Bought myself a drone and anorak
 

Hearing all this stuff about drones so went out and bought myself one. The verdict? absolutely amazing machine the autopilot and stability are outstanding. I watch the kids play Call of Duty with those Playstations and take a turn every now and then but get shot within 5 seconds because I cant get my head around the controls, I thought the drone would be the same so I enlisted the kid to fly it in case I crashed. I eventually took the controls and found its so easy. I took off from the airstrip flew to my house about 3/4 of a mile away then had the autopilot fly it back and land. Again, absolutely amazing! And it doesn't burn 35 litres an hour either

Here's a vid for those that are interested

https://www.facebook.com/DuncanIanRo...84308796274928

I'm not sure where you are, but if you are in the UK you have probably just broken the law! Flight without continuous line-of-sight contact (by you or an attending "safety pilot") and autonomous flight are both illegal here.

PDR

Really, are u serious? that was illegal? it was line of sight the whole flight otherwise the radio and live streaming would not have worked.

Wow, that must be a record for drone-police comment!

I have to admit I only watched bits but which part shows 'out of line of sight' flying?

I also have a drone which is used for professional purposes but I would never risk 'out of line of sight' for the simple reason you also lose the control and image signals.

What a lovely part of the world! And impressive picture quality as well. Also may I add my name to the list of those who want to know what sort of beastie this is.

PM

In the UK the ANO requirement (CAP 658 art.94) (3) says:

The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding collisions.

You cannot see a small multicopter sufficient to achieve that at a range of 3/4mile.

I haven't looked at the video; I was just going from the description (will look at the video when I get home) but please note that if the video is the recorded feed from the FPV camera then you may also have fallen foul of the greater restrictions in art.95 because the vehicle becomes a SUSA rather than just an SUA.

I'm not trying to interfere with anyone's fun*, but you need to understand the law if you play with one of these things!

PDR

* I've been an RC flyer for over 40 years (before and during my PPL period, and continued after I let the PPL lapse), and have messed with both LoS and FPV multicopters ever since they first became possible.

If I were you PDR1, I'd stow my shovel right about now because you are digging a hole you're not going to get out of.

I feel this subject may drone over to Jetblast at any moment. :=

Seems to me that there is the possibility of confusion between "direct, unaided visual contact with the aircraft" and "line of sight", as evidenced by the OP's reference to radio streaming.

Well said Clare, :D

I'm very tempted to get one of these myself, sounds like a lot of fun and a potentially useful tool too.



coldair

What's the anorak doing in the story? Isn't anorak UK slang, more or less equivalent to USA slang nerd ?

piperboy84 isn't flying over populated area, he is flying lower than legal restrictions, is in line of sight at all times... I personally might not be able to spot a drone half a mile away without glasses, but with glasses and/or binoculars, I'd be surprised if I couldn't!

I think there are no ground to consider this a dangerous / illegal act, and actually a very responsible flight of a small fun quadcopter!

Anyway - much more responsible than the few I've encountered at 2,000' and up to 8,000'!! A couple which I had to take evasive action!

Enjoy your toy!! (only mildly jealous!)

Yep, I'm going to buy one too. Will see how far out of sight I can get it to fly.

I sometimes get to play with this one at work. The technology in there is amazing. I am currently developing that patch of land to the right and using the drone to get shots to help me plan it was a godsend. (the second image on here is heavily compressed, the original is MASSIVE).

Attachment 1606

Its a DJI Phantom 4, got it off Amazon for £900 and spend another £100+ on extra battery and accessories, girlfriend says she seen them on the telly for £30 then asked how much I paid for mine, I said "somewhere in that region";)

Can't see the bugger 100 yards away never mind 3/4 of a mile, eyes are knackered. If I wanted something I could see all the time I would have attached a gopro to a balloon on a 50ft string.

I'm the type of guy that reads the instruction after I've got it all put together and only if there are extra pieces left over. Otherwise its fire it up and go

I thought the limits were 500m distance and 400' height both of which appear to have been exceeded here. God knows how you can see a drone at 500m in order to control it though. I couldn't manage that with a 6ft span radio controlled aeroplane so no chance with a biddy little drone. imo they're a menace to low level aviation.

If I was still flying helicopters these things would be giving me sleepless nights, sooner or later one of these things operating outside its parameters will take a law-abiding helicopter out, or some prat will use one on the Mach Loop to get better pics. Just wait!

Nah, I've got a pilots license so I'm pretty well boned up on airspace rules. So it comes down to common sense really, don't faff around near landing traffic, don't try and race the weightshifters, don't annoy the neighbors, don't land near the dug etc. Oh and most importantly put the copter in self hover before trying to light a fag.

To those who don't actually own a drone but nevertheless feel able to comment about them knowledgeably, some information.
I have a 'mid-level professional' drone, the one piperboy has looks to me like it is a DJI entry level pro device. Both have a very comprehensive firmware suite which is constantly being updated automatically. For instance, the firmware restricts height. It also installs a constantly updated database of airfields and restricted zones which stops the drone flying in those locations. Some restrictions (if you perhaps have permission to film at an airfield) may be over ridden by registered users. The drones in question also have high-intensity illumination which means they can be seen from a very long distance. Most professional users however, do not use them at a distance much further than 250 metres. Toy drones, in the main don't have these features nor do they have the intelligent flight management systems of the expensive drones. This means they get lost, crash, have rubbish cameras and the owners quickly get bored of their 200gm piece of plastic thereby removing whatever tiny risk such a device might present. My drone cost over £4000. The entry level pro drones cost at least £1000 with the various bits and pieces. They get looked after.

Way to go!!