How come we see many very popular Youtubers flying BVLOS if it's not allowed?

[maelstrom]

Says a man who has made up his mind.

Not at all. I just don't see the issue with the VLOS rule. It's really not difficult to comply with it and I'm at a loss to understand your objection to it other than that you just consider that it shouldn't apply to you. The fact that people break the rule doesn't mean that there's anything fundamentally wrong with it. It's more a case of people feeling that it's their right to do what they want without considering that they also have a responsibility for what they're doing.

Ignorance is bliss. Sadly that “ignorant bliss”, people’s passion and their inability to take a backwards step even when proven wrong, make it very difficult to have an intelligence conversation on sensitive topics such as VLOS.

Seriously? You've presented no more actual facts than anyone else (plenty of opinions and "probabilities"). Other posters have said how many low flying aircraft they see regularly. We're not all ignorant just because we don't share your point of view and I resent being labelled as such. I've given you real-world examples from my own experience which you seem to ignore - does that make you ignorant? Unlike you, I can see the potential danger and don't consider the VLOS rule is an unreasonable response to it.

You are certainly advocating a medium standard for road safety (50mph) and a very higher standard for helicopter safety (VLOS for drones).

You're dealing with an entirely different set of criteria for aviation safety compare to road safety. Do you seriously consider restricting drone operation to VLOS as a "very high standard" for helicopter safety? Having the VLOS rule AND a height restriction for drones of 25m would probably qualify as a very high standard. Given the theoretical visual acuity for the perfect human eye, in ideal conditions you should be able to see something around 30cm in diameter at about 1000m. Few (if any) of us would be capable of this, but it's probably reasonable to assume that most of us would be capable of seeing a drone at several hundred metres. Is this really a massive limitation? The model aircraft fraternity have had this restriction for decades and it doesn't appear to have affected their inalienable rights.

 

[DoomMeister]

This thread reminds me of the months long fight in the trenches during WW1. I wonder if we can call a truce to this constant shelling when Christmas Day gets here. We are already averaging 20 posts a day and the same arguments are repeated over and over.
Those on the legal side of the fence and those on the other will never see eye to eye. After all the purchase of a drone is license to fly it any way and any where the owner wishes (tongue in cheek).

 

[TerryToast]

The fact that people break the VLOS rule doesn't mean that there's anything fundamentally wrong with it. It's more a case of people feeling that it's their right to do what they want without considering that they also have a responsibility for what they're doing.

Incorrect. People see the VLOS rule as excessive and unnecessary and so they ignore it. This view (while different from your own) is supported by the nationwide facts and statistics on helicopter safety, which I have provided.

Seriously? You've presented no more actual facts than anyone else (plenty of opinions and "probabilities").

Incorrect again. I presented a comprehensive article on helicopter safety. It contained independent verified FACTS (not opinions nor probabilities) based on nationwide data covering MILLIONS of hours of helicopter, plane, train and car travel. These FACTS show that helicopter travel is safer than car travel.

Another FACT is that 2018 marked the first helicopter crash caused by a drone (according to the FAA). There were no fatalities.

Another FACT is that there are 1.7 million registered drones in the U.S and lots of drone operators are ignoring VLOS laws.

If you take these FACTS and do the maths you can calculate that there is literally a 1 in a 100 million chance that a drone ignoring VLOS laws will result in helicopter collision (not even a death, just a collision).

THAT is why drone pilots see VLOS rules as excessive and unnecessary, and why they ignore them.

 

[TerryToast]

This thread reminds me of the months long fight in the trenches during WW1. I wonder if we can call a truce to this constant shelling when Christmas Day gets here. We are already averaging 20 posts a day and the same arguments are repeated over and over.
Those on the legal side of the fence and those on the other will never see eye to eye. After all the purchase of a drone is license to fly it any way and any where the owner wishes (tongue in cheek).

I agree. I’ve got better things to do.

 

[maelstrom]

These FACTS show that helicopter travel is safer than car travel.

Where did I say that it wasn't?

People see the VLOS rule as excessive and unnecessary and so they ignore it.

That's a bit of a sweeping statement, and factually incorrect. SOME people see it as excessive and unnecessary and ignore it. Many don't. You simply have no idea how many people obey or ignore the rules. The people complaining about VLOS rules on these forums probably represent a totally insignificant proportion of the total number of drone users.

