Huh. You asked, so I want to answer thoughtfully. I'll try to be sympathetic to your point-of-view, but no guarantees.
The MINI is a wonderful aircraft and it's a lot of fun. It's amazing what it's capable of for the price.
But a Mini is still a (very) small aircraft. Remember that guy whose
Phantom 4 got run over by an Army Blackhawk helicopter at 300 feet in 2017? Luckily the damage to the helicopter did not cause a disaster. Ingesting a bird can destroy an engine. Sucking in a quad (even a Mini) would probably be worse. This isn't a far-fetched, theoretical "what if" issue. You have to take care to not be in the path of human-occupied aircraft. Flying higher than legal increases your chance of being a hazard to an airplane. He was also BVLOS and had lost his feed. He was depending on RTH. When the DJI didn't come back, he had no idea that he had caused a mid-air collision and made an Army helicopter have to leave its mission to land for (expensive) repairs. You're in Virginia. If you're in the eastern portion you have a *lot* of opportunity to wreak this kid of havoc. Crashing into a Blackhawk (or Osprey) is bad citizenship in a big way.
I'd like to fly BVLOS. It seems like it shouldn't be a big deal. It's like speeding. Most people have pushed this rule a bit. The law does allow you to lose track for a moment, but intent or not is usually clear. If you flout the law completely, then it's generally obvious. I don't make a habit of flying BVLOS. Partly because I don't want to break the law, but also because I don't want to lose track my quad. It's not far-fetched that I would lose my connection, since BVLOS is usually far away. Where would my quad land? Would the RTH put it into a building, or fall into a picnic? Would the wind drop it into a wedding? Would it drop onto a truck on the highway and cause the driver to swerve? I don't know. I think keeping the vehicle VLOS is annoying, and maybe it won't stay that way forever, but it is a way to make sure that I keep the model close-by and less likely to lose signal/lose control. How would you feel if you were having a day out with your family and a drone came by taking videos of all of you? Invasive, right? So, you look around to see who is invading your privacy. You can't see any operator. Is it your ex? Is it some perv? No idea and no way to find out. Do you "hide" from the unknown robot camera? What a crazy dystopian scenario. BVLOS tempts operators to invade people's privacy with the same anonymity as posting trash in Internet forums.
Flying at night is amazing. The photos are incredible and it offers a perspective (as does day flight) that completely transforms your thoughts about where you live. It's thrilling. Also, like walking, driving a car or flying an airplane is much more dangerous than doing the same thing in the day. It's very easy to become completely disoriented. The new laws give a lot more freedom to fly at night. The requirements are reasonable. You have to have anti-collision lighting so no one runs into you and you don't become a peeping-tom. A Mini could easily be used to make home-made porn of the neighbors or do some pervvy nonsense to kids. Once again, not far-fetched. It's amazing how many creeps there are. Soooo many. I don't want drones hovering outside my house looking in the windows, and I don't want to have to close all my blinds and hide. You can't drive your car at night with the headlights off and you can't fly your drone at night without some really obvious position lights. You also need to have lights to identify left from right so you don't crash because you get all disoriented. You said you don't even know where the Mini is until it's right over you. Srsly? How is that a good idea? It's irresponsible and gives all of us a bad name. You need to know where your aircraft is. You've been flying a long time. How do you think that it's okay to not know where your drone is?
>>I for one don’t want the government to know when where and how I am flying.
A huge percentage of pilots are against Remote ID. I'm not.
- Cars have illuminated license plates so there's accountability and liability if they get in an accident or commit a crime. Drones should have something similar.
- I want ATC to know all off the vehicles and hazards in the area of the flight-path in a nice unified display. ATC has demonstrated that they're usually very accommodating to the hobby.
- If there's a drone flying a few feet above a HS football game (which I've seen), I want the cops to be able to contact the pilot and give them a lesson on the rules.
- If there's a drone near my kids's summer-camp at night, I want them to be see that from the flashing lights. And I want the counsellor to be able to report the operator if they are peeping or buzzing the campfire.
Do you have to worry about flying your Mini? Not any more than you do now. The FAA isn't planning on hiring thousands of agents to police the skies for toy-size drones. You're in the clear. Your chances of getting in trouble in a couple of years are the same as they are now. Pretty slim. Unless, of course you post about it on public forums or your mistress's husband finds out. Then you could be in for a lot of trouble. Personally, I recommend just registering your drone, getting your cert and flying by the book. The hobby can be tons of fun doing the amazing things drones allow us to do and the rules that protect everyone.
Fly safe, my friend. I hope you're in a rural area where my scenarios are unlikely and you don't have plans to make secret kiddie porn.
