Actually, we have crazy legislators who do write proposed laws based upon total BS and paranoia. SB 142 was prompted by a legislator claiming a drone flew by her condo balcony during a meeting and was "eavesdropping" on her conversation! Fortunately, it was vetoed, but only because of the way it was written, and not its intent!
No limitations, if you "tin hat" the GPS on the top of the P3 and fly in full manual mode, to my understanding. Not sure about the altitude limit, unless you can disable the onboard barometer as well. Child's play for anyone not afraid to crack open the shell!
Proposing stupid crap, and passing it are two totally different things. California is one place we all know stupid crap gets passed all the time. But the rest of the world knows better! We all just sit back and laugh at the left coast and the antics as they unravel!Actually, we have crazy legislators who do write proposed laws based upon total BS and paranoia. SB 142 was prompted by a legislator claiming a drone flew by her condo balcony during a meeting and was "eavesdropping" on her conversation! Fortunately, it was vetoed, but only because of the way it was written, and not its intent!
Some of us actually "have" to live here!
It can be challenging, living among the unwashed masses! It will be like Prohibition. It will just turn us all into outlaws with Speakeasies/Hidden Drone Bunkers around every corner! If they can't find the pilot, and they rarely ever do, unless the pilot is stupid,
I have the app, and it told me about a commercial airliner flying at 3,000 feet taking off that I could see, but did not show a police helicopter which was flying at 500 feet less than a mile away heading this way, nor did it register any military helicopters that are constantly flying over the freeway very closeby, so not sure how useful it is for the real hazards we face at lower altitudes. It can only show those planes with registered flight plans. If a pilot is flying by visual sight only, and hasn't filed a flight plan, it won't show up. Nor will any other drones in the air that you can't see.
That definitely is a good thing to learn: estimating the altitude of other flying aircraft, based upon eyesight only. It's pretty cool in the app.
They are usually a lot higher than you think, which is reassuring!Noone HAS to live anywhere! You may have things that you decide are valid reasons to not leave. But everything is a decision.Some of us actually "have" to live here!
they can't prosecute anyone! Cheers!
I've looked at the app too. I live within miles of two major hospitals, the state capitol, and the governors house. And Im a 15 year Blackhawk crew chief. Heli traffic ALL the time!! So I thought it MIGHT be helpful for warnings of incoming flights. But heli traffic is not really documented. So no way to track them. The potential for issues really is between drones and helis I think. And there is no 'tool' to assist anyone beyond a second person for a set of eyes.
Bummer, eh? Very disappointing, but the app can only track planes flying with flight plans, and police heli's and military heli's apparently don't need no stinkin' flight plans! And yet, they are the most likely ones to fly in "our" airspace.
Obviously, I was being facetious about "needing" to live here!
Sorta, but it belonged to them far before we came along.Bummer, eh? Very disappointing, but the app can only track planes flying with flight plans, and police heli's and military heli's apparently don't need no stinkin' flight plans! And yet, they are the most likely ones to fly in "our" airspace.
Someone mentioned that it only shows flights that file a flight plan. That isn't accurate, it shows aircraft that have a ADS-B transponder which reports the flight data similar to how the P3 reports but they use ground stations all over the place that picks up the data. In some areas it also uses radar and something called multilateration to calculate positions of aircraft that don't have these special transponders.
That someone was probably me.
Thanks for clearing up the issue. The bigger problem for drone flyers are all the police, news, and military helicopters that don't show up in the aircraft tracking apps. They apparently don't have the ADS-B transponder either, or choose to leave it off. They are also the ones most likely to be flying through our "reserved" airspace, in no predictable path.
True. Just wish they'd let us know where they are, so we can try and stay out of their way. I suppose they would say we should be able to see them, but not all of us are strictly flying VLOS.