TerryToast said:
If you take these FACTS and do the maths you can calculate that there is literally a 1 in a 100 million chance that a drone ignoring VLOS laws will result in helicopter collision (not even a death, just a collision).

And yet it happened 2 weeks ago in Los Angeles:

Hollywood Man Arrested For Crashing Drone Into LAPD Chopper

Authorities say it's the first criminal case in the nation in which a person has been charged with unsafely operating a drone.

losangeles.cbslocal.com

 

[Malcx]

At least trench warfare was resolved in only 4 years...

I still stand by my original post on this thread though:

many selfish idiots out there who will deliberately misinterpret those exceptions to mean 'ha! they don't apply to me in this case'

Have fun everyone, don't crash and try not to ruin the hobby for everyone else ?

Out.

 

[TerryToast]

And yet it happened 2 weeks ago in Los Angeles:

And it will happen again, every 1 in 100 million drone flights.

The drone wreckage landed near the pilots house. ? O.J. Simpson’s lawyer would get all charges dropped because the pilot was flying within VLOS. ?

 

[Malcx]

would get all charges dropped because the pilot was flying within VLOS

https://bit.ly/36tXYla

 

[TerryToast]

https://bit.ly/36tXYla

Did you read my “OJ Simpson lawyer” reference (i.e. the one that you omitted when quoting me)? It implies a joke.

 

[Point Zero]

There are many thrilling videos to watch of long range flyers here and on youtube that have visual observers, and many of those that don’t. Those that post videos without all the proper safety protocols in place, place a risk and burden that the remainder of us must carry.

Fly safe, fly legal.

To Tony McDrone,
I have used your post to reply to a far bigger subject in my mind and it is in no way personally aimed at you, but more at the type of sentiment you and a lot of other forum users think and express with regards to drones and the law.

I know this is just a very strongly moderated drone forum, and that since this forum first appeared the world has turned against drones because, lets be honest here, they are quite frankly the most dangerous objects in the universe.

But when I read a line about safety protocols in place, and the rest of us carrying the burden, then I cant help but think of how you as a caring and contentious human being must feel about all the other way more serious stuff that we all carry the burdens of. Like governments looking after only the super rich and mega corps and lying and cheating their way through our political systems whilst millions and millions live and die in poverty and starvation, like chemical companies dumping 1000's of tons of Forever Chemicals in water supplies across the Earth every single month that will literally last until our sun envelopes this planet at some point in the distant future, and so many other countless crimes that to mention them would make us all feel sick! But no its drone pilots on YouTube that are destroying your own personal world and love of life!

If any of you freer thinkers out there ever stop to wonder why this planet and everything in it is in the serious state of affairs its currently in, then please look no further than some of the hysteria that takes place on this forum. We focus on the completely insignificant whilst we hid from things of any serious importance.

I used to love being a member here and then the bullies started and then the mods started backing them up and then I stopped sharing what I was doing with drones because their are more police in here than there are in New York lol. I just cant bring myself to stay quiet on this subject any longer. Sorry if I have offended anyone but seriously some of you people treat drones like they are nuclear weapons and you treat nuclear weapons like they are marshmallows!

With regards to your "Fly safe, Fly legal" line, did you kind of mean like Boeing's billionaire executives and the FAA said with their death bringer 737 Max aircraft? I literally feel sick to my stomach when I hear the FAA is after a drone pilot, but they wholeheartedly ignored 100's of people dying in a 737 Max air crash that could have been easily avoided ONLY TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN before they took action!. Holy smoke guys, look just how far we have fallen here and how criminally negligent the FAA and Boeing are, but you all want 15 year old drone pilots to go to prison! The shame we should all feel is beyond words!

So to all of you cool drone enthusiasts that fly free and expand our knowledge, use and enjoyment of drones, I thank you for inspiring me. To the rest of you wanna police informers and straight up cowards who focus on a tiny single drone flight and forget all the other far more important stuff that I have tried my best to mention, then I also thank you for inspiring me to be a better, more grounded human being and to never hide myself away from the real important stuff that is going on around the world right now.

I am not trying being a bad, negative and argumentative person here I am trying my best to put forward what I consider to be a much more seriously point than BVLOS.

Pz

 

[Tony McDrone]

To Tony McDrone,
I have used your post to reply to a far bigger subject in my mind and it is in no way personally aimed at you, but more at the type of sentiment you and a lot of other forum users think and express with regards to drones and the law.

