Braasch was interviewed by Theodore Decker for his article in the 30Nov2015 edition of the Columbus Dispatch, “FAA Rules May Hover Over Drone Hobbyists.” Selected quotes from Braasch include:

“In terms of commercial applications, I think we very much are on the leading edge of a growing industry,” said Michael Braasch, an Ohio University electrical engineering professor and aviation researcher. “The proliferation that they’re talking about this holiday season is certainly of the hobbyist variety.”

A gift-given drone likely will be on the cheaper side and “isn’t going to do much more than be a temporary amusement to whoever is flying it,” Braasch said. “You’ve got to have a bit of higher-end unit in order to do anything that’s, shall we say, practical.”

Braasch suspects the fear that drones will be put to a host of nefarious uses is overblown.

“If bad people had wanted to do bad things with remotely operated vehicles, they would have done it by now,” he said.

He is surprised that privacy concerns aren’t being talked about more.

“Somebody should not be allowed to hang a drone 10 feet above your house and then say, ‘Hey, it’s federal airspace, I can fly here,’  ” he said. “That issue really has not been addressed yet.”