Drones - Air Rights

I saw an article posted today concerning a father who shot down a drone that was hovering over his yard where his daughter was sunbathing in their backyard.

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This is getting a bit scary. That father was arrested. I actually don't fault him for firing and hitting that drone. Where are our personal rights to privacy? I can only imagine what actresses and actors have to say about this.

I am reminded of the movie Burlesque where I actually first heard the term. Air rights are a type of development in real estate which refers to the empty space above a property. I know in OK one can own land but not own the mineral rights underneath the land.

I did some research and learned that until the 20th century, one didn't care about air rights. It was with the invention of airplanes that air rights became important. It is actually illegal for an airline to go below 500 feet over private property. I know when we purchased and built our house I did consider how close it was to O'Hare, a huge airport, so I went to the site many times a day on different days to see how it was affected. I researched the local library for airplane paths and noise levels. Our house was outside of those areas. That has changed in the past few years when O'Hare purchased and built 2 new airstrips. We are now awakened even at 2am to the sound of airliners taking off or arriving. I am happy to say they are above that 500 feet over my house and can't imagine what the noise level would be in they were at that level. It is loud enough now.

Back to air rights. A popular thought about property law was "Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos" which translates to "whoever owns the soil, holds title all the way up to the heavens and down to the depths of hell". That is what I always understood until I learned from my relatives in OK that the land can be sold but not anything underneath it or what they term 'mineral rights'. This property law can actually be traced back only as far as the 13th century.

As a property owner you should have the right to the airspace above your land located in the lower stratum but actual boundaries are not explicitly defined. Commercial airlines are considered a public highway so you can't ask that they stop flying over your house. You could take exception to say a helicopter that blocks the enjoyment of your land.  With the invention of drones. the United States has been considering lowering that airspace even lower than 500 feet over your land. But right now, in the good old United States, law enforcement can put you under drone surveillance without a warrant as long as the drone never lands on your property. Scary!

So unless I build a top to my pool, I will have to stop any skinny dipping in case my face and body would be plastered all over social media. You will have to stop your children or yourself from sunbathing topless or bottomless too.

So beware of the things in the picture above.