POLL: Who flies beyond VLOS?

[Helihover]

If DJI really cared about people flying beyond VLOS, they would put a distance limit in the app. If the FAA cared about it, they would force DJI to put a limit in the app. Bottom line is, most drones are designed to safely go beyond VLOS (hence RTH, 7km range etc.).

Not really.

Actually the FAA does care about it. If they didn't, it would not be in writing.

Japanese motorcycle manufactures produce bikes that go over 200 mph stock.... And so on

Different situations call for different measures in any situation. You might be flying in a desert one day, and a large city the next. Your range in the desert will be much further than your range in the city. If a manufacture were to tune these down, you could have reception problems at short distances in congested areas. I'm lucky to get 1,500 - 2,000 foot distance from my P4 in the city before I start losing the feed.

I see so many of you referring to whats on the ground when your flying these long distance flights. Civil and commercial aircraft don't fly on the ground, they fly in the air. Whats on the ground is 100% irrelevant to this conversation.

 

[JB999]

Not really.

Actually the FAA does care about it. If they didn't, it would not be in writing.

Japanese motorcycle manufactures produce bikes that go over 200 mph stock.... And so on

Different situations call for different measures in any situation. You might be flying in a desert one day, and a large city the next. Your range in the desert will be much further than your range in the city. If a manufacture were to tune these down, you could have reception problems at short distances in congested areas. I'm lucky to get 1,500 - 2,000 foot distance from my P4 in the city before I start losing the feed.

I see so many of you referring to whats on the ground when your flying these long distance flights. Civil and commercial aircraft don't fly on the ground, they fly in the air. Whats on the ground is 100% irrelevant to this conversation.

Firstly :A commercial airliner, at 400 feet anywhere else then close to the airport have much bigger problems then a drone getting in their way...he is going down..

Secondly: A drone, weighing 1kg or less, getting in the way of a commercial airliner, it will be like a freight train crashing into a plastic toycar.
Should birds, weighing 10 times a drone, or more, be banned...?

Get real....

 

[Helihover]

Firstly :A commercial airliner, at 400 feet anywhere else then close to the airport have much bigger problems then a drone getting in their way...he is going down..

Secondly: A drone, weighing 1kg or less, getting in the way of a commercial airliner, it will be like a freight train crashing into a plastic toycar.
Should birds, weighing 10 times a drone, or more, be banned...?

Get real....

These are all assumptions. What about civil? What about helicopters?

 

[A.L.E.X]

Not really.

Actually the FAA does care about it. If they didn't, it would not be in writing.

Japanese motorcycle manufactures produce bikes that go over 200 mph stock.... And so on

Different situations call for different measures in any situation. You might be flying in a desert one day, and a large city the next. Your range in the desert will be much further than your range in the city. If a manufacture were to tune these down, you could have reception problems at short distances in congested areas. I'm lucky to get 1,500 - 2,000 foot distance from my P4 in the city before I start losing the feed.

I see so many of you referring to whats on the ground when your flying these long distance flights. Civil and commercial aircraft don't fly on the ground, they fly in the air. Whats on the ground is 100% irrelevant to this conversation.

Hitting planes has nothing to do with flying fpv. If you stay below the restricted height for your area, you don't risk any planes by flying fpv. New FPV technology has made it safer than vlos.

 

[Helihover]

Hitting planes has nothing to do with flying fpv. If you stay below the restricted height for your area, you don't risk any planes by flying fpv. New FPV technology has made it safer than vlos.

Really? Please explain.

 

[Crack The Sky]

"The longest 4 minutes of my life?" I really don't want to say that and have something bad happen, but I also badly want to make a 4 min total flight 5000ft to my friends house, hover 10 seconds, then return... Totally outside VLOS due to forest between us and fact that my p2v3+ range is only about 1200' anyway... I used to fly WP missions all the time way out of VLOS but have become more and more concerned this last year of hitting some dumba$$ low flying piper or helicopter that fly around here... Oh the anguish! Would you do it? it's ONLY 4 minutes...

You're flying 5000 ft out & beyond line of sight and you believe a legal single engine airplane or helicopter are the *********? The legal aircraft are causing you anguish? Another shameless lawbreaker that will ruin everything for us.

