[/quote]He did say HE could not see it. [/quote]

Didn't have my sunglasses on.

Break

So do the FAA rules even apply to recreational use???

Hoeschen wrote:So do the FAA rules even apply to recreational use???

You bet, but you can guess how many recreational (or commercial, for that matter) drone operators are aware of that fact, or the rules themselves.

Crenshaw wrote:

Hoeschen wrote:So do the FAA rules even apply to recreational use???

You bet, but you can guess how many recreational (or commercial, for that matter) drone operators are aware of that fact, or the rules themselves.

Model airplane hobbyists have been operating under these rules, established by the Academy of Model Aeronautics, for many decades. The AMA contributed to the new FAA rules. It's important to remember why these rules exist in the first place: To protect general aviation pilots.

It sucks for both model airplane and GA pilots that so few drone operators seem to care, or are even aware.

M6RV6 wrote:

SkySteve wrote:M6RV6,
How do you find the Phantom 3 flys in the wind? Any real-world experience?

Gets pretty nervous when it hit 30 kts, that is about as much as I have flown this one, but the pix and video are great.
You can see it working to maintain its position and hear it working.
Wish I would have had that technology in my Enstrom!!

30 kts is 35 mph, it's top speed, don't think it could come back to you if any faster wind!
Like a boat, only go upriver, that way you can always get home!!

M6RV6 wrote:

M6RV6 wrote:

SkySteve wrote:M6RV6,
How do you find the Phantom 3 flys in the wind? Any real-world experience?

Gets pretty nervous when it hit 30 kts, that is about as much as I have flown this one, but the pix and video are great.
You can see it working to maintain its position and hear it working.
Wish I would have had that technology in my Enstrom!!

30 kts is 35 mph, it's top speed, don't think it could come back to you if any faster wind!
Like a boat, only go upriver, that way you can always get home!!

Are you implying also that ridge soaring and chasing booming cloud streets is not the next popular drone activity?

I have an inspire. Pretty fun.

I've been flying drones for about 4 years. Everything from a custom octo to the phantoms and solo's. The drones are the final impetus for me getting my private this past summer. I'm close to getting my FAA 333 exemption (any day now). Funny thing on the way to getting my private to justify my drone work-- I fell in love with flying. Now I'm about half way through my instrument.

I'll probably post in the campfire section, but being new, does anyone know of any good groups for GA in Texas? (I'm in the DFW area).

If you have any questions on drones, please feel free to ask.

Dan
www.s-films.com

wimdaniels wrote:I've been flying drones for about 4 years. Everything from a custom octo to the phantoms and solo's. The drones are the final impetus for me getting my private this past summer. I'm close to getting my FAA 333 exemption (any day now). Funny thing on the way to getting my private to justify my drone work-- I fell in love with flying. Now I'm about half way through my instrument.

I'll probably post in the campfire section, but being new, does anyone know of any good groups for GA in Texas? (I'm in the DFW area).

If you have any questions on drones, please feel free to ask.

Dan
http://www.s-films.com

Cool niche you have there. One of the most vibrant flying communities I've seen is in Fredericksburg. Not real close to Dallas, but worth the two hour flight to stay at the Hangar hotel and diner.

Nosedragger wrote:If you have any questions on drones, please feel free to ask.

OK, thanks Dan.
I plan to get a Phantom 3 Advanced in spring (I read that they don't work much below 0 (freezing))
No cell service out here in the boonies so I don't have a phone/tablet yet.
Can you (someone) recommend a good one to mount on my Phantom controller? Price will be an issue, & it will only be my video screen, no other functions needed. If someone has a gimped unit that still has good vid, I'm interested.
Thanks (I hope)

I felt a need to key in on this one. Just as a background I fly drones in the film industry for a living, and have been doing so for almost 6 years now. The FAA 333 requirements are what forced me to get my private certificate, and in turn cost me a lot of money because I ended up buying a plane

Going all the way back to the first post, I think potentially pursuing a career in UAVs is probably a good thing, like you said, if you aren't 100% depending on it. The industry is not the same small pool as it was when I started, it is now flooded with thousands and thousands of operators, so having a plan as to how to move forward in the industry is very important. If you are already hiring a drone company to do forest surveys (I believe I read that) then it sounds like you could already have an avenue to find some work, which is good! It is an exciting industry and I think you would enjoy it. Competitive for sure, but thats part of the exciting part!

As far as the safety that everyone brings up I will just key in and say they scare me too when I am in my Kitfox, not drones themselves but mainly the mass amounts of less intelligent people who get them and want to see how high they can make them go. I am not scared of the larger ones that are being used commercially though (the 40lb ones that someone mentioned above).

