I'm fairly certain that drones don't qualify as manned aircraft. ;)
Moreover, my understanding is that there's a big gap in case-law concerning drone use. It's really a shame that this trigger-happy hick didn't take the drone case to court, as he might have made a meaningful contribution to the U.S. justice system by doing so.
Yes, the legal status of drones is unclear. And there's not much case law. This should have been a clear case, given that the downed drone was reportedly never over the neighbor's property.
But maybe the trigger-happy family appreciated this fact, and just wanted to make a statement. I certainly don't like the idea of being surveilled. And it's not just cameras. Drones can easily carry compact equipment for LAN hacking[0] or exfiltrating key material.[1] But for those applications, one would need to land the drone in a suitable location.
Moreover, my understanding is that there's a big gap in case-law concerning drone use. It's really a shame that this trigger-happy hick didn't take the drone case to court, as he might have made a meaningful contribution to the U.S. justice system by doing so.