VLOS survey

[Ron_Dog]

Everyone,and I mean everyone, that uses the phone/tablet screen to line up a picture,or video, or to adjust the focus are NOT flying LOS! You are either looking at the Mavic Pro,or looking at the screen taking pictures/video's!

 

[Mavic19963]

It's impossible. Once I glance down at the RC and look up I can no longer find the MP against the background of trees. That's at about 300'.

Yeah, had that happen to me too. Lost VLOS when my MP was lost in a background of trees only 50' away. I elevated the drone high enough to regain sight. I keep a pair of binoculars handy just in case.

 

[HighlandsVideo]

I voted no.

It is impossible to keep these tiny aircraft always within sight beyond 100 meters. They are obviously designed to be flown via the telemetry and the video feed which is actually far easier.
Provided I am familiar with the surrounding features, I can tell the location and orientation of my drone far more accurately by the camera framing than I ever could trying to judge its actual distance from me by eyesight. Even when I can see it , I don't really know as precisely where it is. The reasoning behind such a rule is not apparent to me. How exactly does it enhance the safety of the airspace and/or others?

 

[THE CYBORG]

I try to fly VLOS but loose track now and again, monitor – drone - monitor – where the **** has it gone

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

If I'm remote (as in outback / bush, not a soul around), I don't usually worry about VLOS at all, mostly the monitor.
I rarely fly above about 50m, unless doing some sort of big scope overhead shot . . . I just have to watch where the drone is pointing, as this is not always easy using a visual on the aircraft going in various directions (not so much forward / back in line to your home point, but across / traversing to your position).
It's a tough ask to be trying to fly for cinematic type video, and watch your bird . . . you are always watching the monitor and framing shots / adjusting shooting, not hitting things ha ha

The other matter is I'm pretty deaf so don't hear audio warnings / beeps, another reason why I probably (partly subconsciously) watch the monitor more than the bird, to see the written warnings that come up from time to time.

If I'm just throwing the Spark or MP around in sports mode, I turn off the camera and love watching the aircraft

Even around 'town' I look for places devoid of people, but still when getting footage I'm watching my mini4 screen more so.
In those cases, I keep it fairly close though, 300m - 400m perhaps, if not closer.

My main thoughts when flying in sort of semi urban areas are keeping away from people (monitor view & peripheral vision), and staying under 120m (default max alt in settings).

 

[koopyetz]

I maintain VLOS with exception of scanning altitude and distance on iPhone as I'm currently determining my maximum VLOS.

 

[Thomas B]

I voted no.

It is impossible to keep these tiny aircraft always within sight beyond 100 meters. They are obviously designed to be flown via the telemetry and the video feed which is actually far easier.
Provided I am familiar with the surrounding features, I can tell the location and orientation of my drone far more accurately by the camera framing than I ever could trying to judge its actual distance from me by eyesight. Even when I can see it , I don't really know as precisely where it is. The reasoning behind such a rule is not apparent to me. How exactly does it enhance the safety of the airspace and/or others?

I use Firehouse ARC2s... four in aircraft fashion. That has increased my VLOS distance to about 2000’ midday (Arizona) and about 3000+’ at dusk.