Flying whilst doing other stuff

[Droning on and on...]

That is not true in the UK though, not that I use it as evidence for it being a good idea ! Our VLOS law definitely does NOT compel you to be looking at the drone 100% of the time, just that you are able to do so, and quickly determine its orientation. TBH if the FAA DOES compel 100% drone viewing you couldn't EVER look down at your screens could you, and how many of you have done flights where you managed (or even attempted) that ?!

It's kind of the reverse of what you describe for the UK.

You're supposed to be watching the drone while you are flying it, but are allowed to look away momentarily if necessary.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Wow, if that is how you view that, and what you somehow manage to abide by - I am beyond impressed. I don't think, in 10 years of this hobby I have ever seen a video of someone flying a drone where they don't look down at the screen multiple times in the average 25 minute flight. Have you ever seen one where that is the case ?! And are you really telling me that you do not have regular cause to look at yours during every flight you make ?!! I don't want to disbelieve you but I simply don't see how it's possible ! ALL your most useful flight information is on that screen and we NEED to be looking at it sometimes !

Without commenting on UK regs, violation of VLOS is probably the most common by recreational pilots, US or UK. I expect the letter of the reg is violated north of 90% of flights at one point or another during the session.

It's easy to violate VLOS requirements when the drone is 50ft altitude and 50ft away. I know I fly it around in those circumstances staring at the screen, not the drone, trying to get a shot, adjusting camera settings, etc., never looking at the drone for minutes at a time.

I'm utterly, completely violating the FAA regs.

With no threat at all to anyone or any property. This is why the VLOS rule, as currently constructed, is hamhanded, nearly useless, and rarely "enforced".

 

[AeroJ]

With no threat at all to anyone or any property. This is why the VLOS rule, as currently constructed, is hamhanded, nearly useless, and rarely "enforced".

Good - thank you - finally someone acknowledging the bleedin' obvious ! Of course we all do it - your 90% guess was a solid 10% out I reckon And if that is known to be the case, then that law needs rewriting or rewording to confirm we can look away sometimes doesn't it ?! And then it's no longer so grey an area and we're all clear on what is expected of us ! It should not be possible to punish us for something it is widely known we all do and is a safety thing in and of itself !

 

[tstr14]

What???? Next you're gonna tell me that airline pilots can put their 747 crammed with passengers, on auto pilot and go take a dump or something! What on earth is this world coming to?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It should not be possible to punish us for something it is widely known we all do and is a safety thing in and of itself !

You don't want to be the person that tests that argument in court, unless you have deep pockets

 

[Droning on and on...]

Good - thank you - finally someone acknowledging the bleedin' obvious ! Of course we all do it - your 90% guess was a solid 10% out I reckon And if that is known to be the case, then that law needs rewriting or rewording to confirm we can look away sometimes doesn't it ?! And then it's no longer so grey an area and we're all clear on what is expected of us ! It should not be possible to punish us for something it is widely known we all do and is a safety thing in and of itself !

In the US, there is an FAA sponsored committee looking at it, but the progress is glacially slow.

Eventually new rules will be put in place to allow BVLOS which will require excessively restrictive hoops be jumped through.

The day we can just fly using the camera view and telemetry (under defined conditions) is far in the future, if ever.

Meanwhile, no one's getting hurt, nor aircraft collisions, property damaged, etc. etc. etc. because of the VLOS violating flights, which is most of them.

Mandarin logic. The gubmint's full of people who's full-time, pride-in-their-work JOB is to regulate you, and enforce it.

Guess what happens when you have thousands of people with all sorts of time on their hands and a mandate to sit around and imagine what might happen, with the power to make a rule to "prevent" it?

A 10,000 page Federal Register.

 

[AeroJ]

You don't want to be the person that tests that argument in court, unless you have deep pockets

Yeah nah to both those thanks !

 

[mavic3usa]

You don't want to be the person that tests that argument in court, unless you have deep pockets

He wouldn't have to if the drone community would come together and fight together for what is right and for a common cause. If he tests this and rejects the government plea which is a $200 ticket, loss of his drone, and promise not to fly another drone again without taking his eyes off it, why wouldn't we instead fight together to correct the law to make it right for everyone in the name of safety? This isn't the only rules that needs to be challenged.

