FAA investigating near-miss involving drone over Falls

[sar104]

I am

You are doing what? The "no one is doing that" referred to no manufacturers making drones with 360° FPV capability. And if you mean that you spend your entire flights continually rotating the aircraft around to scan the sky then I don't believe you at all.

Is that a word?

Yes.

No it's not. To violate a law and flaunt it is not the same thing as disagreeing in the law; those are 2 different things.

My point is I find it hard to believe most of you are maintaining VLOS. Given what a PIA it is to keep track of where the UAS is, especially when you're out a 1/2 mile or greater, there's no way most people are abiding by the law; it's not feasible. That's precisely why altitude > VLOS. Any argument against that is not being honest with the reality of a modern UAS; my last post on this topic.

That's pure sophistry. So you are now arguing that the law is "a complete joke" because you don't think anyone follows it? Ignoring from the obvious projection, I guess the answer, rather than attempting to implement sensible rules, is to ban recreational drone use. If everyone had your attitude I could be easily persuaded to support that.

 

[gnirtS]

The intent of VLOS isnt just to "see" the drone (or a 2 dimensional light if you're lucky).
Its intended so the operator has all round situational awareness of the airspace,hazards and conflicts all around the drone at all times.

There is no way even with cute flashing lights you have a 3 dimensional picture and the depth perception needed to do that. You cannot accurately just distances or depths to the field of view.

Useful VLOS for a mavic size drone is most likely a few hundred metres.

As above, this stems from the fact you're basically engaged in VFR flight. In a real aircraft during VFR your head is on a swivel, you're constantly checking in all directions possible in addition to your primary instrument scan. That process is constant. Its how you get situational awareness.
Im fairly sure absolutely nobody does that with a drone (or how you'd get any SA on a little 6" screen anyway).

 

[dronerdave]

The intent of VLOS isnt just to "see" the drone (or a 2 dimensional light if you're lucky).
Its intended so the operator has all round situational awareness of the airspace,hazards and conflicts all around the drone at all times.

There is no way even with cute flashing lights you have a 3 dimensional picture and the depth perception needed to do that. You cannot accurately just distances or depths to the field of view.

Useful VLOS for a mavic size drone is most likely a few hundred metres.

As above, this stems from the fact you're basically engaged in VFR flight. In a real aircraft during VFR your head is on a swivel, you're constantly checking in all directions possible in addition to your primary instrument scan. That process is constant. Its how you get situational awareness.
Im fairly sure absolutely nobody does that with a drone (or how you'd get any SA on a little 6" screen anyway).

Yeah you're probably correct on that. I mean I can see my side strobes (red/green) and get an orientation out of it if it's close enough... but at distance the color can wash out. These new rules have followed the old AMA fixed wing and Helo suggested rules. Practically no incidents in the RC world prior to drones that were bad enough to warrant a change in the FAA rules. It's one reason I feel that the two (RC multi rotors vs RC helo's and fixed wing) should have been separated. Enter the date that FPV became what some believe could be used as a threat...well we all know what's going on there. Bad drone actors and the press fuel the fear. Doesn't anybody see that these supposed problems never existed until multi rotors craze started to happen? But IMO we need to play as closely to the rules as possible to protect the NAS and our privilege to fly in it. The entitlement crowd is what it is. It's similar to hunters who follow the rules as compared to poachers. I fly fixed wing a couple a times a week; many times at a small active (towerless) airport. We always have a spotter but there are times when a manned aircraft is landing while you're still in the air or the landing plane is on you before you know it. You simply avoid it. In all the flying I do, the worst incident was with my MP less than a hundred feet away from me hovering at about 40' up. A full sized plane came in at low altitude just off the water at a lake. We almost made contact. I'll never forget the look on the pilots face seeing me and my huge orange landing mat. That is another reason I use strobes. Not sure if it would have mattered because he was moving fast and I barely got out of the way. Even though it would have been a slim chance of contact, it still bothered me. So these days I'm more aware of my surrounding, especially over water and use strobes. I'd venture to say if your drone is at a reasonable distance you might actually be better off avoiding full sized aircraft over being very close by. But to put a scuba mask on and tool around in the national airspace BVOLS....not smart.