Papa training starts early.

Zzz wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:

Zzz wrote:Of course; my tongue in cheek comments refer to the hobbyists.

I just figured your beautiful young daughter was keeping you up at nights and you were getting a might punchy.

That too-- I'm under the influence of some heavy psychological torture from a 2 week old girl at the moment.

HAHA! Wait 13 years! Heavy Psychological Torture will have had many meanings by then!!

All from a drone...next year bring your shit gun. I can think of a new game...[emoji41] not really. They do have there purpose

http://youtu.be/l1KBRtTCThE

AKT

Hey Kevin,

I know Trent is a real pilot and knows the considerations. Did you do any specific briefings with pilots and UAV operators at the fly-in? Were they on the CTAF? Seems fine if everyone is on board and briefed but that alone seems difficult with arriving/unbriefed pilots.

We had 3 drone guys and all of them attended all safety briefings and had radios. Even the RC guys had to attend the briefings. RC guys had there own area and took over at night flying there glowing planes.

Bagarre wrote:I think the Private pilot requirement to fly a drone commercially is pretty ridiculous.
Do they need a multi-engine rating if the drone has more than one propeller?

If anything, there should be a separate license category for them because - past airspaces rules - there is very little commonalities.

They need their own training and certification path that runs along side the PPL.
Private Pilot
Recreational Pilot
Sport Pilot
Drone Pilot

I completely agree. I have a guy who works for me now (non-aviation related field) who is a real drone enthusiast. He wants to make a business out of flying drones, and he's also a general aviation enthusiast (though he has never flown). I'm a general aviation pilot, and I've flown his drone on a couple of occasions. He can more safely and competently operate his drone than I can, and he's a guy who is responsible enough to recognize that these drones can be a hazard to pilots if he doesn't fly it responsibly.

The bottom line is this: flying a drone and flying an airplane are more dissimilar than they are alike. The similarities end with the fact that they are both flying machines. A drone pilot doesn't need to know how to make a crosswind landing in an airplane, or how to lean a mixture on an engine to prevent spark plug fouling. They don't need to know how to perform stalls, or complete emergency landing procedures, or talk to ATC, or operate in the traffic pattern at an airport. They don't need to understand stick-and-rudder flying, and they don't need to learn about many of the other things that actual pilots learn.

They do need to learn about the U.S. airspace system, and they do need to learn how to safely operate their equipment without endangering others. But, they don't need to become general aviation pilots to accomplish this. I fully agree that some sort of drone operators license should be created, and it should focus mostly only the skills needed for drone operation. And, I think there should be a very abbreviated transition course for actual pilots (who already fully understand the airspace system) to get their own drone rating.

I like airplanes, and I also like drones. I'll admit that it is nice to know that having a pilot's license would give me an advantage in doing something drone-related if I wanted to, but I am also objective enough to admit that one has very little to do with the other.

I could be wrong - have been before - BUT, i seem to remember that the FAA already has some rules for remote control operations. Something on the order of 400 foot alt. and always within line of sight.

Trim

Trimtab wrote:I could be wrong - have been before - BUT, i seem to remember that the FAA already has some rules for remote control operations. Something on the order of 400 foot alt. and always within line of sight.

Trim

I also couldn't swear to it, but that sounds about right… the guy who works for me said that he set his altitude limit at 400 feet AGL on his drone (so it won't accidentally climb above that level if he isn't paying attention). He mentioned doing so because of regulations, and his desire to avoid putting it into the prop of a passing airplane.