Casey Neistat

To celebrate the 4th of July, Casey Neistat just released this video on YouTube of him drone surfing on New York City’s East River. A lot of the footage in the short film is really quite stunning as the city provides an awesome backdrop for all his stunts, not just in this video. Regardless of what you think of his FAA rules-breaking drone flying, you have to admit that Casey has a nick for attention-grabbing videos. Check out his latest video and the behind the scenes video below and let us know what you think. Is he celebrating the 4 of July or his seemingly independence of the drone rules that do apply to the rest of us?

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Let me start off by saying that I, like almost 10 million other people, am a fan of Casey Neistat and his daily vlogs. Casey’s style, creativity and storytelling ability are second to none and his videos are highly entertaining. However, the videos are also very controversial when it comes to his use of drones. Yesterday, Casey uploaded his latest video in which he buys a DJI Inspire 2 and Zenmuse X5S (?). Together with his good friends and drone experts, Elaine and Justin, they get on a boat to fly and test the new drone. The group ventures out on to the Hudson River, East River, and in the New York Harbor and capture amazing drone footage of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Within the first 24 hours of posting the video, it has been watched almost 900,000 times and a discussion has ignited in the comments section as to whether this video constitutes legal or illegal drone flying. First of all, I am not a drone/aviation lawyer, but after having watched the video a couple of times, there are a few moments that question the legality of the drone operation and at the same time show the complexity around the FAA’s drone regulations. Let’s take a closer look.

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Less than two weeks ago we reported on the all-new Skydio R1 autonomous drone and we should have one to review very soon! Of course, Casey Neistat already got his hands on one. He posted a short review of the R1 drone on YouTube today.

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