Was Being Flown Over CalExpo Winter Festival In Sacramento

A Sacramento man who flew his DJI Mavic drone over the Winter Wonderland festival at California Exposition last month had his aircraft confiscated by the Sacramento Police.

Television station KXTV reports that Mark Munn had attended the festival with his family, and said he wanted to go back to capture an aerial view of the lights at the festival. But on November 21, the video he captured, along with the $1,500 aircraft, were confiscated by the police.

Munn told the station that he is an experienced drone operator and he was following all FAA regulations, so he doesn't know what he did wrong.

But the police said he violated federal regulations by flying his aircraft over a crowd, and violating CalExpo airspace. In a video, one officer said "your drone is now our drone."

Munn was told in a voice mail he could not obtain a copy of the police report because the incident was "under investigation."

A spokesperson for California Exposition told the station that it adopted a drone policy in June that prohibits the aircraft from being operated on the property without prior written approval. Sabrina Rodriguez, a spokesperson with the California Exposition, said Munn's drone was seized because he was operating in their airspace without that approval.

So far, no charges have been filed.

(Image from file)

FMI: http://calexpo.com