brett8883
Well-Known Member
While this is a good short page that has good simple information and suggestions most people can read without losing focus, my issue with it is that it mixes real honest to god laws in with official FAA “guidance” and also added in “recommendations” but makes no attempt to identify which is which.Oh for cry-eye.
Just go read this:
It's simple and easy to read.
That page is basically someone’s cliff notes for this advisory circular found here which is the FAA’s official open letter to pilots explaining officially the current state of regulations permanently found here which is the FAA’s official “interpretation” of the honest to god law the relevant bit of which is found and codified here none of which explicitly mentions flying at night or needing any kind of lighting.
However the law states that in order to qualify for §44809. Exception for limited recreational operations of unmanned aircraft
“(4) The aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft.“
The FAA adds their official interpretation which is: “This makes the recreational flyer responsible for knowing the altitude and position of their aircraft in relation to other aircraft, and responsible for maintaining a safe distance from other aircraft by giving way to all other aircraft in all circumstances.”
The website you cited makes the assumption that in order to fulfill this requirement at night you’d need “lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times.” Which is probably true in most situations but not all. If I fly my drone in my back yard 20-50 ft at night I can see my “altitude and position of [my] aircraft in relation to other aircraft, and responsible for maintaining a safe distance from other aircraft by giving way to all other aircraft” without the need for navigational lighting
So again good advice but I don’t like how it makes certain things out to be cut and dry laws or regulations when they really aren’t.
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