Phantom 3 Vegas Shots

Calvin · May 21, 2015

Great video, well done. Liked the shot of the fountain at the Bellagio. To crowded for me, I wouldn't want to fly down on the strip.

ianwood · May 21, 2015

DJI's no fly zones are often wrong. You need to check with FAA airspace classification. Here is KLAS airspace. It's class B to the ground throughout most all of the metro Vegas area.

boludo · May 21, 2015

That video was amazing!!! Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

ianwood said:
DJI's no fly zones are often wrong. You need to check with FAA airspace classification. Here is KLAS airspace. It's class B to the ground throughout most all of the metro Vegas area.

It's Class B in the ENTIRE county of Los Angeles (where we both live)

http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=34.201&lon=-118.359&zoom=10

ianwood said:
DJI's no fly zones are often wrong. You need to check with FAA airspace classification. Here is KLAS airspace. It's class B to the ground throughout most all of the metro Vegas area.

It's Class B airspace in Los Angeles (where we both reside) over the ENTIRE COUNTY:

http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=34.201&lon=-118.359&zoom=10

Surely you're not acting like this prohibits drone use in those areas...

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

Ian, I could very easily have gone onto your (stunningly gorgeous) Downtown LA footage thread and written "You need to check with FAA airspace classification. Here is KLAX airspace. It's class B to the ground throughout most all of the metro Los Angeles area." But that would just be silly.

ianwood · May 22, 2015

I don't fly in class B or C, ever. Not once. Most of Los Angeles is UNDER class B. As in it starts above 1,000ft or higher.

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

ianwood said:
I don't fly in class B or C, ever. Not once. Most of Los Angeles is UNDER class B. As in it starts above 1,000ft or higher.

So the Class B airspace is different in Los Angeles than it is in Las Vegas? You can fly below 1000 feet in Class B in Los Angeles, but not at ALL in Las Vegas?

ianwood · May 22, 2015

Adam Kontras said:
So the Class B airspace is different in Los Angeles than it is in Las Vegas? You can fly below 1000 feet in Class B in Los Angeles, but not at ALL in Las Vegas?

Airspace has a top and a bottom. There can be two or more different types of airspace at a given location depending on altitude. In Vegas it is to the surface (SFC). In LA it is to the surface in a small area around LAX. Other areas it is higher. Here's LAX Class B. Note it starts at 2,500ft in area C which covers a lot of LA.

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

ianwood said:
Airspace has a top and a bottom. There can be two or more different types of airspace at a given location depending on altitude. In Vegas it is to the surface (SFC). In LA it is to the surface in a small area around LAX. Other areas it is higher. Here's LAX Class B. Note it starts at 2,500ft in area C which covers a lot of LA.

To the people that don't think we should have to have certifications to fly this, I present that *(&^@# picture.

And if the entirety of Vegas is "no-fly" from the surface up... why on EARTH would there be just a 1.5 mile ring around McCaren? Isn't "SFC" pretty clear?

Also, what site are you getting the google earth maps from? I can't find overlays on google earth...

ianwood · May 22, 2015

Airspace is not too complicated but as you can see, reading the charts can lead to confusion if you're not familiar with them.

Can't remember where I got the airspace overlay for Google Earth. I'll take a look.

gjoseph · May 22, 2015

Well I live in Vegas and I can tell you that most of your shots are way inside the 5 miles radius of McCarron -- hi MO

gjoseph · May 22, 2015

Example the Luxor is maybe 2 miles at most same as the new. York new york

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

gjoseph said:
Well I live in Vegas and I can tell you that most of your shots are way inside the 5 miles radius of McCarron -- hi MO

Of course it was. On DJI's map on their controller there is a 1.5 mile radius red circle... and nothing else. On their website there's a larger orange circle... but when I was setting up I followed the map on my controller and made sure I was out of what I thought was a no-fly zone. I'm pretty stunned that in actuality the entire city is restricted from the ground up.

ianwood · May 22, 2015

That's the thing. DJI's no fly zones do not reflect the actual airspace. Their database of airports is still not right (e.g. Burbank airport STILL not on it) and they chose a circle for simplicity whereas restricted airspace is most often anything but a circle.

I will say that the FAA has a lot of work to do too. Before drones, it didn't matter much that class B goes to the surface unnecessarily in many areas since no one had to a need to use other than cleared flights. With drones, that changes. The FAA needs to update their airspace to reflect that helis and drones may use the space below 500ft a certain distance from the airport.

gjoseph · May 22, 2015

With all that said-- still a very cool and well done video

Adam Kontras · May 22, 2015

gjoseph said:
With all that said-- still a very cool and well done video

Thank you. It was unbelievably stressful.

Adam Kontras · May 23, 2015

Calvin said:
Great video, well done. Liked the shot of the fountain at the Bellagio. To crowded for me, I wouldn't want to fly down on the strip.

The more I did it, the easier it got. When I started, the flight times were 5 or 6 minutes (and it felt like a half-hour). By the last one I was around 13 minutes, but never pushed it the limit. Once I saw I got a shot I liked, I wanted to take it down and runaway in my car. I had to keep telling myself to slow down and get more...

Captain_Bob · May 23, 2015

Great video... you did break all the rules. Understand the nerves. Glad you made it and don't ever do it again... until the FAA grants you a COA, which they will never do. And, you have insurance...