This makes me very sad

[THE CYBORG]

@Jim Mavic Pilot
the biggest problem i encounter is when i look down at the screen and then try to regain a visual on the drone i know for a fact that on quite a few occasions i have had to Yaw my drone watching the map screen till it points to home and then fly back till i can see it again

Same thing with me

 

[HoosierFlyer]

So you are really arguing that a few miles per hour over the speed limit is equivalent to driving with your eyes closed? That all law-breaking is equivalently serious? And you have clearly never piloted an aircraft - you are constantly scanning the sky forwards and sideways, and the assumption is that anything closing on you from behind will see you because they are doing the same. Your FPV is useless in comparison.

The utility of taking photos without FPV is a complete red herring, because you can have both, you just can't not have VLOS.

You're just twisting my words now and making blanket assumptions. I gave a simple analogy and your only argument against it is to blow it out of proportion.
I also don't think you understood my last point very well.

 

[HoosierFlyer]

Piloting/driving a vehicle remotely isn't even close to the situational awareness one has while in the drivers/pilots seat. Also comparing a Cessna, which can only go in a straight light, to a quad drone is also a very poor comparison. You can't strafe into the path of another vessel with a Cessna.

Hmm are you sure? We have drone pilots in the USAF who can target things just fine remotely. No need to put someone in the pilot's seat any longer for those missions.

 

[Deleted member 125445]

@Jim Mavic Pilot i admire your honesty with regards to VLOS, at my age i wear glasses for reading and have a pair of bifocals, that allow me to see my screen display and the drone at the same time my VLOS depends a lot on weather conditions and varies between a very bright sunny day and a dull overcast one,i have a skin which to be honest doesnt make a lot of difference at distance, but the strobes one the front arms are a good visual guide to direction ,for my MPP i can see it at up to a 1000ft on a clear day and the MM at around 500ft
the biggest problem i encounter is when i look down at the screen and then try to regain a visual on the drone i know for a fact that on quite a few occasions i have had to Yaw my drone watching the map screen till it points to home and then fly back till i can see it again ,it is the nature of the job i dont feel ashamed of admitting that i lose site of it ,what i get annoyed about is when people ,purposely fly thousands of feet away knowing full well that they are contravening the guidlines

Thank you for your response, and I hope to visit Wales some day! I believe I can fly responsibly by using the screen only, and the drone has many fail-safes built in. But that is not what the law requires, and you can be sure I will be attacked for my statement. Anyway, under the current FAA regulations, drone flying is not for me.

 

[Miss Chrisy Co]

Hmm are you sure? We have drone pilots in the USAF who can target things just fine remotely. No need to put someone in the pilot's seat any longer for those missions.

They are aided by instruments, radar, satellites, ground units, etc etc. They aren't flying by a 6" screen in broad daylight. A very big difference.

 

[sar104]

You're just twisting my words now and making blanket assumptions. I gave a simple analogy and your only argument against it is to blow it out of proportion.

Okay - but twisted how? Can you explain why you think exceeding the speed limit (presumably not by a factor of 10) is equivalent to completely losing situational awareness except for your very limited forward FPV view.

I also don't think you understood my last point very well.

I think I understood it perfectly, but feel free to point out what I got wrong.

 

[HoosierFlyer]

They are aided by instruments, radar, satellites, ground units, etc etc. They aren't flying by a 6" screen in broad daylight. A very big difference.

Uhh, so is a Mavic drone, albeit to a lesser degree. The thing is, no matter what reasoning I give you, you'll never be happy with.
We can just agree to disagree. I'm right, you're right, no, you're wrong, I'm wrong.. who cares at this point.

 

[HoosierFlyer]

Okay - but twisted how? Can you explain why you think exceeding the speed limit (presumably not by a factor of 10) is equivalent to completely losing situational awareness except for your very limited forward FPV view.


I think I understood it perfectly, but feel free to point out what I got wrong.

That's just it, you will never understand. As I stated above, we'll just have to agree to disagree on the topic. Have a great day

 

[sar104]

Uhh, so is a Mavic drone, albeit to a lesser degree. The thing is, no matter what reasoning I give you, you'll never be happy with.
We can just agree to disagree. I'm right, you're right, no, you're wrong, I'm wrong.. who cares at this point.

You don't have a comprehensive radar picture of the airspace around your drone, which is what military drones have when operating.

