"A four-arm, eight-propeller system offers redundancy along with emergency systems that will direct the drone to land if there’s a malfunction, or allow the passenger to command a landing if a problem arises."

Notice they don't refer to the operator as a pilot.

Copper Mountain says no to private and commercial drones.
ESPN says no more video drones at the X Games

[url]http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/01/05/commercial-private-drones-grounded-at-colorado-ski-areas//url]

I call that new passenger carrying drone... "I Fly By Wi-Fi"

I thought it was a helicopter!!

Crzyivan13 wrote:

Finally, a drone that can handle a 12 gauge or two mounted to it!

Crzyivan13 wrote:Now the drone pilots can not only kill pilots flying actual airplanes, they can kill themselves too!!! All with the control of an ipad.

The new replacement for police motorcycles!

I fly drones commercially doing inspections for the oil and gas industry, often way of shore. The frustrating part for me is a hobbyist with no training is allowed to fly up to 400 ft. Since we are commercial (registered, with section 333 waiver). Our remote pilots whom all have to have a pilot's licenses are restricted to below 200 ft unless we get ATC permission and issue a NOTAM, even if we are 100 miles of shore in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the platforms we inspect go over 200 ft above the water.

So here we are, in the middle of the Gulf required to get ATC approval, a NOTAM, and have pilot's licenses so we can do legitimate work. Meanwhile a hobbyist 5.1 miles from LAX can fly to 400 ft and the FAA doesn't care... frustrating to say the least, and makes no sense.

mtv wrote:And the fire service has been operating Infrared ships (manned) for years. So, this is presented once again by the media and the drone advocates as if a drone is doing something that's never been possible before, when in fact all they're doing is putting a highly trained human out of work and replacing that person with someone with a lot less training.

Cost may in fact be less, but they're not trying to sell that.

MTV

The big difference is safety. I can put a drone into the middle of a massive wild fire and a most risk the loss of a drone. Traditional manned aircraft in wild fire fights have a high accident and fatality rate. Taking away the threat of losing a life allows one to fly into a lot riskier situations to get the needed survey/information.

As far as pay and training, I have had more hours of training to fly drones commercially (granted a lot of it isn't required training) than I had to get my private pilot's license. And the pay is better than a captain flying for the regionals, sad but true. The responsible commercial operators are trying hard to build good reputations and to not be seen as the neighbor kid with a toy trying to make a buck.

Unfortunately the commercial pilot industry, other than the big guys, is dieing (and the airlines would like to get rid of pilot's too, however they know the public and the FAA aren't ready for it!). Many of the best applications for drones will eventually do away with a lot of the low paying pilot jobs many use to build hours to fly for the majors (such as pipeline, ag, banner towing, etc.), and sadly many of the drone pilot's will be making a better wage then the pilot's they replace.

I sometimes wish I was born 30 years earlier, my dream job would be flying small aircraft for a living making a decent wage, ideally bush flying. I know there are still a few making it, but the numbers are dropping quickly.

Like em or hate em
I do think at this point costs will be less.

What if the FAA mandates :
Airworthiness certificates,
"CFI's" for training ,
FAA approved parts,
Propellers be repaired/ overhauled by certified repair stations.
Mandatory replacement times for components etc, etc, etc.........

Oh yes, what about ADS B, ELT's record keeping, certificated mechanics for any maintenance required.
recurrent training, crew duty times etc...

Just a thought

Most drones that fall under the regulation will weigh much more than 250g. They had to establish the lower end of the weight qualification somewhere. See all that plexiglas and bird guts in the pilot's face? Not to mention the instant "open cockpit" effect.. Well that's a danger that I'm glad the FAA has acknowledged. And because a regulatory body has engaged drone "pilots" their awareness of such otherwise unthinkable accidents is better for it.

If one accident occurs every 1.87 million years, and it happens 5 years from now, and it's me with a drone in the face, well fuck those researchers.

Zzz wrote:

Most drones that fall under the regulation will weigh much more than 250g. They had to establish the lower end of the weight qualification somewhere. See all that plexiglas and bird guts in the pilot's face? Not to mention the instant "open cockpit" effect.. Well that's a danger that I'm glad the FAA has acknowledged. And because a regulatory body has engaged drone "pilots" their awareness of such otherwise unthinkable accidents is better for it.

If one accident occurs every 1.87 million years, and it happens 5 years from now, and it's me with a drone in the face, well fuck those researchers.

X1000
Very well written Zzz.

Child vaccinations. Terrorist threats. And now...drones. Big time wastes of worry in my opinion. Data are data.

Looks like GA will be ok as long as we put up balloons like they did in WW1

Middle ages reenactor vanquishes drone with spear in epic "Droneybrook:"



http://www.popsci.com/middle-ages-reenactor-spears-drone-out-sky

The missus showed me this. I think it is somewhere down under.

Looks like they use the drone as some sort of outrigger. Pretty cool.

Just had my roofing guy come out to bid a new roof on my home. They don't measure anymore. A company uses the gov aerial spy photos. If you are in an area where they aren't hi rez enough, or trees block the view. Then they come by with a drone. The roofing company gets a computer drawing with all the info the roofer needs to create a bid.

Cheers...Rob

I just had a roofer come out to do a bid on a new roof myself.
Mine was old school- extension ladder, tape measure, and pencil & paper.
He did use a cellphone app to check the roof pitch though.

Oregon180 wrote:Middle ages reenactor vanquishes drone with spear in epic "Droneybrook:"



http://www.popsci.com/middle-ages-reenactor-spears-drone-out-sky

I followed the link and watched the full length video of the event. Someone care to take a look at 0:17 sec in the video and make a guess what the altitude of the drone was?

Rich

Interesting.

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=20515