Police visited me today 1 day after buying Phantom 3
- Thread starter VoicOfReason
- Start date
I took the time to stop by the station and ask if our community had passed any regulations about the use of drones, which I think is a reasonable idea for anyone. It's on their radar but as long as one uses it responsibly, no problem. 'The reasonable expectation of privacy' relative to drones is one of the things the FAA is considering, which will then of course be subjected to legal interpretation.
For me, any time someone complains I will respect their opinion, re-assure them if possible, or just move to someplace else...not worth the trouble. Last year two guys almost got into a fight at the beach down the street and made the news. Best advice - keep your name out of the newspaper!
This is all new. People are going to be wary of these. Personally, I'd set a ceiling on my device to 120 feet and don't go below in your neighborhood. High up like that and it is not like it's in your face. I'd also not linger in one area. Take pick and move on quickly. If it's buzzing around and not staying in place, I think it looks better. Now, I do linger over a golf course to take picks and observe, but i'm 145 feet up and in no way causing problem. I bet the clubhouse is getting more reports of a drone over the area. I also show my neighbors and send them you tube videos. In fact, I made one which is my go to video that shows me high up and moving constantly. No one complains after seeing it. I ask for email address of phone number and send a text with the link.
Here's an interesting link to a FAA-generated document for law enforcement - good to know...
http://www.faa.gov/uas/regulations_policies/media/FAA_UAS-PO_LEA_Guidance.pdf
http://www.faa.gov/uas/regulations_policies/media/FAA_UAS-PO_LEA_Guidance.pdf
I had them at my house 3 times last year. But I found 2 things that helped. One is to launch the quad from the opposite side of the house. The other is to climb up to 250-300ft while flying around the neighborhood.
I also told neighbors I worked a side job for company that had me testing their software which centered around magnetic readings in our region per the atmosphere. I said there was one other person in the US doing the same thing in their region, and 6 others throughout the world in different locations.
It seems as long as you don't hover above their house they generally don't have a problem.
But the next time the police show up and ask if you were fly a radio controlled device with a camera or whatever, first thing out of your mouth is to say "What color was it". Then explain there is 3-4 others in the area that have them and fly them at different times throughout the day. I have a helicopter that I use to fly on occasion a few years ago, and I brought it out and asked the popo after the question on the color. I said "Is this the one the saw?". By this time the officer begins to realize how ridiculous it was to bother someone that had not broken any laws.
Btw, in most cases the police with sit further down the street or around the corner watching to see if you were flying prior to ringing the door bell. So don't lie when they ask if you were flying.
Don't let the neighbors calling the police eat at you. Just know it happens to a lot of us.
I also told neighbors I worked a side job for company that had me testing their software which centered around magnetic readings in our region per the atmosphere. I said there was one other person in the US doing the same thing in their region, and 6 others throughout the world in different locations.
It seems as long as you don't hover above their house they generally don't have a problem.
But the next time the police show up and ask if you were fly a radio controlled device with a camera or whatever, first thing out of your mouth is to say "What color was it". Then explain there is 3-4 others in the area that have them and fly them at different times throughout the day. I have a helicopter that I use to fly on occasion a few years ago, and I brought it out and asked the popo after the question on the color. I said "Is this the one the saw?". By this time the officer begins to realize how ridiculous it was to bother someone that had not broken any laws.
Btw, in most cases the police with sit further down the street or around the corner watching to see if you were flying prior to ringing the door bell. So don't lie when they ask if you were flying.
Don't let the neighbors calling the police eat at you. Just know it happens to a lot of us.
you know, this was written then line of sight meant you see your drone physically. I am wondering what the ipad view does to change this. I can say that I have better control of my P3 with the ipad app. I know distance, speed and height. I know where it is on a map and I can see real time where I am going. Would not this be superior to line of sight? Because my experience with flying helis is that you often loose orientation and crash. Well, there's no way to loose orientation on something you can see with the eye and have compass reading. It would make sense to me to include the view on my screen as "line of sight"
"Line of sight" means unaided view of the craft at all times. No use of binoculars etc.
I lived in the UK (in U.S. Now) and worked in broadcast TV. To fly multi rotors for broadcast you need a BNUC license to operate and that's what they advise you on the line of sight rule. Flying off an iPad is flying FPV which is not allowed. Saying that I flew in Wales and for the shot the client wanted we had to fly FPV. Having a spotter is also a requirement.
This is also my hobby and when not flying for work I fly FPV all the time!
I think the U.S. Needs something like the BNUC for commercial use because it teaches a lot about being aware of where you fly these things and also doesn't really impact the rules for the hobby unlike the proposed FAA rules.
I lived in the UK (in U.S. Now) and worked in broadcast TV. To fly multi rotors for broadcast you need a BNUC license to operate and that's what they advise you on the line of sight rule. Flying off an iPad is flying FPV which is not allowed. Saying that I flew in Wales and for the shot the client wanted we had to fly FPV. Having a spotter is also a requirement.
This is also my hobby and when not flying for work I fly FPV all the time!
I think the U.S. Needs something like the BNUC for commercial use because it teaches a lot about being aware of where you fly these things and also doesn't really impact the rules for the hobby unlike the proposed FAA rules.
The line of sight requirement is there as a safety measure. Technology can and does fail (as do humans; I know). If your iPod dies, or you loose uplink, you still have reasonable expectation to maintain control of your bird.
I see what you are saying. And for my helis, this is a must. I'd never let them get out of my sight because my 550 can cause serious injury. I'd rather kill the heli in flight than let fall then let it get out of my visual range.
And just playing devils advocate here. The drone is capable of level flight if I loose link or the ipad dies. It also has a return to home feature and should not crash on it's own. The 3 second interruption, sends it to land. Basically, If I loose control in line of sight or without it, it maintains itself. Just my thoughts. But I do plan on being responsible.
I've decided not to fly over my neighborhood, not that any of my neighbors really care. But to me urban places hardly are interesting visually, unless old and abandoned. I prefer nature and luckily there's loads of it available. It is funny though how some people really think they are so special and important that people want fly over to spy them... lol
We are still required to investigate to make sure that no laws have been broken. All he was getting was the complainants side of the story which is usually blown way out of proportion on stuff trivial like this but to be fair we still have to make contact, if possible, with the other party. Most of the time on stuff like this I would have done just as this officer did. Make friendly, non invasive contact, make sure no crimes were committed and report back to the complainant that he's basically SOL and hopefully he won't call us anymore.
Question for you. Do you think that if I were flying and an officer walks up on me, He would allow me to land and not take my eyes off the bird in flight? How should I ask for this? Best courteous response, I guess.
Just a thought ...
in a neighborhood you are more likely to experience wifi interference - with my P2V i have had problems getting good video since all my neighbors seem to have multiple wifi routers set up!
in a neighborhood you are more likely to experience wifi interference - with my P2V i have had problems getting good video since all my neighbors seem to have multiple wifi routers set up!
I would assume this would be fine as long as you explained what you were doing.
Because line of sight matters so much, that's why it's good to have a really bright LED facing the home position (back usually) so you really can see it at a distance, esp. if it's night, or evening. I had an LED so bright on my Phantom 2 that when it hovered in the night sky it literally looked like a super bright star in the sky.
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