Helicopter fly by

[SamBischoff]

Hi all, today some freinds and I were filming a project with my p3s. I was following all the rules, I was only at 200 ft. Then comes a civilian helicopter flying very low ( my guess is around 150 ft.) I flew the other way as to not put anyone in danger. Should I be worried that I've been reported?


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[flpholt]

no probably some idiot trying to see his house up close I have seen this a few times with them they don't follow faa rules

 

[Trackman1]

Helicopters seem to be the worse for flying low.

 

[Othan1]

Regular low fliers at Del Mar. Busy day this day, really, Heli, Ad Plane and an Inspire (black dot to the right) in the same airspace...I moved my P3 out of the way until they figured out what they were doing.

 

[DroneDog]

Ad planes are pretty bad, but helos may be taking pictures for some reason. I've seen real estate pictures, nature or special feature pics (think bridge or land/water spit), heck I've even seen them used in surveying, not sure why but I have seen a couple although a few years old (more than 10).
And thats not including news or police helos.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Helicopters are like gunslingers. They do what they want and they don't give a ****. And you better step out of the way when you see them coming.

 

[sudarwika_bali]

I have had experience. when flying a drone, helicopter suddenly appeared with a very low altitude, between 200-250 meters. and immediately I lower my drones as soon as possible. very surprising.
P3s


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[Sabalon]

You did what you were supposed to - you yielded.


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[IndyQuadFlyer]

Sounds to me like you did exactly what you should do. Pay attention to the airspace around you and fly safely. Nice job!

 

[m0j0]

Good look. Yield and avoid.. All you can do.


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[smclark21]

What happens when you guys do autonomous missions and your Phantom is gone for 10-15 mins without even a signal. I would always yield to the "live" pilot but when my drone is on auto pilot at 150 feet there's not much I can do then.


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[m0j0]

What happens when you guys do autonomous missions and your Phantom is gone for 10-15 mins without even a signal. I would always yield to the "live" pilot but when my drone is on auto pilot at 150 feet there's not much I can do then.


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Well you aren't supposed to do that.

If you were to do that. I would say you should cancel the autonomous flight and reduce your altitude. I'm thinking you should know where your bird is generally. If you become aware of a possible conflict I would say reduce the chance of a collision by getting it down to a safe altitude would probably avoid a problem.


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[Fileobrother]

Well you aren't supposed to do that.

If you were to do that. I would say you should cancel the autonomous flight and reduce your altitude. I'm thinking you should know where your bird is generally. If you become aware of a possible conflict I would say reduce the chance of a collision by getting it down to a safe altitude would probably avoid a problem.


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It was my understanding that as long as I maintained Vlos, it wasn't an issue to continue a mission if I lost signal?


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[Sabalon]

It was my understanding that as long as I maintained Vlos, it wasn't an issue to continue a mission if I lost signal?

The idea of the VLOS is that if another craft is flying towards your drone, you can get out of the way. If you have no signal, you can't control your drone, so you can't get out of the way.
Though I've found that I have signal a lot further out than I have VLOS.

 

[Fileobrother]

The idea of the VLOS is that if another craft is flying towards your drone, you can get out of the way. If you have no signal, you can't control your drone, so you can't get out of the way.
Though I've found that I have signal a lot further out than I have VLOS.

Ok, but are we talking what you "should" do or letter regulations? Because I've never seen any FAA regulations regarding loss of signal. Doesn't mean they don't exist, I'm just curious.

Must be nice, I can still see my p3s when I lose signal.


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[Sabalon]

Ok, but are we talking what you "should" do or letter regulations? Because I've never seen any FAA regulations regarding loss of signal. Doesn't mean they don't exist, I'm just curious.

Must be nice, I can still see my p3s when I lose signal.

Yeah...I think it's more me not being able to make it out against the sky than my P3S going miles away at a time.

As for the first, well, it's convoluted path. Section 336 is the key. Depends on how you read it too... I believe the general thought is if you follow the provisions in that section then the FAA will consider you a model aircraft flyer and you're okay. Others I've seen take it as they can't make new rules for model aircraft flyers (such as the registration), but doesn't say what you can and can't do. But lets go with the first interpretation. If you want to be considered a model aircraft flyer, then (2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization. Based on that, it's pretty much the AMA safety guidelines - which have in them "
. The pilot of an RC model aircraft shall: (a) Maintain control during the entire flight, maintaining visual contact without enhancement other than by corrective lenses prescribed for the pilot. (b) Fly using the assistance of a camera or First-Person View (FPV) only in accordance with the procedures outlined in AMA Document #550. (c) Fly using the assistance of autopilot or stabilization system only in accordance with the procedures outlined in AMA Document #560." and in document 560 it says "AMA pilots must be able to instantaneously deactivate programmed flight stabilization and autopilot systems at any time during flight and resume manual control of the model aircraft."

So basically to be in the FAA good graces as a model aircraft, you have to keep it in range and VLOS.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some evidence....er....videos I need to delete.