 

[Crack The Sky]

Hitting planes has nothing to do with flying fpv. If you stay below the restricted height for your area, you don't risk any planes by flying fpv. New FPV technology has made it safer than vlos.

Hitting planes has EVERYTHING to do with the VLOS rule. Learn the FAR's. Planes can LEGALLY FLY ON THE DECK, in sparsely populated areas. Get your toy gooooogles off and start scanning the sky like you are required to do. Another self-centered, all about me child, masquerading as an adult.

 

[JB999]

Hitting planes has EVERYTHING to do with the VLOS rule. Learn the FAR's. Planes can LEGALLY FLY ON THE DECK, in sparsely populated areas. Get your toy gooooogles off and start scanning the sky like you are required to do. Another self-centered, all about me child, masquerading as an adult.

So much ignorance an lack of knowledge on this forum, I'm amazed...Fly FPV and you will understand that FPV is the only way to safely control your quad at distances over 100 meters

 

[Journey]

On a good day I may be able to see my drone from a couple of hundred feet away, but just as a tiny speck. I would not be able to tell its heading, attitude, altitude, speed or even if it is facing me or the opposite direction. I could not tell if it is about to collide with a tree, a paraglider or a power pylon. I definitely could not tell if I am running out of power or if one of the motors has a problem.

To me it is then pretty pointless to argue whether I am flying within VLOS or beyond.

Mind you, these definitions were designed for RC model planes in mind, when you had to fly actively, or they would crash. But a drone is not a RC model plane. It is a flying robot. The pilot enters the request and the drone delivers the solution. VLOS is in this case not nearly as important as for instance keeping track of the remaining battery charge.

What I think is more crucial is to keep the vertical separation to other aircraft. That's the reason why I never fly higher than 300 feet.

You don't know the history of the regulations adopted. The FAA never wrote these rules for RC model planes. They were crashing by the thousands at model airplane sites prior to drones. No one could, nor wanted, to fly them beyond VLOS.

 

[Journey]

Every now and then I'll fly BVLOS and at night. I live in a semi rural area in Ventura County which is in California. I will carefully plan it out, setting way points to a few areas and my return area.I love this kind of flying and I do believe it makes me a better pilot. The key to this kind of flying is proper planning and perfect conditions.

Flying a drone beyond VLOS may be fun but it does not make you a "better pilot" anymore than letting an autopilot fly the plane make you a better pilot. Being a better "pilot" would be learning to fly a constant radius turn around an object in a breeze in atti mode. The pros no how to use the drone as a tool for getting great cinematography for what is an art form. But flying a GPS course beyond VLOS is nothing more than a video game with much greater risks for everyone but you unless you drop the Tx on your foot.

 

[A.L.E.X]

Really? Please explain.

Ok, the camera faces forward, directly where you are flying. When you look at your screen, it's almost like your in the cockpit. You turn the drone side to side to look 360 degrees around. Anything in front of you can be seen. The drone is on p mode and holds still until you fly farward. Where's the risk in that. If you loose video feed, the RTH kicks in and brings it back. This doesn't mean you fly over people, near buildings, or above legal limit. When the drone gets close to you again, you look up and land the drone. Just because you fly FPV doesn't mean you start ignoring all safety regulations (and no, I'm not denying that the rules disallow long range FPV). The drone industry is still quite small. If drone owners don't make reasonable arguments against encroaching laws, we will be steamrolled by the FAA and other organizations.

 

[Crack The Sky]

Ok, the camera faces forward, directly where you are flying. When you look at your screen, it's almost like your in the cockpit. You turn the drone side to side to look 360 degrees around. Anything in front of you can be seen. The drone is on p mode and holds still until you fly farward. Where's the risk in that. If you loose video feed, the RTH kicks in and brings it back. This doesn't mean you fly over people, near buildings, or above legal limit. When the drone gets close to you again, you look up and land the drone. Just because you fly FPV doesn't mean you start ignoring all safety regulations (and no, I'm not denying that the rules disallow long range FPV). The drone industry is still quite small. If drone owners don't make reasonable arguments against encroaching laws, we will be steamrolled by the FAA and other organizations.

A couple of serious risks actually in using FPV, or the tablet screen as the sole means of detecting conflicts with other craft.

