Safely park MPP and leave unattended for 10 minutes?

[RParker762]

Will the drone stay in "Station Keeping?" Probably. I did something similar for a friends wedding. You should have someone familiar with the drone who can take charge should something happen unexpectantly. Asking such a question here draws out the "Drone Police" to berrate you for even asking.

I've seen a lot of this lately, and I get it. I just happened to me on a post where I mentioned I had signal issues after a 2.5 mile flight. As I didn't state I had spotters and a chase vehicle and I wasn't wearing a mask or staying six feet apart, instead of a helpful answer, I got a helpful answer and a lot of "education".

People come here for information or help with their drones or flight operations or how-to's. I'm all for educating people but some people can't just be like, " hey, might wanna check into that to see if it's legal", and answer their question and leave it at that. Not one person on this forum can say equivocally that they have NEVER flown outside the rules just as they can never say they have not broken the speed limit on the road. His and my mistake were for asking.

As to the OP, this is the answer you should have got - First, you will find that the pilot must remain in control of the drone throughout it's entire flight, the responsible thing to do would be to have a 3rd competent person with controller in hand should Skynet activate and your drone go homicidal. Even if it has been 100% reliable, it's electronic and it can fail. Even with someone on the controller, things can still get iffy.

 

[BigAl07]

I've seen a lot of this lately, and I get it. I just happened to me on a post where I mentioned I had signal issues after a 2.5 mile flight. As I didn't state I had spotters and a chase vehicle and I wasn't wearing a mask or staying six feet apart, instead of a helpful answer, I got a helpful answer and a lot of "education".

People come here for information or help with their drones or flight operations or how-to's. I'm all for educating people but some people can't just be like, " hey, might wanna check into that to see if it's legal", and answer their question and leave it at that. Not one person on this forum can say equivocally that they have NEVER flown outside the rules just as they can never say they have not broken the speed limit on the road. His and my mistake were for asking.

As to the OP, this is the answer you should have got - First, you will find that the pilot must remain in control of the drone throughout it's entire flight, the responsible thing to do would be to have a 3rd competent person with controller in hand should Skynet activate and your drone go homicidal. Even if it has been 100% reliable, it's electronic and it can fail. Even with someone on the controller, things can still get iffy.

I'm glad you decided to chime in here and add your 2-cents in this now slightly aging thread.....

• A) Even with a spotter, chase vehicle, signed permission from the POTUS etc 2.5mile is ILLEGAL if you happen to be flying in the USA. hey, might wanna check into that to see if it's legal
• B) We are expected to "Police our own" so citing rules/regulations and pointing out blatant attempts to skirt the rules is a VERY good thing IMHO. Doing anything less is borderline being complicent with them.
• C) How vague is the statement " hey, might wanna check into that to see if it's legal"? If you're going to take the time to reply why not be descriptive and accurate?
• D) Contrary to what you believe, some of us do go out of our way to follow the rules to the best of our ability. There is a HUGE difference between busting a regulation by mistake (inattention, miscalculation, error in judgement etc) and actually planning HOW to bust the regulations. Sometimes we need to exercise some personal integrity in our actions . . . .

There is a lot to be said for trying to follow the rules and being a good Ambassador for our community/industry.