Readers React: Flying drones shouldn’t be a hobby

To the editor: In addition to privacy and noise concerns, add knocking out electric power to reasons why amateur pilots should not be operating drones. (“As hobby drone use increases, so do concerns about privacy, security,” June 21)

Twenty years ago I lived near a plateau where a small group flew radio-controlled airplanes each weekend. The loud, constant buzzing noise the planes made was quite annoying, but the worst problem happened about four times a year, when one of the airplanes would hit electrical wires and knock out power to our neighborhood.

And by the way, someone already has been injured by a falling drone. Earlier this year an Australian female triathlete received a head gash during a race.

Amateur pilots simply should not be operating drones, and we need laws to regulate this industry immediately.

Diane Scholfield, Vista, Calif.

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The article does not speculate on what to me is an obvious problem: There are gun owners out there who, perceiving a threat to privacy, will try to shoot these things down.

Bullets don’t care where they land. The problems created by shooters at midnight on New Year’s Eve may be multiplied many times over if drones become common over cities.

Jack Widmark, San Pedro