Flying a drone from a parked vehicle?

[Phantomrain.org]

There are some benefits to flying from inside the Car.

1> You do not have to be worry about being blinded by the sun in the face or on the Controller .

2: Being able to see and hear your controller clearly is also a big plus , many times in the wind I dont hear or see anything .

3: Being able to brace the Controller allows for some Precision flying and focus on the shot your taking.

4: Its more important for me to hear the Controller but I will crack my window for outside sounds.

5: It isolates me from Pedestrian side talk which has distracted me on more than 1 occasion as seen in many of my videos of landing on the Water.

6: Of course staying out of the Elements is nice also.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

 

[Clintoops]

I got a few pilot friends that think drones should be illegal period , If we keep giving in , they will take everything.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain, Land on the Water,

The big thing is not to give them anything to take away
It's when things happen that you lose and new rules come into effect. Not everyone knows how to fly. When they see others doing things that is not so safe they think they can do it too. Also don't you think the FAA is not watching what flyers are posting they are .

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The big thing is not to give them anything to take away
It's when things happen that you lose and new rules come into effect. Not everyone knows how to fly. When they see others doing things that is not so safe they think they can do it too. Also don't you think the FAA is not watching what flyers are posting they are .

Flying from inside your car or flying in the Rain is not illegal in any way. I am sure the FAA is constantly checking in , and applaud our efforts to fly nicely but more importantly with good common sense.

So i have no fear of loosing anything that they did not plan on taking years ago.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water .

 

[Faster]

My SUV has a panoramic sunroof (the whole roof is practically glass) take-off and landing is a breeze from it. Flying is easy because you are always VLOS.

 

[MS Coast]

Flying from inside your car or flying in the Rain is not illegal in any way. I am sure the FAA is constantly checking in , and applaud our efforts to fly nicely but more importantly with good common sense.

So i have no fear of loosing anything that they did not plan on taking years ago.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water .

That's arguable. If the drone is directly overhead of a vehicle with an opaque roof, it's definitely not visible.

 

[dronerdave]

The rules are fairly simple at this point in time.

• Keep your drone within the visual line of sight or use a visual observer who is co-located (physically next to) and in direct communication with you.

• Give way to and do not interfere with manned aircraft.

I'd be more worried proving that flying from inside the vehicle didn't (in part) contribute to the cause of an accident (provided one ever happens). You are simply responsible for your flight.

 

[slozukimc]

That's arguable. If the drone is directly overhead of a vehicle with an opaque roof, it's definitely not visible.

Hence the use of common sense mentioned above. Obviously if you use common sense while flying from inside the car you wouldn’t fly directly over the car now would you? Seems simple enough to me.

Mike

 

[MS Coast]

Hence the use of common sense mentioned above. Obviously if you use common sense while flying from inside the car you wouldn’t fly directly over the car now would you? Seems simple enough to me.

Mike

Yep, it is.

Most of drone flying is indeed simple and a matter of common sense. But almost every day we read here about someone who crashed or lost their drone because they didn't wait for the home point to be established, they flew the batteries down to empty, or went beyond controller signal range.

 

[SpitFire]

Welcome to the forum from Chicago the Windy City.
As some have already commented, that flying from the car is not a problem. One of the things I do is never lose sight of my bird. I fly from the car in the Winter time.

 

[Steve Wells]

I am dealing with “old man eyes” and flying with a larger screen has been helpful for me. However the glare on my iPad Pro 12.9” screen is crazy outdoors so i started experimenting with flying from the vehicle. I still wanted the ability to keep a VLOS regardless and with a bit of messing around with a larger USB cable, i think I’ve got a solution that works well for me.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The problem that I have had with using a second monitor is the Lag from the Smart Controller to the Bigger screen , but I can see that being a good solution from the sun and elements.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

 

[123taff]

There are bound to be some limitations to the radio waves at the two high g/herz frequencies (2.4 and 5.8) used by drones. There is the "faraday cage" effect through the metal cage of the car body but even though the resistance will be less through the glass windscreen, modern windscreens are constructed to resist interference from radio waves to the electronics of the car. Visible light can pass through the glass but radio waves are inhibited to a small degree, so controlling a drone from inside the car will have more limitations to controlling it from outside. There is the complication of the car having a strong magnetic field which MIGHT have an effect on any flight. I wouldn't fully trust flying from inside the vehicle if VLOS might be the first thing that might be compromised. It is really a matter of trial and error in the given circumstances presented to the flyer at the time, and to fly within the law and good practice, which is surely the basis of any drone flight?

