Privledge not a right

[Heidelburger]

Lets not waste time discussing how far up or down the food chain a flier is depending on their quad choice. Focus on the issue. I joined the BMFA for £34 pa in January for the main reason of getting £25,000,000 public liability insurance. You also get a free magazine and some of the things those RC fixed wing bods build and fly are crazy! What I'm saying is those guys self regulate and you very rarely see any bad press. Maybe....just maybe someone like the BMFA would be interested in formulating some type of soft licencing code for quads. That would encourage responsible usage and encourage the reckless kids to stay away. BMFA is UK but there must be similar groups in other countries as well. Just an idea?

 

[Classic flyer]

Lets not waste time discussing how far up or down the food chain a flier is depending on their quad choice. Focus on the issue. I joined the BMFA for £34 pa in January for the main reason of getting £25,000,000 public liability insurance. You also get a free magazine and some of the things those RC fixed wing bods build and fly are crazy! What I'm saying is those guys self regulate and you very rarely see any bad press. Maybe....just maybe someone like the BMFA would be interested in formulating some type of soft licencing code for quads. That would encourage responsible usage and encourage the reckless kids to stay away. This is UK but there must be similar groups in other countries. Just an idea?

Here in the U.S. we have the AMA but it's not a required membership and maybe it should...

 

[RayOZ]

No sir I'm not preaching just trying to get people to think about what they're doing and what consequences might occur should things go bad...food for thought that's all.

Not saying you were preaching. Just a figure of speech. I meant most here would be responsible pilots and would agree with you.

 

[Classic flyer]

Not saying you were preaching. Just a figure of speech. I meant most here would be responsible pilots and would agree with you.

I got it bro. and I agree that most of us, the majority I would say, are responsible pilots but it only takes a few to mess it up for the rest of us. It would be great if we could self regulate and keep the "RULE MAKERS" at bay.

 

[Heidelburger]

Here in the U.S. we have the AMA but it's not a required membership and maybe it should...

It would be a start

 

[Classic flyer]

It would be a start

I agree 100%

 

[Stan1915]

Many. Have you seen the number of fly away or crash threads in the Phantom forum?

Have you looked in the Lost and Found sUAS here on the Mavic Forum? The majority of fly aways or crashes fall on pilot error and it ranges from the inexpensive to the expensive and the inexperienced to the experienced pilots. I started with a Phantom 3 standard due to price. I moved up through different priced drones, got my 107, and now feel like I trust myself with my Inspire 2 and know better than to put that equipment in a situation that it can't recover from. Many feel that if it didn't cost much it's ok to fly with no regards to safety. Others look at the safety of each and every flight. Some will shoot a bullet in the air and never think about where it will fall or who it may kill. Every flight you are putting an aircraft in the air that could change someones life forever. I take that responsibility and do everything that I can to insure that it is a safe flight and that my investment returns to me safely.

 

[Sprocket]

Would someone pleas elaborate on how required membership in a nation wide group would help anything? A drivers license is required in order to operate a motor vehicle on public roads. People with suspended or no valid licenses still drive.

edited to add: So is insurance on vehicles.

 

[Classic flyer]

Have you looked in the Lost and Found sUAS here on the Mavic Forum? The majority of fly aways or crashes fall on pilot error and it ranges from the inexpensive to the expensive and the inexperienced to the experienced pilots. I started with a Phantom 3 standard due to price. I moved up through different priced drones, got my 107, and now feel like I trust myself with my Inspire 2 and know better than to put that equipment in a situation that it can't recover from. Many feel that if it didn't cost much it's ok to fly with no regards to safety. Others look at the safety of each and every flight. Some will shoot a bullet in the air and never think about where it will fall or who it may kill. Every flight you are putting an aircraft in the air that could change someones life forever. I take that responsibility and do everything that I can to insure that it is a safe flight and that my investment returns to me safely.

That could not have been said any better...thanx for flying safely

 

[Classic flyer]

Would someone pleas elaborate on how required membership in a nation wide group would help anything? A drivers license is required in order to operate a motor vehicle on public roads. People with suspended or no valid licenses still drive.

edited to add: So is insurance on vehicles.

Yes they do and when they get busted they pay a heavy price

 

[Classic flyer]

Would someone pleas elaborate on how required membership in a nation wide group would help anything? A drivers license is required in order to operate a motor vehicle on public roads. People with suspended or no valid licenses still drive.

edited to add: So is insurance on vehicles.

We have to start somewhere what do you suggest

 

[FaceAcheNZ]

As a drone newbie, this is a topic that i am very interested in.

As previously pointed out, idiots are going to keep on idioting, so my view is that all you can do is take responsibility for your own actions, and go out of your way to show others that you are a responsible drone pilot (kind of like saying "Most of us are awesome!" whenever possible). For example, on Saturday a friend found out i had a new drone, asked me to come and take some aerial shots of his house. So i went over there on Sunday are started getting some video, taking photos etc. At one point he said "Can you just fly over my neighbours house so that you can get an angle shot of my back yard?". I said "Nope, not without their permission", he says "Oh go on, will only take 30 seconds!".

