Auto Pilot for PH3 Pro: Where can I buy this?

[JamesB]

Where can one buy an Auto Pilot app for a a PH3Pro? I'm in Australia.
Are these apps reliable. What can one do with this app over Manual flying? What are the app's features and its downsides?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[With The Birds]

Where can one buy an Auto Pilot app for a a PH3Pro? I'm in Australia.
Are these apps reliable. What can one do with this app over Manual flying? What are the app's features and its downsides?

Thanks,

Jim

Search for Autopilot and Litchi here (Autopilot is IOS only i believe). There are a stack of threads with a huge amount of good info. There are also other apps.

You would be best to ask specific questions in those threads and/or come back with soecific questions in a new thread when you have had a read.

You get the apps from google play or appstore.

They allow you to program missions using waypoints and focus triggers with a heap.of additional features including more functional versions of orbit, follow etc than are privided in the current GO app.

Btw- re your last thread, do you have any more information re your claimed ok for commercial use of sub 2kg RPA without an operator certificate in Aus?

 

[JamesB]

Search for Autopilot and Litchi here (Autopilot is IOS only i believe). There are a stack of threads with a huge amount of good info. There are also other apps.

You would be best to ask specific questions in those threads and/or come back with soecific questions in a new thread when you have had a read.

You get the apps from google play or appstore.

They allow you to program missions using waypoints and focus triggers with a heap.of additional features including more functional versions of orbit, follow etc than are privided in the current GO app.

Btw- re your last thread, do you have any more information re your claimed ok for commercial use of sub 2kg RPA without an operator certificate in Aus?

CASA is revising the rules and regs for ALL drones up to 20kgs gross weight later this year.

As for drones <2kgs CASA currently allows a drone to fly up to and not exceed 400ft height and no more than from Line of Sight, for pleasure, not profit. By end of this year, it is expected CASA to have in force, a law governing ALL drones - Quadcopter, Hexacopter, Octocopter. Anyone wanting to fly for profit will have to apply to CASA and be tested See How to become a safe RPA operator | Civil Aviation Safety Authority

To get the best from them it is advised to enrol in one of the many CASA approved Drone training courses or meet the CASA Rules and Regs which includes through knowledge of Aviation operations, Radio Meteorology Legislations, Risk assents and Human Factors as laid out by the Flight Training Manual. CASA assessors will come too you and test your Drone flight ability and see what records you are keeping. No comply, you've just sunk your chances of a License and being able to make a living.

As for ceiling height of any drone, CASA states in their regs, and its all on their website, you must first know your launch site height in feet then add 400ft to that. So if you're site is say, 1500 ft ASML you must add 400ft which is 1900ft. Throughout Oz, flight ares have different flight heights based on terrain, and type of aero space around various aerodromes, such as General, Danger, Restricted and Prohibited. If you're flying in G Space - an aerodrome that has no tower, the min. height a fixed wing aircraft can fly is, for example, 2500 ft. So of you fly your drone below 1900 ft you're well under the flight path, but you must by law, notify any pilot where you are, what you're doing and you'll be no more than xxxx ft. To do this you just also carry a VHF radios and be tuned into ther Freq. for that area, which is easy to get.

Having just passed my Aeronautical Theory (same as for a fixed wing aircraft) and Radio Proficiency, in about 6 months from now, CASA assessors will turn up on my doorstep for my practical tests. I will have to show them that I can not fly and control a drone under various manoeuvres - Lazy 8, Circuit, Up/Down sideways and hover for 10 secs over a witch's hat and come back and land, I also have to do a NON GPS flight.

I must also show them that I'm keeping a strict log book of sims and actual flights, maintenance, battery levels, unpacking and setting up. Witches hats have to be deployed to show that safety measures are being taken care of. The cost to get a CASA license for a drone, for life is.... $5K AUD. Prof. training if you want it, can vary from $4K to $8K AUD.

Once you do get a CASA license you can then go away and make money legally, but you must also have a Biz or Company name, an ABN and Public Liability Insurance. My license when I finally get it, will be for Life and for Drones up to <7kgs. So for an Inspire 1 with all its gadgets, fits in that frame.

Hope this has been some help, mate.

Jim

 

[With The Birds]

CASA is revising the rules and regs for ALL drones up to 20kgs gross weight later this year.

