Ban Drones

Most recently, a DC-10 air tanker returning to base after fighting the Rocky fire in Northern California came within 50 feet of a drone, said Ken Pimlott, chief of the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

ENCINITAS, Calif. (AP) — A beachgoer who tossed a T-shirt into the propellers of a low-flying drone, causing it to crash, was arrested on a felony vandalism charge in San Diego County.

In an interview with KNSD-TV, the operator, who works for a drone company and asked to not be named, says he was flying at a safe distance above the crowd and wasn't invading anyone's privacy.

California is moving to prohibit drones from flying over private property as the federal government is mulling a rapid expansion in the use of the devices, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The California State Assembly has approved legislation that would outlaw drone flights over private property at altitudes that are below 350 feet, according to the report.

The paper reported that the sponsors of the legislation argue that drone flights at lower attitudes than the threshold of their bill should be considered trespassing.

"If you drive on someone's property with a car, you're trespassing. If you're looking on someone's property to break in, you're trespassing," Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) said during a debate on the measure in the California lower chamber, according to the report.

"It makes no sense that a drone should be able to look in your window and the operator should not be guilty of the same trespass," Gatto continued.