 

[Meta4]

There is the "faraday cage" effect through the metal cage of the car body but even though the resistance will be less through the glass windscreen, modern windscreens are constructed to resist interference from radio waves to the electronics of the car. Visible light can pass through the glass but radio waves are inhibited to a small degree, so controlling a drone from inside the car will have more limitations to controlling it from outside

There is no Faraday Shield effect flying from inside a car.
The windows of the car are much too large to have that effect and would have to have be covered with fine mesh to block the controller signal.
If your car acted as a Faraday Shield, your mobile phone wouldn't work in the car.

There is the complication of the car having a strong magnetic field which MIGHT have an effect on any flight.

The steel shell of a car isn't going to have any effect on the drone's compass unless the drone is within a foot or two of the car.

 

[JOHNVOSS]

The only problem I have encountered when flying from the car is that the compass in the phone is affected by the metal from the car. I hand launch out the window or outside a few feet away from the car. This guy flies from the car frequently.

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The technical issues can be debated ad nauseam. For me flying from the car is a non-issue and is the only way I can fly in the Winter.

 

[Parkerjh]

I fly from my car constantly in the hot summer, the cold winter and longer mapping missions when I just want to relax while sitting in car and listening to music. Couldn't do that effectively with the older drones like Phantom 4 as the radio transmission system wasn't as good as the modern systems in the Air2s, Mavic 2's and 3's, etc. But I never have a problem flying from car and don't think twice about doing it. If you can keep VLOS from 4' away standing next to your car why would one worry about sitting in a car?

However, as an aside, I did run into issue with law enforcement once. I had an airspace authorization in a 0' area during a large public event that I was doing a time-lapse for. I was not flying over people, was within altitude that I was approved for and had VLOS from my car. When my time-lapse was finished, I landed and was putting back in my car and two plainclothes came (literally) running down the alley and yelling, "FREEZE, POLICE!" while waving badges.

They had apparently walked by my car twice but I had not thought anything of them. Just two dudes without badges and walking around. They were using Aeroscope and knew I was roughly in that area. Guy smugly says, "We got you and you are ******". I explain that I am not ******, that I have authorization and was completely legal in my flight. He asks for papers, my license, checks my drone is labelled and takes my Drivers License.

He walks away and looking everything over and an undercover van arrives with a guy inside with headset and lots of monitors, etc. I guess the department's mobile tracking unit. After a ten minute conversation, he comes over and says, "We are reporting you to the FAA for operating beyond visual line of site". I show him where I was sitting and show him exactly where the drone was hovering for the entirety of the 20 minute flight - perfectly within VLOS. He says he doesn't care and that since I was in my car, it is automatically beyond VLOS. No idea if he is correct or not according to the FAA but I never heard from the FAA and this was over 12 months ago.

 

[Aerophile]

Guy smugly says, "We got you and you are ******".

Yikes! What kind of cop talks like this?

Where the heck do you live (or where did this take place)? I don't ever want to go anywhere near there (with or without a drone).

 

[slozukimc]

Yikes! What kind of cop talks like this?

Where the heck do you live (or where did this take place)? I don't ever want to go anywhere near there (with or without a drone).

Mayberry.

 

[Dbez1]

Did you ever hear back from the FAA about this issue?
Another question…it’s never going to matter to me personally, but I thought I read on the forum that drones were banned in NYC. How does the DroneX guy get away with it?
P.S. I like the guy and learned a lot from his YouTube videos early on.

 

[Parkerjh]

Did you ever hear back from the FAA about this issue?
Another question…it’s never going to matter to me personally, but I thought I read on the forum that drones were banned in NYC. How does the DroneX guy get away with it?

No, never heard back. When I asked the cop what was likely to happen (and he had sort of cooled down a bit) he said, "completely out of my hands and totally up to them, they might call and give you a verbal warning, or a fine, or you may never hear from them".

As for NYC, I know lots of operators will fly if they can take off from a rooftop and the airspace is unrestricted, the can get LAANC or an airspace authorization.

 

[Dbez1]

No, never heard back. When I asked the cop what was likely to happen (and he had sort of cooled down a bit) he said, "completely out of my hands and totally up to them, they might call and give you a verbal warning, or a fine, or you may never hear from them".

As for NYC, I know lots of operators will fly if they can take off from a rooftop and the airspace is unrestricted, the can get LAANC or an airspace authorization.

Thanks. I was just curious. I’m glad you didn’t get in trouble. Last year I got my 107, and in the classes, I can’t remember Greg saying anything about not flying from a vehicle (and he covered things in depth). I’m sure Vic or someone more knowledgeable than I, will answer your question with more authority.