DJI FPV is it legal to fly with part 107 ?

[sar104]

I haven't misunderstood the statement - it's badly written. It says:

It's not badly written at all - it's completely explicit. You just have to read it carefully and literally.

"the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), and the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight"

The "and" in the sentence implies that all of them must be able to see the drone throughout the entire flight. You would be correct if the sentence had started with "either" and the "and" had been replaced with "or":

No - I'm correct with the wording as stated - 107.31 (a) requires them all to be able to see the aircraft - i.e. it must be within VLOS and they must be able to see it if they look for it.

"either the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), or the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight"

So at any one time, at least one of them must be looking at the drone.

Which is exactly what I said - 107.31 (b) requires that one of them must be watching it at all times. But it doesn't need to be the RPIC or operator (if different) provided that the VO is fulfilling that role.

I’m not disputing any of that. I was simply pointing out that whilst that’s what the official statement means, its not what it says. Including the word “and” in it means that everyone has to see it the drone continuously.

But that's exactly what you are disputing. No - the "and" is in 107.31 (a), and requires that they are all able to see the aircraft. That doesn't mean that they are looking at it. 107.31 (b) covers who is required to be looking at it, and doesn't have an "and", it has an "or". If that isn't completely clear at this point then further discussion is pointless.

 

[Rich QR]

OK, at first I thought paragraphs (a) and (b) were contradictory, a result of poor authorship by committee. Paragraph (a) says pilot AND V.O must have the ability to see the drone, paragraph (b) says that the ability must be exercised by pilot OR V.O.

I was focusing on the "and" vs. "or". But now I see that paragraph (a) is describing that everyone must have the ability, but paragraph (b) says that only one of them needs to be exercising it for the entire duration of the flight.

Even with my initial misunderstanding of paragraph (a), I could clearly see that they wouldn't have written that second paragraph if they hadn't intended to allow the pilot to take his eyes off the drone as long as the Visual Observer was maintaining watch on it. So I always understood the overall meaning to be as attorney Rupprecht described in the link. It's just that now I see that the two paragraphs don't actually conflict.

 

[maelstrom]

Be ABLE to see it... only one member, the one who is fulfilling VLOS (VO, RPIC, or person manipulating the controls) is the only one that must have Eyes On the aircraft. The others can, by code, be lookin down, away, or anything but must be ABLE To get eye on quickly.

I fully understand all of that and I'm not questioning the intent of the statement, just the wording. Please let’s just leave it at that.

 

[Rchawks]

Meeting of the minds. Impressive examination of the facts.

 

[JC_Wang]

I recently received my part 107, my understanding is when you fly you must remain in eye contact while flying. If you are wearing the goggles you are flying by the camera ? Also what is to prevent a bird attack?

It looks fun to fly, just want to be legal

Thanks
Marty

The speed of M mode is too fast, that violates the FAA regulation.

 

[AtmosphericArts]

The speed of M mode is too fast, that violates the FAA regulation.

This is wrong. You can go up to 100 mph with part 107. I believe max speed is 90 mph for DJI FPV. With a tailwind you can break the limit but this has been possible (easy in fact) for FPV drones for years and I’ve never heard of anybody getting in trouble for it.

I also can’t see many actual commercial pilots using DJI FPV. If anybody out there has made a penny off of DJI FPV I’d love to hear about it!