All my operations take place under 200ft AGL, with 99% below 50ft, and we are at least 5 miles from any airport, or 2 miles from a smaller ones. Also, we file a NOTAM for every location we are flying at. 100% of my flying is line of sight in VMC conditions and I have a second person as our FAA required Visual Observer. So... In the event that someone is flying below 50ft off the ground, inside of our NOTAM defined operational zone, in one of our 8min windows of flying time, and somehow I, as well as my visual observer, all fail to see the manned aircraft, then it is conceivable that we could get unlucky enough to hit each other... But if it happened then I guess it really must have been meant to be

When it really comes down to it, no one has died yet from a commercial (or recreational) drone accident. Rally that against the number of lives lost in manned aircraft doing the same inspection, survey and video work in the past 10 years and you will see that drones are here to help make the sky safer, not more dangerous. We will just have a little bit of a bumpy road until everyone gets brought up to speed on whats safe and whats not when they buy their new drone.

Trent
Copter Kids
www.copterkidsllc.com

CopterKidTrent wrote:I felt a need to key in on this one. Just as a background I fly drones in the film industry for a living, and have been doing so for almost 6 years now. The FAA 333 requirements are what forced me to get my private certificate, and in turn cost me a lot of money because I ended up buying a plane

Going all the way back to the first post, I think potentially pursuing a career in UAVs is probably a good thing, like you said, if you aren't 100% depending on it. The industry is not the same small pool as it was when I started, it is now flooded with thousands and thousands of operators, so having a plan as to how to move forward in the industry is very important. If you are already hiring a drone company to do forest surveys (I believe I read that) then it sounds like you could already have an avenue to find some work, which is good! It is an exciting industry and I think you would enjoy it. Competitive for sure, but thats part of the exciting part!

As far as the safety that everyone brings up I will just key in and say they scare me too when I am in my Kitfox, not drones themselves but mainly the mass amounts of less intelligent people who get them and want to see how high they can make them go. I am not scared of the larger ones that are being used commercially though (the 40lb ones that someone mentioned above).

All my operations take place under 200ft AGL, with 99% below 50ft, and we are at least 5 miles from any airport, or 2 miles from a smaller ones. Also, we file a NOTAM for every location we are flying at. 100% of my flying is line of sight in VMC conditions and I have a second person as our FAA required Visual Observer. So... In the event that someone is flying below 50ft off the ground, inside of our NOTAM defined operational zone, in one of our 8min windows of flying time, and somehow I, as well as my visual observer, all fail to see the manned aircraft, then it is conceivable that we could get unlucky enough to hit each other... But if it happened then I guess it really must have been meant to be

When it really comes down to it, no one has died yet from a commercial (or recreational) drone accident. Rally that against the number of lives lost in manned aircraft doing the same inspection, survey and video work in the past 10 years and you will see that drones are here to help make the sky safer, not more dangerous. We will just have a little bit of a bumpy road until everyone gets brought up to speed on whats safe and whats not when they buy their new drone.

Trent
Copter Kids
http://www.copterkidsllc.com

Good points ^^^^ Thanks Trent.

NimpoCub wrote:

Nosedragger wrote:If you have any questions on drones, please feel free to ask.

OK, thanks Dan.
I plan to get a Phantom 3 Advanced in spring (I read that they don't work much below 0 (freezing))
No cell service out here in the boonies so I don't have a phone/tablet yet.
Can you (someone) recommend a good one to mount on my Phantom controller? Price will be an issue, & it will only be my video screen, no other functions needed. If someone has a gimped unit that still has good vid, I'm interested.
Thanks (I hope)

I use a Samsung Tab S w/8.4 inch screen. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-8- ... B00KHA2DQM

Looks like you can get a refurbed one for around 200 bucks. I would be wary of picking up something cheap that's too old or slow. Running it as FPV on a phantom is fairly hardware intensive. I tried to use my wife's old iPhone 5c one time when my tablet was dead and it couldn't keep up at all.

I feel like I hear of a lot of people using Nvidia tablets for FPV also, it seems like they're fairly inexpensive.

Thanks. From what I've heard, the Nvidia Shield is a good "cheap" compatible unit.
Tough to find a deal with the CanuckBuck in the toilet.

Just an observation. Hope I'm not straying off topic too far:

High surf on Maui last week. Went to "Jaws" to watch surfers ( amazing what those guys surf). Waves 30ft + breaking 1/2 mile off shore. All being captured by film crews.

Two helicopters taking turns rotating in for shots as the surfers caught waves and then retreating with the wave as the surfer performed below, quite a graceful art. As I watched and looked closer, I noticed two drones also filming at a lower level, basically close to wave top, and lower sometimes, but sometimes at the same elevation as the helicopters.

Made me wonder if everyone operating were talking on a common frequency to avoid colliding , as I am not sure that they were all with the same film crew, but everyone was trying to get that "good shot". As I pondered this, a 172 zips through and flys between the surfers and the bluff I'm watching from, and through the maze of helicopters and drones ...... Not just once but circled around for a second pass. I am sure the 172 pilot saw the bright yellow helicopters but doubt he could have seen the small drones. Heck, I was watching for 15 minutes from the bluff before I saw them! These may need the mandated ADS-B system

As to careers with drones, I certainly can see their niche in filming these type of sporting events. These drones were able to position themselves and capture footage like no other. Their endurance was also impressive.

A fun backyard dog fight: