they come into
contact with aircraft patrolling the area around Atlanta.

As the Associated Press noted, for a good example of how seriously officials
take this kind of activity, look no further than the London’s Gatwick Airport.
In December, multiple drone sightings resulted in the disruption of more than
1,000 flights over the course of three days as investigators struggled to
determine the motivations behind the incident. Such a stunt at an airport in the
U.K. could carry a sentence of five years in prison and an unlimited fine.

As for the Super Bowl? Aside from possible jail time, Politico reported that
drone ban offenders could be looking at up to $20,000 in fines.

The FAA said it’s currently restricting drones within one nautical mile of the
stadium, but that the flight ban will stretch to 30 nautical miles beginning at
5:30 p.m. and ending around midnight on Sunday. So, you know, it’s probably best
to just avoid flying a drone in Atlanta for the remainder of the weekend.



more at https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=92885



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