But because we don't believe in fighting the good fight, we leave him hanging, and we end up stuck with a law based on discretion and since most of us feel privileged, we allow the nonsense to continue. Can you imagine if the motorists would allow people to be pulled over and ticketed simply for taking their eyes off the road for a second or two? But I guess it would be ok because the police don't patrol my neighborhood and prey on the public.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

If he tests this and rejects the government plea which is a $200 ticket

just curious where does that figure come from ?

 

[Droning on and on...]

@mavic3usa, for some reason you just can't seem to understand a very simple fact: This is a hobby for most of us, so it isn't important enough to bother.

It's that simple, really. Take my drones away, yeah I'll be unhappy about it but I really won't miss it. I have plenty of other fun things to do.

I'm not going to waste my time on it. Very important you focus on that word, "waste". While I can understand how important this is to you, you can't seem to understand how unimportant it is to the vast majority of drone owners out there.

Take away my free speech? March on Washington.

Prohibit me from flying BVLOS? Arguing about it on an internet forum while drinking a beer is more than I'm willing to invest more often than not.

BVLOS restrictions do not constitute, to use your words, "the good fight". A different colloquialism comes to mind: "You got to pick your battles".

 

[mavic3usa]

@mavic3usa, for some reason you just can't seem to understand a very simple fact: This is a hobby for most of us, so it isn't important enough to bother.

It's that simple, really. Take my drones away, yeah I'll be unhappy about it but I really won't miss it. I have plenty of other fun things to do.

I'm not going to waste my time on it. Very important you focus on that word, "waste". While I can understand how important this is to you, you can't seem to understand how unimportant it is to the vast majority of drone owners out there.

Take away my free speech? March on Washington.

Prohibit me from flying BVLOS? Arguing about it on an internet forum while drinking a beer is more than I'm willing to invest more often than not.

BVLOS restrictions do not constitute, to use your words, "the good fight". A different colloquialism comes to mind: "You got to pick your battles".

Oh I get it alright. Agreed and it is so reflected in the respect this hobby is given by the government. We don't care much about it....and they (the government) don't either. Why should they care if we don't care? That's why this is being done to us because "it's just a hobby."

Honestly, if you think the government only goes after small hobbies where people don't care much about it.....this is just the start and I'm at the point where I believe the "community" needs to push back now....while we still can. The irony is if you just sit back and watch the little things happen, we it gets big....how can you complain? They are eating our lunch.

 

[Torque]

When I was 16 my driving instructor told me "never take your eyes off the road." This is why I never know my speed and I'm always running out of gas, and are my lights on high beam or not?
Sound silly? It is.

Watch The Pilot Institute's video on VLOS. Maintaining the drone within visual line of sight does NOT mean never take your eyes off of it - it means the drone always has to be within your line of sight when you look back up after checking your controller. We need to look at altitude, speed, direction, frame shots, change camera settings, select different video options, check battery level, etc., etc. This requires taking your eyes off the drone.
So you don't fly behind a barrier, building, trees, etc, that takes your drone OUT of your visual line of sight (BVLOS). Nor do you keep your eyes on your screen for so long you loose orientation and location of the actual drone. But yes, the FAA allows us to take our eyes off of our drone to check our flight parameters, frame shots, set up a pano, talk to your spouse, or aknowledge the person who just walked up on you.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Oh I get it alright.

No you don't. To wit:

Honestly, if you think the government only goes after small hobbies where people don't care much about it.....this is just the start and I'm at the point where I believe the "community" needs to push back now....while we still can. The irony is if you just sit back and watch the little things happen, we it gets big....how can you complain? They are eating our lunch.

No. They're eating your lunch, not mine (or most of us).

I repeat: You don't understand why the "community" isn't organizing and pushing back. You seem only able to see this through your personal hierarchy of values, and that most of us don't share them in this narrow instance.

 

[mavic3usa]

No you don't. To wit:



No. They're eating your lunch, not mine (or most of us).

I repeat: You don't understand why the "community" isn't organizing and pushing back. You seem only able to see this through your personal hierarchy of values, and that most of us don't share them in this narrow instance.

Ok I get it; none of this is impacting you much.

Let the "others" fight it out and if we somehow figure it out and win this, you get to swoop in and keep flying your drones too; if not....it was nice while we had it good. Did I get it right?

