WSL Tries to Own Hawaiian Airspace!

…but maybe they don't have permits. Uh oh!

Aren’t unintended consequences hilarious? When you come across, say, a fun story about how the WSL is attempting to flex its muscle and keep outside sources from flying drones during the Triple Crown, so you call up the Hawaii Film Office with a few questions, only to have things kind of run away from you, and end up setting in motion what looks to be a clusterfuck on their end. Utter comedy.

Which is exactly what just happened. Literally. Like, five minutes ago.

If you’ve been around the Haleiwa Contest site at Ali’i Beach Park (not to be confused with Haleiwa Beach Park, across the harbor, fronting Pua’ena Point), you may have seen the signs the WSL has decided to post.

“NO UNAUTHORIZED DRONES ALLOWED,” it reads. “DRONE OPERATORS PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR LICENSES AND PERMITS PRIOR FOR APPROVAL TO OPERATE YOUR DRONE. PLEASE SEE MEDIA TRAILER TO SUBMIT THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS. IT’S PROHIBITED BY LAW TO OPERATE A DRONE WITHOUT THE REQUIRED LICENSES & PERMITS. NO DRONE ZONE.”

Something smelled fishy. Obviously the WSL is not a governmental body. To suggest that they have the authority to vet applicants and approve or deny permits is a power move, meant to intimidate people into compliance with their desires.

Which, you know, annoys the hell out of me.

Especially considering the ridiculous amount of special treatment they get from the Honolulu Dept of Parks and Rec in the form of the illegal variances granted for the Pipe contest every year.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the snail’s pace at which Hawaiian bureaucracy typically crawls, a quick call to the Hawaii Film Office got me a very friendly, and very helpful, person who requested I not use her name in this story, but was more than willing to shed some light on the situation.

“Are they using a drone? They’re supposed to get a permit from us. They probably have the drone insurance, whatever the FAA requires, but to film you need to have a permit with us. I do all the permits and I have not issued a drone permit to anyone.”

My suspicion that they could not have sole right to the airspace around the contest proved to be possibly unfounded, then the conversation took an interesting turn.

“Are they using a drone? They’re supposed to get a permit from us. They probably have the drone insurance, whatever the FAA requires, but to film you need to have a permit with us. I do all the permits and I have not issued a drone permit to anyone.”

When asked whether they had the authority to require permits be submitted to them, “I would say no. I’m not sure what they did with the FAA. The FAA might have given them a ‘certificate of authorization,’ and that’s to operate your drone and do all that, but once the footage becomes commercial, and I’m pretty sure that’s commercial, they need to acquire a filming permit from us.”

When asked whether they had the authority to enforce the “No drone zone” policy, she speculated that they might. Kinda.

“If they got a permit from the FAA it’s like getting a permit from us. If you apply for it first you can say that, ‘I have a permit here, I have the right to say no shooting here or whatever.’”

However any violations would fall to the FAA to enforce, meaning the WSL would need to contact them, after which the FAA would go after violators.

So while they may have the permit to fly the drones, the question remained, do they have permits necessary to use them for commercial filming?

“I am positive that they do not. The FAA would not get involved because they probably have all the necessary certifications with the FAA, it’s more our film permits that they would need to acquire. Do you have a contact number I can call?”

Uh oh!

And, you know, what could I do but give one to her? After all, she was very nice, and is only trying to do her job. Which, in this instance, seems to be shutting down the WSL’s ability to film with drones while in Hawaii this year.