I know this is just a very strongly moderated drone forum, and that since this forum first appeared the world has turned against drones because, lets be honest here, they are quite frankly the most dangerous objects in the universe.

But when I read a line about safety protocols in place, and the rest of us carrying the burden, then I cant help but think of how you as a caring and contentious human being must feel about all the other way more serious stuff that we all carry the burdens of. Like governments looking after only the super rich and mega corps and lying and cheating their way through our political systems whilst millions and millions live and die in poverty and starvation, like chemical companies dumping 1000's of tons of Forever Chemicals in water supplies across the Earth every single month that will literally last until our sun envelopes this planet at some point in the distant future, and so many other countless crimes that to mention them would make us all feel sick! But no its drone pilots on YouTube that are destroying your own personal world and love of life!

If any of you freer thinkers out there ever stop to wonder why this planet and everything in it is in the serious state of affairs its currently in, then please look no further than some of the hysteria that takes place on this forum. We focus on the completely insignificant whilst we hid from things of any serious importance.

I used to love being a member here and then the bullies started and then the mods started backing them up and then I stopped sharing what I was doing with drones because their are more police in here than there are in New York lol. I just cant bring myself to stay quiet on this subject any longer. Sorry if I have offended anyone but seriously some of you people treat drones like they are nuclear weapons and you treat nuclear weapons like they are marshmallows!

With regards to your "Fly safe, Fly legal" line, did you kind of mean like Boeing's billionaire executives and the FAA said with their death bringer 737 Max aircraft? I literally feel sick to my stomach when I hear the FAA is after a drone pilot, but they wholeheartedly ignored 100's of people dying in a 737 Max air crash that could have been easily avoided ONLY TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN before they took action!. Holy smoke guys, look just how far we have fallen here and how criminally negligent the FAA and Boeing are, but you all want 15 year old drone pilots to go to prison! The shame we should all feel is beyond words!

So to all of you cool drone enthusiasts that fly free and expand our knowledge, use and enjoyment of drones, I thank you for inspiring me. To the rest of you wanna police informers and straight up cowards who focus on a tiny single drone flight and forget all the other far more important stuff that I have tried my best to mention, then I also thank you for inspiring me to be a better, more grounded human being and to never hide myself away from the real important stuff that is going on around the world right now.

I am not trying being a bad, negative and argumentative person here I am trying my best to put forward what I consider to be a much more seriously point than BVLOS.

Pz

I will continue to fly safe and be advocate of safety for those that use this forum as a resource for information.

Clearly we have differing opinions and I am always open to change. However, in this case, I do not need to wait until a drone brings down an airplane to change mine.

 

[Malcx]

To Tony McDrone,
I have used your post to reply to a far bigger subject in my mind and it is in no way personally aimed at you, but more at the type of sentiment you and a lot of other forum users think and express with regards to drones and the law.

I know this is just a very strongly moderated drone forum, and that since this forum first appeared the world has turned against drones because, lets be honest here, they are quite frankly the most dangerous objects in the universe.

But when I read a line about safety protocols in place, and the rest of us carrying the burden, then I cant help but think of how you as a caring and contentious human being must feel about all the other way more serious stuff that we all carry the burdens of. Like governments looking after only the super rich and mega corps and lying and cheating their way through our political systems whilst millions and millions live and die in poverty and starvation, like chemical companies dumping 1000's of tons of Forever Chemicals in water supplies across the Earth every single month that will literally last until our sun envelopes this planet at some point in the distant future, and so many other countless crimes that to mention them would make us all feel sick! But no its drone pilots on YouTube that are destroying your own personal world and love of life!

If any of you freer thinkers out there ever stop to wonder why this planet and everything in it is in the serious state of affairs its currently in, then please look no further than some of the hysteria that takes place on this forum. We focus on the completely insignificant whilst we hid from things of any serious importance.

I used to love being a member here and then the bullies started and then the mods started backing them up and then I stopped sharing what I was doing with drones because their are more police in here than there are in New York lol. I just cant bring myself to stay quiet on this subject any longer. Sorry if I have offended anyone but seriously some of you people treat drones like they are nuclear weapons and you treat nuclear weapons like they are marshmallows!

