[baddox]

Scale is completely separate from the legal ban of commercial drone operations. I can legally build a dozen quadcopters with 26" propellers and set them flying formations for fun. I cannot legally charge $5 to take extremely low quality photos of a field with a 20 gram.

[dragonwriter]

> Scale is completely separate from the legal ban of commercial drone operations.

Its actually not. While the limit on commercial application doesn't directly limit scale, there is a very big difference in the overall expected scale when something can only be done for personal enjoyment vs. when it can be both done for that and for commercial purposes.

One can argue that prohibiting commercial use isn't the most desirable way to influence overall scale, but one cannot -- without willful blindness -- argue that banning commercial use has no impact on expected overall scale, even if it does nothing to directly limit either overall scale or the scale of any particular operation.

> I can legally build a dozen quadcopters with 26" propellers and set them flying formations for fun.

Yes, but how many people will vs. how many will when they can do it for fun or profit?

[baddox]

> there is a very big difference in the overall expected scale when something can only be done for personal enjoyment vs. when it can be both done for that and for commercial purposes.

That only serves as an argument for regulating large scale drone operations (commercial or not). It doesn't work as an argument for prohibiting all commercial drone operations regardless of scale.

[dragonwriter]

Its not about the scale of an individual drone operation, its about the aggregate scale of all drone operations when commercial operations are allowed vs. when they are not.