A Rutherford resident, who did not want to be named, told The Mercury a drone had flown into her yard every Friday night for about a month.

“The drone flew directly over mine and my neighbours’ yards several times and quite low as well,” she said.

“If they flew over our house at night and our lights are on there is nothing stopping them filming or seeing inside my backyard and potentially my house where my children are.”

Aberglasslyn resident Melissa Mattsson said two drones, one with a red light and one with a green light, hovered over her back patio one night about 9.30pm while she was inside with her husband watching TV.

She said the drones took off when her husband went outside to investigate. 

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s rules state recreational drones should only be flown during the day, must be kept at least 30 metres away from other people and if the drone weighs more than 100 grams, it must be kept at least 5.5km away from controlled aerodromes –  of which there is one at Rutherford.

Ms Mattsson said she posted in a community Facebook group and was “inundated” by other residents who had experienced the same issue. She also reported the incident to CASA.

The Rutherford woman also posted to Facebook to find out more about drone laws but found it was a hard issue to police.

“I found that there is not a great deal that you can actually do to stop this from happening,” she said.

“Lucky for me the area I am in is located close enough to Rutherford airspace to be a restricted area, my only option is to report them.

The woman believed there should be more owner education at the point of purchase on the responsibilities of owning a drone.

“Drones are a big grey area currently with legislation,” she said.

“I don’t want to stop the person having fun with their drone, not at all... but its not to say the next person doesn’t have ill intentions.

“I just want to feel comfortable to be able to sit on my back veranda in my polka dot panda pajamas without people being able to see me.

Police said they were not aware of increased suspicious drone activity, but said any person caught breaking the rules and regulations would be dealt with accordingly.

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