Most of us who fly these things are free spirits, we want to be able to go where we want, when we want.
But what if you spook your neighbor’s million-dollar stallion into an injurious Rampage? Laws are civilization’s way of defining the boundaries between individual rights. Another good example is your right to fly wherever vs. an airline passenger’s right not to have you risk their flight.
Knowing the Law
Know the law because frequently the enforcers won’t. In one case, a paramotor pilot in Texas was ticketed for violating a local ordinance prohibiting aircraft from flying below 500 feet. The law applied to aircraft without mentioning ultralights but even that law was flawed. The problem is, once the ticket is written, you must spend time defending yourself.
That ticket was written from ignorance of a law that itself arose from ignorance. Remarkably, this local office never noticed that federal law rules navigable airspace. Cities or other local governing bodies cannot usurp airspace. Rightfully so; can you imagine trying to fly an airplane across the country while trying to handle a myriad of local laws? They can make noise ordinances but they cannot regulate the airspace. Federal law, which overrides state and local law, makes it clear that regulating airspace is the jurisdiction of federal government.