 

[Miss Chrisy Co]

Uhh, so is a Mavic drone, albeit to a lesser degree. The thing is, no matter what reasoning I give you, you'll never be happy with.
We can just agree to disagree. I'm right, you're right, no, you're wrong, I'm wrong.. who cares at this point.

You do not have 360 degree situational awareness while flying any kind of commercially available drone. There is no comparison to what USAF has available to them. Do what you will, but personally I'm not putting someone elses life at risk just to go beyond VLOS, for what? Something I can very much get while being in line with the law.

 

[sar104]

That's just it, you will never understand. As I stated above, we'll just have to agree to disagree on the topic. Have a great day

And there we go - the inevitable "you wouldn't understand" retreat from the discussion. Well played.

 

[Mel 08]

The law didn't change the day after you bought your drone. And I'm also pretty certain your eyesight didn't deteriate overnight.
So why get one in the first place.
I recon there's an underlying story here
Otherwise it doesn't make sense

 

[Deleted member 125445]

In my opinion, it's not a poor analogy. I'm comparing obeying the law in both scenarios, which I've done. But, you are also entitled to your own opinion .
It's a silly law to be honest. If you go fly a small Cessna, does anyone have VLOS to this aircraft? No, because you're inside flying it with a FIRST PERSON VIEW (FPV). It's the same argument that we as drone flyers have FPV and can get a view directly from the aircraft rather than looking at it from the ground. Try flying your drone 300ft in the air within 20-50ft distance out and take a few pictures/videos without the FPV and let me know how well you can orient yourself with your VLOS law. It's a stupid law, it sucks, but it is what it is.

Yes, getting the drone's view and knowing its numbers on my screen gives me better situational awareness than looking at a speck in the sky. But, the law is the law, and that is why flying a drone is not for me at this time.

 

[sar104]

Yes, getting the drone's view and knowing its numbers on my screen gives me better situational awareness than looking at a speck in the sky. But, the law is the law, and that is why flying a drone is not for me at this time.

Situational awareness is primarily about what else is in the sky. Your limited forward FPV view and on-screen telemetry tells you virtually nothing about that. It may change with AirSense once all aircraft are broadcasting ADS-B, but we are not nearly there yet.

 

[skipperbrown]

Trade for a bigger drone???

 

[Deleted member 93449]

You do not have 360 degree situational awareness while flying any kind of commercially available drone. There is no comparison to what USAF has available to them. Do what you will, but personally I'm not putting someone elses life at risk just to go beyond VLOS, for what? Something I can very much get while being in line with the law.

Unfortunately every time you sit behind the wheel of your automobile you're potentially putting someone else's life at risk. The real question is what is the actually level of risk. I content that visual line of sight is really meaningless in a discussion of judging the proximity of a manned aircraft and a drone within visual line of sight beyond a couple of hundred meters. Your eyes are not capable of making an accurate judgement of proximity at that distance.

 

[old man mavic]

when you fly a fixed wing RC model one of the hardest things to master is knowing where the model is relative to the ground and if you just keep looking at the model you will at some point fly straight into a high point or some tall structure because ,your situational awareness is compromised ,but if you look from the model to the ground and back and also are able to do the same with obstacles around you then after a lot of practice you will find it becomes second nature to do it its the same with your drone ,if you can see exactly where it is in relation to you and the ground and its surroundings then you can avoid hitting other objects that may be in your area but only if you can see the drone and them

 

[Deleted member 125445]

The law didn't change the day after you bought your drone. And I'm also pretty certain your eyesight didn't deteriate overnight.
So why get one in the first place.
I recon there's an underlying story here
Otherwise it doesn't make sense

My eyesight is not bad at all. and I was aware of the VLOS law before I bought the drone. I still wanted to investigate for myself, and that is why it took me only two days to confirm the current FAA VLOS restrictions made it impossible for me to enjoy flying a drone. So yes, in that sense, buying the drone was a waste of time. The good news is I will get my money back with no restocking fee.

 

[eaglesurfing]

I have no problem keeping an eye on it and I have taken it to several places where I can even see it farther away. I cannot wait to take on vacation with me to test it in other countries. I like the fact that you can make video and pics from an angle your not use to seeing. This gives me more of a reason to check out a better place.

 

[Deleted member 125445]

Trade for a bigger drone???

Thank you, but unfortunately the FAA VLOS restrictions are there for any sized drone, and apparently those restrictions won't be going away any time soon. I still want to be able to take my drone straight up several hundred feet and then explore. I think I can do that relatively safely (nothing is certain in life), but that is incompatible with current regulations, so I had to give up the hobby.