With regards to your "Fly safe, Fly legal" line, did you kind of mean like Boeing's billionaire executives and the FAA said with their death bringer 737 Max aircraft? I literally feel sick to my stomach when I hear the FAA is after a drone pilot, but they wholeheartedly ignored 100's of people dying in a 737 Max air crash that could have been easily avoided ONLY TO LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN before they took action!. Holy smoke guys, look just how far we have fallen here and how criminally negligent the FAA and Boeing are, but you all want 15 year old drone pilots to go to prison! The shame we should all feel is beyond words!

So to all of you cool drone enthusiasts that fly free and expand our knowledge, use and enjoyment of drones, I thank you for inspiring me. To the rest of you wanna police informers and straight up cowards who focus on a tiny single drone flight and forget all the other far more important stuff that I have tried my best to mention, then I also thank you for inspiring me to be a better, more grounded human being and to never hide myself away from the real important stuff that is going on around the world right now.

I am not trying being a bad, negative and argumentative person here I am trying my best to put forward what I consider to be a much more seriously point than BVLOS.

Pz

Volkswagen were wrong to cheat emission tests.
Individuals drink driving are bad even though the law curtails their "freedom".

Both of these can be true and something one cares about.

 

[DanMan32]

Well, this IS a forum about drone flying, and not about world problems in general. Being that the case, it would be likely rules and how they are followed would be addressed.

 

[TerryToast]

Well, this IS a forum about drone flying, and not about world problems in general. Being that the case, it would be likely rules and how they are followed would be addressed.

Agreed. That’s why the forum has a Rules & Regulations area.

Sadly there are “rule sheriffs” who feel it is necessary to drop rules related comments into other areas of the forum.

 

[Thomas B]

Agreed. That’s why the forum has a Rules & Regulations area.

Sadly there are “rule sheriffs” who feel it is necessary to drop rules related comments into other areas of the forum.

Maybe they’re just trying to keep newbies out of trouble.

 

[Malcx]

Agreed. That’s why the forum has a Rules & Regulations area.

Sadly there are “rule sheriffs” who feel it is necessary to drop rules related comments into other areas of the forum.

It's shocking that people would "drop rules related comments" on a thread specifically asking about the legitimacy of BVLOS videos.

 

[TerryToast]

It's shocking that people would "drop rules related comments" on a thread specifically asking about the legitimacy of BVLOS videos.

I’m not referring to this BVLOS thread, which is almost entirely Rules and Regulations related. It should probably be moved from the General area to Rules & Regs.

My comment was referring to various other threads, in areas like Photos and Videos Showcase. All too frequently, some rule lover will comment (totally unrelated to the conversation) that some drone rule or regulation is being violated. They just can’t help themselves.

 

[DoomMeister]

I’m not referring to this BVLOS thread, which is almost entirely Rules and Regulations related. It should probably be moved from the General area to Rules & Regs.

My comment was referring to various other threads, in areas like Photos and Videos Showcase. All too frequently, some rule lover will comment (totally unrelated to the conversation) that some drone rule or regulation is being violated. They just can’t help themselves.

Most likely because those that don’t follow the rules end up causing more and stricter rules to be enacted which makes it more difficult for those that do follow the rules.

Those that don’t follow the rules because of ignorance or arrogance of the rules are not affected and continue doing as they please.

A viscous circle and the best way to interrupt it is to make fines for breaking the rules large enough to financially affect the life of those found guilty of breaking them.

I see it misspelled on this forum all the time and for some of you maybe DJI should make a drone called the “Maverick”. Instead of warning a pilot of areas they need to check before flying, it would just say “to heck with the rules, you paid for me, fly wherever and whenever you like”.

 

[DanMan32]

Well, it's likely an unchecked autocorrect that turns a Mavic into a Maverick or Magic.

Maybe the forum can have its own autocorrect to turn Maverick and Magic back to Mavic.

 

[ghjcmo]

Let us know how it works out.

In particular how much bulk it may add when folded because bags made for the drones may not be big enough for any additional things installed on it.

Just got the lights a day or two ago, and with the lights attached, it would not go into my Pgytech bag, so I took them off. The mounts are made of rubber/plastic (someone mentioned 3D printed so that may be what it is). The mounts were easy to take on and off, however I'm concerned over time that they will not hold their shape and thus tightly secure the lights. So I'm probably going to be looking into some other form of mount such as "Industrial strength" Velcro.