Lose Sight

[Tee]

The Mavic Air is so small that sometimes I do lose sight flying in open blue skies, I really try to keep the line of sight but sometimes I lose it, so I just hit the home button.

 

[Deleted member 3792]

The Mavic Air is so small that sometimes I do lose sight flying in open blue skies, I really try to keep the line of sight but sometimes I lose it, so I just hit the home button.

Good for you and the right thing to do. Keep on flying further away only with the screen in your device isn’t the best choise for a long living drone.

 

[skyrex]

Try using the prop guards if you don't already, anything that will make it as "big" as possible to the eye.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Perhaps you could do withe a couple of LED strobes on your MA.
Not sure how you could miss an LED strobe thread on this forum, there is one about every day !! Ha Ha ?

Here's a search I did on the whole forum using > LED strobes < as keywords, and these are only ones posted after July 1st !!
(See what I mean ? About 15 threads !!)

 

[deleted member 877]

The Lume Cube strobe is well regarded. Very bright - very light weight.

 

[Mrmund]

The Mavic Air is so small that sometimes I do lose sight flying in open blue skies, I really try to keep the line of sight but sometimes I lose it, so I just hit the home button.

Consider learning to use the red "aircraft icon" on the map to find your orientation and use the map to manually fly back to a place you can see it.

 

[Dronage]

I lose sight within seconds...I have no idea how people maintain this when the craft is 2_3 miles away...

 

[Tee]

The Lume Cube strobe is well regarded. Very bright - very light weight.

yes I was also considering buying those lights but wasn't sure how they would fit on the aircraft

 

[Tee]

Consider learning to use the red "aircraft icon" on the map to find your orientation and use the map to manually fly back to a place you can see it.

Thanks for the reminder, I did not think about that

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I lose sight within seconds...I have no idea how people maintain this when the craft is 2_3 miles away...

They don't of course.
With good LED strobes placed right, you can get some assistance with VLOS.

yes I was also considering buying those lights but wasn't sure how they would fit on the aircraft

One reason why I didn't consider them (Lume Cube).
I was looking at one for my brother in laws Air, and looking at his with side and rear sensors, there was really only one place you could put one, centre top.
Not much use for being able to see if it's straight out or up higher than take off point.
Can't see any practical way to fit them to drone arms either.

Weight isn't a big issue, but then are more than double the weight of Firehouse ARCIIs (10gms vs 4gms).

I found these and at 25mm (1") square we can get one on the back of his Air.

best drone strobe light

Strobe light for drones faa 107

www.firehousetechnology.com

These are 600 lumen, not as bright as ARCII, but they have that bubble lens which throws light out at angles (see diagram in one photo on that page).

 

[Dan C]

I lose sight within seconds...I have no idea how people maintain this when the craft is 2_3 miles away...

No one does.

And once you take your eyes off it, it can be a bugger to locate again. I have found I'm getting better at reacquiring it, though. My eye seems to be getting trained to spotting it. Using the information on the display, I can orient towards where it should be, and pick it up fairly well out to about 600 meters, especially where there is a contrasting background (light-colored buildings).

But is someone claimed they can see their Mavic Air at 1 km, that's straining my belief. The Pros are only slightly bigger, so I'd maybe believe a little over 1 km for them. The Inspire, maybe 2 km.

2 miles or more? No, they'd have to prove that one to me.

The only way that's possible, imho, is with enhanced vision (binoculars), or enhanced lighting on the drone, such as the discussed strobes.

 

[Alainbasstard]

Good for you and the right thing to do. Keep on flying further away only with the screen in your device isn’t the best choise for a long living drone.

mate i live in the bush & fly mine out of sight nearly every time. Since i have ditched the DJI app and useLitchi i have never had a problem in nearly two years with my MP1. As long as your hooked into plenty of satellites & good signal strength its as safe as.

 

[deleted member 877]

mate i live in the bush & fly mine out of sight nearly every time. Since i have ditched the DJI app and useLitchi i have never had a problem in nearly two years with my MP1. As long as your hooked into plenty of satellites & good signal strength its as safe as.

Just wanting to make sure that you are aware of the C.A.S.A. regulations in regard to VLOS.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Just wanting to make sure that you are aware of the C.A.S.A. regulations in regard to VLOS.

He might know them better than you.

How about some suggestions that could prove relevant to the OP’s question;

1) as has been said the AC orientation and position depicted in the GO app should give you a really good chance of getting a visual back by knowing where to look.

2) consider the Epson BT-300 glasses- you can look at your telemetry and change app settings without having to take your eyes off the drone.

 

[deleted member 877]

He might know them better than you.

Apparently not - it's entirely possible that he has never read the C.A.S.A regulations. See the following excerpt from the forum guidelines:-

"15. The Forum Owners strongly encourage users to obey all federal and local laws and regulations when flying. It is a helpful service to the community when members guide others in understanding and following the regulations. "

A clear understanding of the regulations should be established before talking about new advances in FPV technology etc.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Apparently not - it's entirely possible that he has never read the C.A.S.A regulations. See the following excerpt from the forum guidelines:-

"15. The Forum Owners strongly encourage users to obey all federal and local laws and regulations when flying. It is a helpful service to the community when members guide others in understanding and following the regulations. "

A clear understanding of the regulations should be established before talking about new advances in FPV technology etc.

Had you quoted the full text of community rule 15 it goes on to state it is “not the responsibility of the forum owners, moderators or community members to police and enforce these rules and regulations. Any violation of another community rule, even if in the context of attempting to help enforce flying laws and regulations, is prohibited.”. You will find Community rule 4 (stay on topic) might be an example of “another community rule”.

 

[deleted member 877]

Had you quoted the full text of community rule 15 it goes on to state it is “not the responsibility of the forum owners, moderators or community members to police and enforce these rules and regulations. Any violation of another community rule, even if in the context of attempting to help enforce flying laws and regulations, is prohibited.”. You will find Community rule 4 (stay on topic) might be an example of “another community rule”.

So how in any way, shape, or form was I policing or enforcing the rules and regulations? All I did was ask a simple question. As for going off-topic, I don't believe that it was in fact off-topic. This thread is totally about VLOS - I pointed out the rules in Australia in regard to VLOS.

It's never a good look when people post content that exhibits apparent lack of knowledge of the regulations and/or blatant disregard for same. C.A.S.A. has made it clear that they keep an eagle eye on social media and forums.

 

[Alainbasstard]

Just wanting to make sure that you are aware of the C.A.S.A. regulations in regard to VLOS.

Yes i am aware, but my only worry is trees & mountains

 

[OldGoatMTB]

I lose sight within seconds...I have no idea how people maintain this when the craft is 2_3 miles away...

Some people interpret the line of site rule as being able to fly within the range where you would be able to see and avoid full-scale aircraft. I don't think anyone can really see a Mavic at more than a few hundred yards.

 

[Dronage]

Some people interpret the line of site rule as being able to fly within the range where you would be able to see and avoid full-scale aircraft. I don't think anyone can really see a Mavic at more than a few hundred yards.

Yes, I like that interpretation, and it makes a lot more sense, practically speaking