So this just happened......NFZ Forced Landing
- Thread starter bkushner
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Well I wouldn't call it naive since car manufacturers make different cars for different markets. But I'm assuming you've never flew your drone without VLOS and therefore you can preach to me and for that I congratulate you.
Answering your question on why DJI would sell long-range aircraft has nothing to do if I, personally, fly VLOS or not.
I'm saying that the U.S. is not DJI's only territory and, as such, doesn't have to put a governor on their aircrafts' range. I wouldn't want Lexus to put a governor on my NX Turbo in order to prohibit me from exceeding the maximum speed limit.
It seems Litchi currently performs unpredictability in LCMC. It's not safe running LCMC missions in suburbia. If you get that part good. Whether you should be doing it anyway is an issue for you. You claim to understand the risks. Hopefully you appreciate that for someone to face allegations of, and be subject to prosecution for, reckless endangerment in connection with this behaviour is not a big stretch. And if you injure someone or damage property you will loose everything.
You have to keep in mind that the "range" is not 3+ miles in high interference areas. The range is reduced by a significant amount. So if they only had a range of say 500 yards in high interference areas the craft would not go far under RC control or video feed. If you are going to fly BLOS then you take the risk that things may not go as planned and if you don't have a visual on your AC to correct problems with RC. In the OP's case you just got lucky you were able to track it down and land it on the second attempt. If you continue to do what your doing I would expect to see a post of a lost P4 or worse a news story of a drone hitting someone or something.
I love the missions on Litchi but I always fly them LOS. These "Toy's" can do some horrific damage to someones face if those props hit them.
I love the missions on Litchi but I always fly them LOS. These "Toy's" can do some horrific damage to someones face if those props hit them.
What should matter is that you are doing what you should be doing with regards to following safe flying practices-after all, what I do, or you, or anyone else does has an impact on all of us who are trying to get in on what is truly the ground floor of a new technology.
If your drone had landed in the middle of the highway and caused a multiple car pileup, i doubt it would have been difficult for the FAA to determine that you were not VLOS, and I still think the chances are very good you were too close to Phila International Airport. from what I can see you are within five miles easily. That would result in the media, who loves to report gloom and doom, report that a maverick drone jockey ignored rules/guidelines and caused damage. or injury or even death to innocent people...then DJI or Autel or whoever will start making drones that cannot fly more than 600 feet because politicians will jump in to 'protect' the public from such actions.
If I did fly out of VLOS, you can be sure it is not something I want to happen, or be known, frankly, and I am resigned to the idea that I have to be as careful as I can be when I fly-I do not want this to injury anyone, ever, so I make a determined effort to resist going overboard. I live in a surburban area, so I don't fly over homes or highways/roads, crowds or infrastructure that might be deemed sensitive to drone 'non-believers'.
I'll ask you to do the same, for all of us.
If your drone had landed in the middle of the highway and caused a multiple car pileup, i doubt it would have been difficult for the FAA to determine that you were not VLOS, and I still think the chances are very good you were too close to Phila International Airport. from what I can see you are within five miles easily. That would result in the media, who loves to report gloom and doom, report that a maverick drone jockey ignored rules/guidelines and caused damage. or injury or even death to innocent people...then DJI or Autel or whoever will start making drones that cannot fly more than 600 feet because politicians will jump in to 'protect' the public from such actions.
If I did fly out of VLOS, you can be sure it is not something I want to happen, or be known, frankly, and I am resigned to the idea that I have to be as careful as I can be when I fly-I do not want this to injury anyone, ever, so I make a determined effort to resist going overboard. I live in a surburban area, so I don't fly over homes or highways/roads, crowds or infrastructure that might be deemed sensitive to drone 'non-believers'.
I'll ask you to do the same, for all of us.
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For the 10th time...I was not near PHL have a look...star is where I was I was not in any restricted airspace. Today I flew the same area from a ball field with visual the whole time .
Unless I go to the DJI site and enter my information for a waiver into the area..but hey I appreciate you looking out for me from LA.. Your entire area is a massive NFZ.
There are quite a bit of those around here, but it's no big deal. I do get some good video of the beaches, etc. Check them out here.
This happened to me too!! Please see my thread at:
DJI Mandatory, uninterruptible actions are wrong, legally actionable
I find it utterly objectionable and just plain Wrong that DJI forces the pilot to lose control and it lands a drone into an unknown and potentially unsafe area without allow the pilot to control his craft. I think it's legally actionable, just need for some unfortunately soul to have his drone land on something or someone and cause damage before it's worth going to court over.
