Oh, the selling photos to neighbors was just an example of what drone pilots do... I would like to branch out into real estate photography/ videos. But I still won’t be landing my drone at an airport ?
FAA rules that make no sense. Post your opinion.
- Thread starter Drone107
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You are throwing out strawman arguments. Stop focusing on thinking that this has anything to do with a kid wanting to start a business selling pictures of peoples homes. There are hundreds of other UAV related careers which have nothing to do with real estate. Those jobs are being done by paid professionals thousands of times a day. Almost none of them involve leaving a hanger, rolling down a taxiway, getting clearance to take off, flying many miles, getting weather from METARs, contacting ATC and entering a traffic pattern and then landing at another airport, rolling down it's taxiway, radioing the Avgas guys to top your tanks and arrange a cab then taking off again as the sun goes down. That is all part of studying for the Pt 107. Saying that you may be hired to fly near an airport is not the same thing. Nobody is talking about flying recreational flights. And many of us already work for a company which pays us to fly for them or we already have our own companies.
So, for example, although someone is not a police officer, they have to obey all the laws? No I don’t like paying fees, but they are necessary. The fee for the test not just for the paper the license is printed on, there are for administrative costs, for the examiner, etc.
Having a license is how I am able to work as an RN. Probably house you work as a police officer.
Having a license is how I am able to work as an RN. Probably house you work as a police officer.
The issue of being right is not enough. I got two citations for flying on railroad track property. They were for “Disorderly Conduct”, a criminal violation. My drone video and AirMap GPS log showed that was NOT true. The citations were dropped immediately. It cost $4000 for legal fees and the local judge decided (I believe unjustly) that I should be fined for “Disturbing the Peace” although there was no record of anyone filing a claim that their peace was disturbed. That fine was $900. The town should have covered the cost for faulty bookings. They should also be liable for publishing my name as a criminal before the court proceedings. Being guilty until proven innocent is definitely the American way.
I also agree with the statement above that laws or restrictions should be aligned with the actual incidence of damage of life or property caused by drones. All that being said, a ceiling of 400 feet AGL and the VLOS requirement are entirely reasonable.
Another good point would be, Flying a small drone high around a field (Way above 500 feet) or with permission around an airport your thoughts would be watching your drone. I think very little attition is given about the possibility of having a plane or rottor wing hit by your drone and having killed the occupants. There is a huge responsibility here. Again, why someone would want to fly a drone around an airport other for busness ya got me.
While ir maybe too much to ask the FAA to tailor make a license classification that is well defined for every individual situation maybe they can do something to more narrowly define commercial roles that separate out airport operations where a greater understanding of rules specific to airports and sharing airspace with manned aircraft are required.
Why would they do that? The existing Part 107 test isn't exactly difficult. The only reasonable distinction that might make sense would be to have a lower certification for uncontrolled airspace only, which might be fine for farmers outside controlled airspace watching their cattle, but it's not going to be a very useful qualification for general use.
Maybe one distinctions could be something like agriculture applications out in the middle of rural area with no airport. I didn't find the test difficult but I'm an instrument rated part 61 pilot so that's not saying much about anyone that is starting the process from scratch. Yes, ideally everyone should be familiar with airport operations and communications but as mentioned there are a lot of activities (drone piloting) that have nothing to do with either.
True, but I'll go back to my earlier observation that you don't get to skip entire sections of Part 61 just because you don't intend to fly in controlled airspace, for example. Why should that be an option for Part 107 pilots?
Actually you do. There is a recreational pilot's license that has requirements for manned flight that are less than the requirements for a private pilot's license. There is some recognition by the FAA that even manned flight has differing levels performance requiring different levels of knowledge and responsibility that don't rise to the level of a full blown private pilot's license.
Yes and no. The sport and recreational pilot licenses cater to restricted equipment choices and require fewer hours. Since there is no practical test for Part 107 and no one has suggested that different licenses should be required for different equipment, it's not an equivalent comparison.
I'll go with the yes part of your response
. It's not strictly about differences in equipment (recreational license) but the when, where and how you can fly based on your level of training.You very well may have the right equipment necessary to fly beyond the allowable limits of the license so the limitations aren't based on equipment but the extend of an individual's training.
I'll go with the yes part of your response
So would it be okay if one of those classes of license didn't require knowledge of airspace, or approach procedures. I'm pretty sure that we are not going to agree at all on this issue.
Of course not because those are areas where recreational pilots operate. That said I don't think it's necessary that they be totally familiar with rules and requirements where they are not allowed to operate and have no desire to operate. The point is there have been instances of lowering requirements for limited operations. Again, I'm not sure how that would apply to UAV pilots but for someone that has no need or desire to operate in an airport environment the section of test regarding airport operations might seem an unnecessary burden.
I agree that airport operations might seem like a burden for those who don't intend to fly near an airport, but that's just not a line that makes sense to draw, because very few people will fly under Part 107 yet never operate near an airport.
Okay, so I’ve done about a dozen real estate jobs, got automatic FAA controlled airspace authorization, even had to contact DJI to get access code to override the “no fly zone” as I was too close to an airport. Still didn’t have to use sectional chart to contact airport. What should be on the test making sure you know how to do everything I posted above...
I'm not convinced that's true. There are probably many agricultural and real estate applications that are outside of an airport environment.
I would bet that 99.9% of drone operations aren’t going to be at an airport. They don’t land there, get hangared there, get refueled there. AND, I would also bet that any drone operations at an airport would be done by airport employees.
I agree with having rules for drone use, but getting certified as a pilot in command seems a little much. I did it because I had to... but maybe that’s the point. Make it a real PIA and the majority won’t bother... but then a lot will just violate the law.
The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me...I’m a police officer and I got my 107; however my whole Department could have gotten a waiver... and been allowed to fly and still not prove to FAA that they KNOW how to fly. Could even get waivers to fly over people, fly out of visual range, and fly at night too...
I just think it’s a money maker... make money on the test, make even more money fining those that don’t bother to get the license because it’s a pain.
Not at an airport - near an airport. Since most of the population lives near airports there's obviously going to be a lot of flights near airports.
As for being a money maker - who is making money here?
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