I refused, went over to the neighbour's house and asked if it was okay - and of course it was no problem at all.

So now both my friend and his neighbour see that i'm a responsible pilot who isn't going to break the rules.

The media has a lot to answer for too - the 'clickbait' stories about drones used to spy in peoples bedroom windows etc only highlight the irresponsible few. You'll never see a headline that says "Drone pilot is respectful of others and obeys the rules", lol. The sad truth is that it's always the minority that ruin it for everyone else.

 

[Sprocket]

We have to start somewhere what do you suggest

Wish I had a good suggestion, but unfortunately I don't. If someone could come up with a good way to eliminate bad actors in this sport it could be applied to many things in life. Law breakers are gonna.

 

[tictag]

A possible technology solution might be to have all drones over a certain weight (i.e. potential damage) to have a hard-coded 'auto-land' trigger that can be activated by law enforcement agencies and those charged with flight safety e.g. Air Traffic Control. Every drone must 'squark' their (obviously encrypted) ID and if it is somewhere it shouldn't be then the trigger forces it land, with no operator override. This could be enhanced by automatic flight logging by responsible pilots - I do this anyway with the UKs NATS app - so they get a warning instead of 'auto-land', like the old, "You have entered xxx airspace, turn around or you will be fired upon" in the movies. I would have no issue whatsoever having such a digital license plate 'fitted' to my drone, if anything, it would serve to vindicate my responsible flying.

 

[Classic flyer]

A possible technology solution might be to have all drones over a certain weight (i.e. potential damage) to have a hard-coded 'auto-land' trigger that can be activated by law enforcement agencies and those charged with flight safety e.g. Air Traffic Control. Every drone must 'squark' their (obviously encrypted) ID and if it is somewhere it shouldn't be then the trigger forces it land, with no operator override. This could be enhanced by automatic flight logging by responsible pilots - I do this anyway with the UKs NATS app - so they get a warning instead of 'auto-land', like the old, "You have entered xxx airspace, turn around or you will be fired upon" in the movies. I would have no issue whatsoever having such a digital license plate 'fitted' to my drone, if anything, it would serve to vindicate my responsible flying.

That's not a bad idea...here in the U.S. we are required to register ( with the FAA) any drone over a 1/2 lb. and display that number on the drone, much like the N numbers on full scale aircraft. With the system you suggest they could actually track down the violater and deal with them...that's a start in the right direction thanx

 

[gjmphoto]

I've been around long enough to know that no one group of people, no matter how you choose to segment them, have the monopoly on stupidity. There's plenty of that gift to go around!
"I love mankind, it's the people I can't stand!" - Charles Schultz

 

[Sprocket]

A possible technology solution might be to have all drones over a certain weight (i.e. potential damage) to have a hard-coded 'auto-land' trigger that can be activated by law enforcement agencies and those charged with flight safety e.g. Air Traffic Control. Every drone must 'squark' their (obviously encrypted) ID and if it is somewhere it shouldn't be then the trigger forces it land, with no operator override. This could be enhanced by automatic flight logging by responsible pilots - I do this anyway with the UKs NATS app - so they get a warning instead of 'auto-land', like the old, "You have entered xxx airspace, turn around or you will be fired upon" in the movies. I would have no issue whatsoever having such a digital license plate 'fitted' to my drone, if anything, it would serve to vindicate my responsible flying.

It is a suggestion, but there will be message boards and videos showing how to hack that sytem and defeat it shortly after it is instituted.

 

[sar104]

Let's not forget other sources of the issue. Namely the news and the FAA. The news loves to report bias information about the millions of drones looking into your windows. The FAA is also to blame for lying to the public, dragging their feet on important issues and simply not doing their job to allow operators to follow the rules.

Could you elaborate? On what issues has the FAA dragged their feet and how have they not allowed operators to follow the rules?

 

[tcope]

Could you elaborate? On what issues has the FAA dragged their feet and how have they not allowed operators to follow the rules?

Told hobby fliers that they were limited to 400'. Put out fliers showing hundreds of drones flying around planes. Told the press that there were 6xx near misses with planes, told the public that the registration was needed not because there was a problem with getting the drones but because there was a problem with matching them to the owners. They were then giving a deadline to create UAV rules which they did not meet. It took them years to great a simple map app to show where airports were but could not even put that same map online (DJI had it online for years).

 

[Skymax]

When RC Flying was difficult because there were no Flight Controllers, GPS or Gyros it kept the idiots out of the hobby. Now anyone with more credit on their card than between their ears can swipe up a drone and get in the air without the first idea concerning safe ops. We have all seen the videos of sub-humans losing their bird on the first flight, let's hope there is more of it.