1. Either way precludes the innate & primal human skill of continual scanning of large areas, (including the use of our peripheral vision), to identify danger. We use comparison of the image a moment before, with the image just perceived, to recognize differences and perceive threat.

2. Look up and learn about "the collision course" concept. The odd, ironic, and unnerving thing about being on collision course with another moving object, (aircraft or boat), is this. The two craft on a collision course NEVER move in each-other's field of view. This means simply, that the aircraft you see moving in the sky is never a concern or conflict, if you both remain on your present courses.

****** It is the aircraft, (or boat), that NEVER moves in your field of view, that is on a collision course.*****

SO, the only solution to this major problem when you are actually on-board the aircraft or boat is to maintain a constant, vigilant, horizon to horizon scan WHILE changing course, (jinking), periodically, to expose & detect the hidden danger. Flying a drone from a displaced location, (the ground), requires even more attention and scanning, since a craft on collision course with the drone, will appear to be moving to the displaced ground observer & not be readily perceived as the collision course threat that it is.

 

[dirkclod]

Guys I've had to edit several post and delete several off topic ones.
Please keep on being civil in this and Stay on topic.
Thanks

 

[JB999]

These are all assumptions. What about civil? What about helicopters?

Assumptions..? You seriously think there is civil or commercial airtraffic below 400 feet? You better inform FAA, they seem to think not as droning on that altitude is legal.

And by the way, have a look in the front of your car, you will probably find a lot of smashed buggs....do the math...

 

[Crack The Sky]

Assumptions..? You seriously think there is civil or commercial airtraffic below 400 feet? You better inform FAA, they seem to think not as droning on that altitude is legal.

And by the way, have a look in the front of your car, you will probably find a lot of smashed buggs....do the math...

I seriously KNOW there is legal air traffic below 400AGL. The FAA seriously knows it already, too. It's legal and has been for 75 years prior to you and your drone coming into existence. And by the way, your drone is on the bottom of the food chain in the aviation world, and as such it's your job to see that is stays out of the way of anything else that fly's in, or falls through the sky.

 

[avark]

No. Never. I don't have a camera, tablet, phone, or app - by choice. So I guess I am one of the few who really can't go beyond VLOS. My "missions" are all very local and very low level. I really enjoy what I am doing with my Phantom, but be assured, I very much enjoy watching your videos and looking at some very stunning photographs here.

 

[JB999]

I seriously KNOW there is legal air traffic below 400AGL. The FAA seriously knows it already, too. It's legal and has been for 75 years prior to you and your drone coming into existence. And by the way, your drone is on the bottom of the food chain in the aviation world, and as such it's your job to see that is stays out of the way of anything else that fly's in, or falls through the sky.

[emoji23][emoji23]

 

[skyacramer]

There are huge CU-130 planes that fly over our house extremely low all the time

 

[Ronald Reedy]

I thought VLOS was about if I could see my drone. If there is nothing blocking the view, why would a flight be in conflict with FAA rules? Someone said 'no binoculars '. Is that in the FAA rules?

Operating Requirements
The small UAS operator manipulating the controls of a drone should always avoid manned aircraft and never operate in a careless or reckless manner. You must keep your drone within sight. Alternatively, if you use First Person View or similar technology, you must have a visual observer always keep your aircraft within unaided sight (for example, no binoculars). However, even if you use a visual observer, you must still keep your unmanned aircraft close enough to be able to see it if something unexpected happens. Neither you nor a visual observer can be responsible for more than one unmanned aircraft operation at a time.

 

[Ronald Reedy]

Not really.

Actually the FAA does care about it. If they didn't, it would not be in writing.

Japanese motorcycle manufactures produce bikes that go over 200 mph stock.... And so on

Different situations call for different measures in any situation. You might be flying in a desert one day, and a large city the next. Your range in the desert will be much further than your range in the city. If a manufacture were to tune these down, you could have reception problems at short distances in congested areas. I'm lucky to get 1,500 - 2,000 foot distance from my P4 in the city before I start losing the feed.

I see so many of you referring to whats on the ground when your flying these long distance flights. Civil and commercial aircraft don't fly on the ground, they fly in the air. Whats on the ground is 100% irrelevant to this conversation.

You know what is relevant to this conversation, The Regulations! They did not make them up for the **** of it.