Cops shining light on my P3 during night flight.

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Flying over my neighborhood around 12:30am at about 300 feet. I guess the cops were curious and shined their light on me. Out of curiosity, does anyone see anything wrong with flying at night?
 

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Model aircraft operations are for hobby or recreational purposes only.

The FAA has partnered with several industry associations to promote Know Before You Fly, a campaign to educate the public about using unmanned aircraft safely and responsibly. Individuals flying for hobby or recreation are strongly encouraged to follow safety guidelines, which include:

  • Fly below 400 feet and remain clear of surrounding obstacles
  • Keep the aircraft within visual line of sight at all times
  • Remain well clear of and do not interfere with manned aircraft operations
  • Don't fly within 5 miles of an airport unless you contact the airport and control tower before flying
  • Don't fly near people or stadiums
  • Don't fly an aircraft that weighs more than 55 lbs
  • Don't be careless or reckless with your unmanned aircraft – you could be fined for endangering people or other aircraft
The statutory parameters of a model aircraft operation are outlined in Section 336 of Public Law 112-95 (the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012) (PDF). Individuals who fly within the scope of these parameters do not require permission to operate their UAS; any flight outside these parameters (including any non-hobby, non-recreational operation) requires FAA authorization. For example, using a UAS to take photos for your personal use is recreational; using the same device to take photographs or videos for compensation or sale to another individual would be considered a non-recreational operation.

As long as you keep it insight and in control you are within the listed requirements
 
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I love night flying and the Phantom is much easier to see orientation while I don’t struggle viewing FPV monitor.

Would I fly over my neighbors late at night? Uh no. Well, maybe if I could keep the noise to barely a whisper?

Our flying club is available 24/7 so I have a place to fly in the dark whenever I wish.
 
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It's gotta suck living where you have to worry with so much .
I luv's the country :) Only spotlight's I see at night are from the distance and are from outlaw night hunters spotlighting deer in fields .
Only thing about flying in the country at night there's no light's like in a city to take photo's of :rolleyes:
 
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Night flights are fun! As far as noise goes, just keep the bird high enough (less than 400ft) and they wont hear it. I see occasional green laser lights pointing at me.
 
I agree, night flights are a lot of fun. You can hardly hear it at 300 ft so I'm sure if you're indoors you wouldn't be able to hear it all. Thank you all for the comments and thank you, RoyVA, for posting the current FAA rules and reminding us all. I'll post a clip of my police spotlight encounter soon. I actually got a little disoriented when it got shined on. It was like I was I was trying to duck and cover and didn't know where to go. lol You'll see the video.. :p
 
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I love night flying and the Phantom is much easier to see orientation while I don’t struggle viewing FPV monitor.

Would I fly over my neighbors late at night? Uh no. Well, maybe if I could keep the noise to barely a whisper?

Our flying club is available 24/7 so I have a place to fly in the dark whenever I wish.


I agree that night flying is a lot of fun. I always try to be respectful of the neighbors. At 300ft it is barely noticeable. I also live near the beach so the crashing of the waves helps drown out some of the noise. That's cool that you're part of a flying club. Do you all fly quads or is it a mix?
 
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I agree that night flying is a lot of fun. I always try to be respectful of the neighbors. At 300ft it is barely noticeable. I also live near the beach so the crashing of the waves helps drown out some of the noise. That's cool that you're part of a flying club. Do you all fly quads or is it a mix?

I joined the AMA sanctioned flying club with my only intent to use the airfield with my Phantom. There’s a helipad area and I figured I'd just stay away from the runway and FW (fixed wing) AC (aircraft) folks.

Little did I realize the FW AC would catch my attention. The idea struck that FW might also be a good idea and value for my membership when I got bored with what amounts to “test flights” with the Phantom.

So, in the past month I bought a used Spektrum DX6i radio along with a gently flown ParkZone T-28 using cool flight stabilization setup. The T-28 powers with 2.2Ah 3S RC Lipo so that was convenient.

Not exactly a student AC but after the PO (previous owner) helped me setup gains/EXPO and I spent a lot of time in simulators I pulled the stick back and took off.

After many successful landings I haven’t looked back. It’s a great alternative when piloting the Phantom gets a little old. Fire up the T-28 and do some touch and goes…

Who knew an old Phantom 1 would lead to discovering an interest in RC model AC?
 

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