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Entertainer Jim Nabors was relaxing with a guest on the oceanfront lanai of his Diamond Head home recently when a small, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swooped up to the edge of his property, where it hovered in front of Nabors and his guest.

Nabors’ partner, Stan Cadwallader, ran down to the beach and found a man guiding the drone. Cadwallader admonished the beachgoer and made him promise to stop taking pictures with the model aircraft.

Last month, Kailua resident Nicole Robinson was busy raking leaves in her garden when her 4-year-old daughter pointed up to the sky above them and said, “Mommy, look at the airplane. What airline do you think it is?”

Robinson says it wasn’t an airplane but a small, unmanned aerial vehicle flying directly over her property.

“I flipped the middle finger at the aerial camera,” Robinson says. “Then the drone immediately flew down as low as the top of our mango tree, where it hovered like it wanted to get a closer look at us. That’s when I started to get uncomfortable.”

“It is one thing to have a neighbor peering over the fence at you, but coming into your yard to take pictures is another matter.”

UAVs are not only sneaking into private residential property in Hawaii, they are also swooping down into restricted government areas.

On three different occasions in the last nine months people parked on Diamond Head Road have guided small remote-controlled aircraft over the Diamond Head lighthouse property.

There should be specific regulations in place now to protect Hawaii citizens from peeping aerial cameras on flying model aircraft, but so far there are no state or county laws to specifically address the privacy problem arising from drone flights.

The U.S. Coast Guard manages the lighthouse, the grounds around it and the 14th District admiral’s residence there. The Coast Guard’s 14th district is responsible for the Hawaiian islands, Guam, American Samoa and activities in Saipan, Singapore and Japan. The public must be invited to enter the lighthouse area.

When security asked the people controlling the UAVs to stop flying them over the lighthouse grounds, the hobbyists said they meant no harm and that they were only trying to get better photos of the famous Diamond Head beacon.

There should be specific regulations in place now to protect Hawaii citizens from peeping aerial cameras on flying model aircraft, but so far there are no state or county laws to specifically address the privacy problem arising from drone flights.

Drones may be useful to farmers for monitoring their crops and livestock; also to governments trying to access damage after a natural disaster, or to make it possible for photographers to get incredible video of big wave surfing, but they can also be noisy and invasive pests.

Like so many other emerging technologies, unmanned aircraft operations are proliferating faster than officials can regulate them.

Nowadays, drones are capable of taking professional-quality photos, as well as video, and can be purchased online for less than $300.

The Federal Aviation Administration regulates all aircraft in the United States, including unmanned aerial vehicles.

The FAA says it expects by the end of the year to come up with new regulations for all UAVs, including the small ones favored by hobbyists and professional photographers.

UAV fanciers prefer to use the term unmanned aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle rather than the word “drone” because of  its stealthy, military connotation.

Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the FAA Pacific Division, says the aviation authority is collecting data from six test sites, including Hawaii, to help create new safety and commercial policies for remotely controlled aircraft.

Currently, the FAA prohibits drone operators from using their unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes without FAA approval. A hobbyist can take a photo of his own house for his photo album but it’s currently forbidden for the operator to sell that photo.

Like so many other emerging technologies, unmanned aircraft operations are proliferating faster than officials can regulate them.

Gregor said in an email: “The FAA is also working to develop privacy safeguards to protect people on the ground from privacy violations by unmanned aircraft.” Gregor says UAV operators must abide by local, state and federal privacy laws already in place.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu says she is unaware of any calls to HPD to report camera-equipped drones trespassing on private property.

“If someone called 911, an officer would be sent and a report could be made,” Yu says. “You should check with the prosecutor’s office to see if they’d charge and under what circumstances.”

Dave Koga, spokesman for the Honolulu prosecutor’s office, pointed to a few possible applicable trespass and privacy laws, but none seemed to address the new situation of a remote-control aircraft coming into someone’s yard to photograph the residents as they go about their daily business.

Two years ago, state Sen. Sam Slom introduced the first bill in the Legislature to regulate unmanned aerial vehicles.

Slom said his goal was to protect residents from law enforcement agencies using UAVs for warrantless searches in violation of privacy rights. His bill died.

This year, Senate Judiciary Chairman Clayton Hee tried to get a bill passed to prohibit the use of all unmanned aircraft except for surveillance aircraft used by law enforcement agencies.

Hee’s bill would have established strict conditions under which law enforcement agencies could use UAVs for surveillance activities and required the agencies to report on their information-gathering drone flights.

Hee said he wanted to protect against threats to personal privacy rights, which he says “are more firmly enshrined in the Hawaii state constitution than they are in the U.S. Constitution.”

Hee’s bill passed the full Senate but stalled when it got to the state House.

Critics showed up to strongly oppose the bill, pointing out beneficial uses of unmanned aircraft in Hawaii, including  monitoring endangered plants and keeping watch on livestock in remote rural areas.

Hee said that if his bill had been allowed to advance, it eventually could have included provisions to address concerns about hobbyists manipulating small-unmanned aircraft onto private property to take pictures.

“That is a legitimate privacy concern, “ says Hee.

Robinson, the Kailua resident, says she is unsure of what kind of legislation would successfully address the problem and how it could be enforced, but she wishes for more protection

“I don’t think an aircraft should be able to fly into my property and take pictures of me,” says Robinson.