As for drones <2kgs CASA currently allows a drone to fly up to and not exceed 400ft height and no more than from Line of Sight, for pleasure, not profit. By end of this year, it is expected CASA to have in force, a law governing ALL drones - Quadcopter, Hexacopter, Octocopter. Anyone wanting to fly for profit will have to apply to CASA and be tested See How to become a safe RPA operator | Civil Aviation Safety Authority

To get the best from them it is advised to enrol in one of the many CASA approved Drone training courses or meet the CASA Rules and Regs which includes through knowledge of Aviation operations, Radio Meteorology Legislations, Risk assents and Human Factors as laid out by the Flight Training Manual. CASA assessors will come too you and test your Drone flight ability and see what records you are keeping. No comply, you've just sunk your chances of a License and being able to make a living.

As for ceiling height of any drone, CASA states in their regs, and its all on their website, you must first know your launch site height in feet then add 400ft to that. So if you're site is say, 1500 ft ASML you must add 400ft which is 1900ft. Throughout Oz, flight ares have different flight heights based on terrain, and type of aero space around various aerodromes, such as General, Danger, Restricted and Prohibited. If you're flying in G Space - an aerodrome that has no tower, the min. height a fixed wing aircraft can fly is, for example, 2500 ft. So of you fly your drone below 1900 ft you're well under the flight path, but you must by law, notify any pilot where you are, what you're doing and you'll be no more than xxxx ft. To do this you just also carry a VHF radios and be tuned into ther Freq. for that area, which is easy to get.

Having just passed my Aeronautical Theory (same as for a fixed wing aircraft) and Radio Proficiency, in about 6 months from now, CASA assessors will turn up on my doorstep for my practical tests. I will have to show them that I can not fly and control a drone under various manoeuvres - Lazy 8, Circuit, Up/Down sideways and hover for 10 secs over a witch's hat and come back and land, I also have to do a NON GPS flight.

I must also show them that I'm keeping a strict log book of sims and actual flights, maintenance, battery levels, unpacking and setting up. Witches hats have to be deployed to show that safety measures are being taken care of. The cost to get a CASA license for a drone, for life is.... $5K AUD. Prof. training if you want it, can vary from $4K to $8K AUD.

Once you do get a CASA license you can then go away and make money legally, but you must also have a Biz or Company name, an ABN and Public Liability Insurance. My license when I finally get it, will be for Life and for Drones up to <7kgs. So for an Inspire 1 with all its gadgets, fits in that frame.

Hope this has been some help, mate.

Jim

Yes, thank you.... I didn't think the less 2kg commercial use relaxation was in force.

Best price I found for Inspire 1 with X5 was B&H. They ship here. DJI won't ship here unless you pay a significant premium (basically the same price as buying locally). I seriously considered flying to Hong Kong to buy, would have still been cheaper including the airfare.

Btw- how did you resolve the problem with your P3 flying in the opposite direction to the stick inputs?

 

[JamesB]

Yes, thank you.... I didn't think the less 2kg commercial use relaxation was in force.

Best price I found for Inspire 1 with X5 was B&H. They ship here. DJI won't ship here unless you pay a significant premium (basically the same price as buying locally). I seriously considered flying to Hong Kong to buy, would have still been cheaper including the airfare.

Btw- how did you resolve the problem with your P3 flying in the opposite direction to the stick inputs?

I was in $%**&@@#$ Atti mode...! and my RC was set to Mode 2 which is for USA ops. So we switched over to 'R' at the back for GPS ops and Mode 1 for Oz ops. and all is good.

Aside, get the Real Flight 7.5 simulator also for Drone program, and make sure its Controller is set for Mode 1. This program really sharpens one's skills!

 

[Wurzel]

My understanding of the proposed CASA regulations is that you will be able to fly drones for commercial purposes without a licence if they are under 2kgs. I don't suppose we will know for sure until we see the legislation.

CASA’s new weight limit for UAV - Spatial Source

 

[JamesB]

My understanding of the proposed CASA regulations is that you will be able to fly drones for commercial purposes without a licence if they are under 2kgs. I don't suppose we will know for sure until we see the legislation.

That is true, but CASA will be changing this very shortly. If you fly for profit and have an accident or interfere with civil aviation, you're done for. That's what my CASA Flight Instructor told me last week. CASA is clamping down on unlicensed ops as they are now getting a lot of reports of drone ops flying higher than 400 ft. in high altitude areas - Snowy Mts and over Nat. Parks. We just have to wait and see but I'm covering my *** no matter what.