Wow! I am just reading this entire post with interest for the first time today...and frankly, stunned. @SoCalDude and @Mooks are right on the money with rules concerns. OMG - Really?! Glad the FAA drone police are not reading this.
Indeed, DO you have a waiver to do these things? The OP is obviously experienced and tries to be careful, but flying at night? Not VLS? OF COURSE that is illegal without a waiver or authorization - recreational, commercial, or whatever . My friend, you are lucky in more ways than you know.
That said, as a contrary side note, I despise the fact that any controlling app contains built-in flight restrictions. I find that appalling even though on the surface it seems like a safety feature and has no doubt done some good. BUT it is none of the aircraft makers business in my opinion; it is the job of a responsible flyer to know what the heck he is doing and where the heck he is going. This is the reason I will NOT upgrade my Phantom 3A (it has all the features I want and need, and works fantastically well) and would never buy a new Mavic or Inspire. Just me, I guess. Next, the bicycle makers will disable your bike unless you have your helmet on.
***EDIT***
To clarify the above, flying at night is okay for recreational and hobby only, but NOT beyond VLS. Daytime, same thing, NOT beyond VLS. This has to include the ability to clearly determine altitude AND orientation; not just that you can see where it is. In addition, you should be able to clearly assess the presence of other air traffic, obstacles, and pedestrians, etc. near the drone. Personally, I would rarely/never do even VLS more than a couple hundred feet away in a busy city. By the way, the FAA has historically had a fairly low threshold for what they consider reckless and unsafe. They are 'gonna git you' if someone has an accident and blames you for a wreck/injury/damage even if you are the best recreational pilot out there. Just the way it is.
Indeed, DO you have a waiver to do these things? The OP is obviously experienced and tries to be careful, but flying at night? Not VLS? OF COURSE that is illegal without a waiver or authorization - recreational, commercial, or whatever . My friend, you are lucky in more ways than you know.
That said, as a contrary side note, I despise the fact that any controlling app contains built-in flight restrictions. I find that appalling even though on the surface it seems like a safety feature and has no doubt done some good. BUT it is none of the aircraft makers business in my opinion; it is the job of a responsible flyer to know what the heck he is doing and where the heck he is going. This is the reason I will NOT upgrade my Phantom 3A (it has all the features I want and need, and works fantastically well) and would never buy a new Mavic or Inspire. Just me, I guess. Next, the bicycle makers will disable your bike unless you have your helmet on.
***EDIT***
To clarify the above, flying at night is okay for recreational and hobby only, but NOT beyond VLS. Daytime, same thing, NOT beyond VLS. This has to include the ability to clearly determine altitude AND orientation; not just that you can see where it is. In addition, you should be able to clearly assess the presence of other air traffic, obstacles, and pedestrians, etc. near the drone. Personally, I would rarely/never do even VLS more than a couple hundred feet away in a busy city. By the way, the FAA has historically had a fairly low threshold for what they consider reckless and unsafe. They are 'gonna git you' if someone has an accident and blames you for a wreck/injury/damage even if you are the best recreational pilot out there. Just the way it is.
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Completely agree. I've flown a few LCMC missions, but use it for better, smoother videos, not to fly long distance missions. ALWAYS have ac in sight. ALWAYS fly them in rural areas, either unpopulated or thinly populated.
I agree to that there should NOT be software on anything that can fly this fast, far and weighs this much that for all intents and purposes takes control from the pilot-but, again, the pilot has to know the regulations and adhere to them and in this particular instance, you did not. I'll postulate that it is actions like yours that make software developers and manufacturers feel the need to put code like this in, affecting us all.
Your map of the area you were flying does not agree with what I found online, you are clearly in an area that is controlled and prohibited. You are fortunate it landed in the median of the road and not the middle, during what was undoubtedly a period of very heavy traffic.
Just so people are not misled, according to Part 101, recreational pilots may fly at night if they have adequate lights on the AC.
But the stickler is, a so-called recreational pilot must fall into the definition of a recreational pilot as indicated in Part 101 So if one, who considers himself a recreational pilot, deliberately flies out of LOS, he, by definition, is actually not a recreational pilot, and he therefore may not fly at night (or at any other time).
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Do we have an existing thread that defines would adequate lights are?
I have Flytron blinking LEDs. I think my colors are wrong though, white on front, red on back.
Some have Lumicubes. Those are brighter, but do they qualify? Do they have to have specific colors?
Chris
I would create a new mission (just like the one you have) but a new one to see it the problem still occurs
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