- Joined
- Feb 14, 2017
- Messages
- 10
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- 4
- Age
- 44
Personally it would depend on the direction the balloon is traveling. If it is traveling away from the drone, great shot, if not, too close.You must stay clear and give right of way to ALL other aircraft. The only way I would get closer than several hundred feet would be if this was set up with the balloon pilot in advance. Otherwise the chances are an irritated balloon pilot will report you. and we have another "near miss!" (insert media hype here)
To me this photo was a too close for not talking to them before hand.
You could attach a giant fan to the bottom and use it as a thruster. XDI asked a local paraglider chap his thoughts if I were to fly alongside and he pointed out the risk of unexpected movements and props cutting cords.
A balloon is more predictable but they will still be concerned about the dreadful consequences of a drone going through the envelope.
As experienced users we aren't likely to do that by accident but being anywhere near there must be a slight risk from unexplained freakish behaviour.
A ballon can't do anything to avoid a collision..
Wind direction is everything. The balloon can't steer. If it was blowing towards the Mavic, it's going to crash into it.Too close is all relative . If you asked the balloon pilot I'm sure he would say that was too close . To the people saying it's all according to wind direction etc , it's not like Mavics are crashing or flying away due to improper setup or inexperienced pilots huh ?
Glad to hear.I was flying parallel to the direction the balloon was drifting.
Wind direction is everything. The balloon can't steer. If it was blowing towards the Mavic, it's going to crash into it.
I'm not disagreeing with you on that. It will always be pilot error if it hits the balloon, no exception.Duh .
The Mavic is tiny and people say all the time it doesn't do well in the wind . A good tail wind could get the Mavic too close for comfort if the operator isn't paying close attention to distance . A good headwind and it might not maneuver out of the balloons path quickly enough . The point was however , Mavics are being lost and crashed at an alarming rate so the highest probability of an incident is simply operator error . Nobody needs to be in the vicinity of another aircraft without the expressed consent of the pilot .
I somehow have doubts. After all it is supporting a good deal of weight.the blades would shear that balloon