Interesting thought

[mnoutdoors]

what if................you where able to fly to a landing pad set up on a higher elevation with a solar panel and battery bank storage, then land with your MP keeping connection through RC, because of a special pad on the bottom the the MP legs you sit and charge your batteries then either proceed home or proceed to next pad if you had signal..........

 

[2nckayakers]

Might be an interesting idea as long as it was some kind of quick charger because if not, you could walk to where it landed probably as fast as it takes for the battery to charge.

HOWEVER, I digress back to the post I did a few days ago in response to someone that wanted LTE or Satellite control so they could fly farther. IF you don't get the FAA to waive the VLOS rule then it would be a moot point.

 

[mnoutdoors]

When used for search and rescue, they look the other way, after all your trying to save lives, not cause trouble. Used in the mountains that this is you would be climbing to reach the spot it would take a day to climb to where I can fly in 15 minutes, time saves lives

 

[vashon100]

For S&R, more interesting to have a bigger battery than dead time charging.

 

[2nckayakers]

They won't look the other way. You would have to outline it in your COA and you are still going to need a spotter if you are going BVLOS. If you have to send a spotter ahead somewhere, then you can just walk and do the mission. Time is of the essence though in SAR and you are losing precious time if you are sitting on a pad waiting 45 minutes to an hour for a battery to charge. Plus here is your other thing. You never know where you are going to have to do a SAR mission so how will you know where to put the charging pads? Also solar powered they will still need maintenance on a fairly routine basis. plus you have to keep the pad cleared off, and the solar panel clean. If you have no trouble walking up to do maintenance on a pad, then you shouldn't have any problem walking to do a SAR mission. What would happen if you flew to a pad and something was on the pad when you tried to land? Limb, leaves, snow, birds nest, etc... Then if you were too far away to fly back to home you could lose the aircraft.

Hey I am usually very optimistic about some things, but this one I think there are too many hurdles to get over that you might not have thought about.

 

[mnoutdoors]

In my department. we Will look the other way for SAR.... not sure about your area. No,you have think more positive and not so negative. Two drones, one flying, one charging. Not sure where you are. But there are many places you can not just walk to. No power to charge. Already at max as far as more batteries. Just throwing concepts out there. If you can climb by foot 5000 vertical feet in a hour by rope I want you on my team. In this area this is a regular spot for checking on stranded climbers, so a more permanent use. And once in awhile the
Staff can nock the debris from the pad if needed.

As far as maintenance on the solar panels we have had some in use for 5years with none

 

[vashon100]

You are what if-ing "special pad on the bottom the the MP legs", so why not "what if" bigger batts than saying maxed out with batts. Then you have two flying in the air searching rather than one just sitting.

 

[mnoutdoors]

Four battery’s already, at weight limit

 

[vashon100]

Four battery’s / batteries already, at weight limit

But again that's current technology. Isn't the charging pad future technology, so to be consistent, we "what if" lighter and higher capacity batteries that meet the weight limit and keep them all flying. I won't belabor it more, just wanted to clarify my point.

 

[mnoutdoors]

That’s fair, and correct. We have no idea what the future holds as far as battery technology look where it gone in the last 5 years. Someday we may have fusion battery’s, wouldn’t that be nice. Change every 10 years or so.

 

[LivinLarge]

For the situation you describe, I could see having complete drones stored near critical locations, already on trickle charge ready to go. Each would be paired with a remote at a base location within radio range. Have them covered with a weatherproof dome that can be remotely opened and a method of turning them on. No need to fly there and recharge. Mavic might not be the best choice for this.

 

[mnoutdoors]

This nuclear battery could power your smartphone forever - as long as you don't value your life or sperm count too highly - ExtremeTech

 

[mnoutdoors]

For the situation you describe, I could see having complete drones stored near critical locations, already on trickle charge ready to go. Each would be paired with a remote at a base location within radio range. Have them covered with a weatherproof dome that can be remotely opened and a method of turning them on. No need to fly there and recharge. Mavic might not be the best choice for this.

There is no box holding this thought in. Thinking outside of it. That’s how everyone should approach it. Good job

 

[iride4u]

Someday something similar may be available. I have been using Qi charging on cell phones and the current size of the pad is about 1 inch square. The charging disk is a little larger. If you are too far off on your alignment you will not get a charge. All this will get better in the future. I would not mind seeing a universal charger that could charge larger items such as I-Pads or computers.
I think like many other items technology will get better in time.
Look at intercom systems for motorcycles. 2 years ago I would not have a Bluetooth system, now I will not use a corded intercom again. The new headsets have gotten so much better over the last 2 years.

 

[2nckayakers]

In my department. we Will look the other way for SAR.... not sure about your area. No,you have think more positive and not so negative. Two drones, one flying, one charging. Not sure where you are. But there are many places you can not just walk to. No power to charge. Already at max as far as more batteries. Just throwing concepts out there. If you can climb by foot 5000 vertical feet in a hour by rope I want you on my team. In this area this is a regular spot for checking on stranded climbers, so a more permanent use. And once in awhile the
Staff can nock the debris from the pad if needed.

As far as maintenance on the solar panels we have had some in use for 5years with none

It isn't a matter of whether your department will look the other way, it is whether the FAA will allow it. Hypothetical here, let's say you have an accident while looking the other way and your bird goes down and a battery cracks open and starts a fire. In the remote terrain you are talking about, it is possible it starts a much larger wildfire because you can't easily get to the origin and put it out. OR let's say you have a fly away while you are looking the other way and it hits a plane, or falls out of the sky and onto a highway and causes an accident, or a thousand other things that could possibly happen. Well now all of a sudden you have to report it to the FAA, and in doing so they are going to investigate and find out you were not within your COA. Now what is that going to do to you? Or better yet what is it going to do to the person flying that you looked the other way for?

I am not being negative, honestly I am one of the most optomistic people you will ever meet. BUT I have worked for over 27 years in government, and with EM offices and others in the EM realm, and the first thing you do not do is look the other way when a rule, regulation, SOP, and especially when a FEDERAL law or rule is governing what you do. It can go so bad really quickly and have some far reaching consequences that you don't even expect when you decide to look the other way and things go wrong. Yes sometimes you take a calculated risk, and I would hope that you do REAL risk assessment before you take that risk, not just say it is for the greater good and go with it.

In stead of spending your energy trying to figure out ways to look the other way to get things done, why not focus that time and energy and be a voice working on getting the rules, regulation or laws changed and THEN look at ways you can do these other things. You looking the other way is no different than the average person out here flying, not following the rules in place. To say that it is ok to break the rules because it is a SAR mission is not a valid reason to break the rules when there are other ways to accomplish your task. Not trying to be donnie downer here at all, but all it takes is one incident to happen when you are knowingly looking the other way and things can go really bad for you really quickly. Just food for thought.