Drone Pilot Faces 14 Felonies... Grounds Firefighting Aircraft During A Wildfire.

Steven said:

What I was thinking was to create a red tape scenario for commercial use. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. but one where commercial use simply fills out the proper forms/vouchers to qualify for acquisition. For hobbyists, the manufacturers could limit the flying boundaries themselves of the hobby quads.

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All of that is already being done. Commercial operators already have to go through a licensing process. DJI brand drones along with, I'd suspect, other higher end drones with GPS have Keep Out / No Go zones (military bases, airfields, etc.) programmed into their flight controllers. In the case of this idiot, the area he was in would not have been in a forbidden GPS zone although, IIRC, national parks forbid drones, so they would be.

Anyway, this is NOT a huge problem. It is being blown WAY out of proportion by its novelty and will not and cannot be deterred by anything other than catching the perps, something which seems to be happening more often now because cops and firemen now know better how to do that.