 

[AeroJ]

Well at least half of us here are Part 107 people who earn money from this, either fully or to a lesser degree. And despite it 'only' being a hobby for me that doesn't mean I don't care about it and over-reach in the rules that govern it. I very much care, which is why I've taken part in every CAA consultation so far, so at least they are aware of my views (which I'll grant you they have largely ignored across the board every time, but it was nice to be asked I suppose !)... and it is why I am here now publicly whinging about it - at best it might rally cohesion in the group to try a bit harder, and at the worst it makes me feel better to complain / rail against what remains unjust or insensible !

 

[Droning on and on...]

Ok I get it; none of this is impacting you much.

Let the "others" fight it out and if we somehow figure it out and win this, you get to swoop in and keep flying your drones too; if not....it was nice while we had it good. Did I get it right?

Nope.

 

[Ticoviejo]

Sorry guys, but I’m going to throw my M4P in the trash. After reading all the information above, I have come to the conclusion that I have broken that law of “keeping the bird within sight”.
I live on a farm. I place the drone on a plywood landing platform that I made for it in about 150yrds. diameter area of nice grass.
When it takes off, it’s facing 45-50mts. pine trees. After clearing those pines, I make it fly to “the back 40” and that’s the last time I see it, until in does its RTH.

I apologize for breaking the rules, but the farm is full of trees. Probably around 700 acres of trees.
I promise I won’t fly it any more.

 

[AeroJ]

Sorry guys, but I’m going to throw my M4P in the trash. After reading all the information above, I have come to the conclusion that I have broken that law of “keeping the bird within sight”.
I live on a farm. I place the drone on a plywood landing platform that I made for it in about 150yrds. diameter area of nice grass.
When it takes off, it’s facing 45-50mts. pine trees. After clearing those pines, I make it fly to “the back 40” and that’s the last time I see it, until in does its RTH.

I apologize for breaking the rules, but the farm is full of trees. Probably around 700 acres of trees.
I promise I won’t fly it any more.

I can't work out if you are joking or not. I hope you are, but will assume you are not for the purposes of this reply...

First off, an M4P is possibly the least hazardous drone ever made in the cine class - the amount of damage you can cause with one of those is pitifully small and mostly limited to any damage it suffers itself in a crash. To throw it away because you have may let it out of your sight occasionally doesn't make any sense at all.

Next, presumably when it has been out of your VLOS you have been looking down at the screen and monitoring it that way, which is a perfectly safe and sensible thing to do during normal flight, as I hope has been established adequately above as a good idea, even if the law doesn't currently specifically except for it. That is a mistake in the law, not in anything you are doing.

Next, you are on your own private land, where a falling drone is presumably of no hazard to anybody anyway !?

My advice would be, don't punish yourself, don't bin the drone, and if you really feel that you can't reasonably fly it, at least sell it and try and get some funds back to spend on something you can enjoy !

Never forget that the amount and type of laws we have to abide by in order to fly is not only WAAAY over the top, and for the large part completely unevidenced in terms of actual risk, and very much more about trying to kill the hobby as a whole, to make way for profit-driven corporate entities to take over the airspace that used to be for everybody, and you throwing in the towel because you have been cowed into it by their fearmongering and relentless over-regulation is like punching yourself in the face for fear of the law doing it instead, and it makes me very sad to see this insidious plan working.

 

[mavic3usa]

Sorry guys, but I’m going to throw my M4P in the trash. After reading all the information above, I have come to the conclusion that I have broken that law of “keeping the bird within sight”.
I live on a farm. I place the drone on a plywood landing platform that I made for it in about 150yrds. diameter area of nice grass.
When it takes off, it’s facing 45-50mts. pine trees. After clearing those pines, I make it fly to “the back 40” and that’s the last time I see it, until in does its RTH.

I apologize for breaking the rules, but the farm is full of trees. Probably around 700 acres of trees.
I promise I won’t fly it any more.

Nice sarcasm but I would wait it out a few more years to see if the rules change. Honestly, the rules for VLOS are going to have to change regardless....for everybody. I'll wager on that.

 

[Ticoviejo]

Thanks. Makes me feel better. But no, dummy here has enjoyed watching it on the RC, fly over the trees. Finding openings between the trees and hover for a while trying to spot deer or anything that moves( including trespassers).
And I WILL keep on enjoying it. It’s just for my fun.
Forgot to mention playing with the dogs and the stupid rooster. They haven’t tried to jump at it yet.