Quadcopters anyone?

^^ Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

 

Just bought this today. $40 out of pocket thanks to the $ Sears likes giving me for free.

http://www.swiftstreamrc.com/z9/

 

Thank God for registration...

 

Long overdue, there will still be people (mainly teens I would guess) that won't do it anyway even though it's free right now.

 

I enjoy watching the folks on the various facebook groups freaking out about it... makes me smile a bit.

@Large when you coming to Tucson to get your PPL?

 

Does this new registration apply to rc planes also? If not why?


My wife wants to get me oe of these things for Christmas since she saw a friend of mines phantom. Never been much in to rc but they seem pretty cool.

 

granted I only skimmed the first hundred pages of the document, since I was at work, but what I got from it, is that all that's changing is that you have to pay $5 every few years, and tape a registration paper to the machine????? what did I miss, that folks are freaking out about?

 

Called it!

 

i read through the FAA's 211 page report on the registration, but the report was all i could find on this... is this actually voted into law yet ? or are they trying to enforce the registration purely through the report they published ?

Also I didnt see anything consequences in there for not registering either.

Im not saying im not going to register my phantom by any means, just trying to understand exactly what is going on.

thanks guys !

 

I found an article that says fines can be 27500 to 250000$ crazy

 

That's just maximum statutory fines. Unless the offense is partially ergarious, it'll be much, much less. Usually. There should be a internal guidance somewhere.

...

RC aircraft count as well. If they're over 250g.

 

I didn't read through the entire FAA page but here is only one video that kind of breaks it down. Not sure how accurate it is with how many pilots are reporting drones getting close to planes but I am in complete agreement that with the huge influx of drones that something needs to be done. I never really gave it much thought when I was flying smaller Phantoms (though they could still do some damage obviously) but since I got the Inspire 1 I realize how much damage "it" can do if not flown correctly and safely. It weighs as close to 7lbs as you can get and will fly 50MPH with the right wind conditions. In the hands of someone that is not experience or doesn't have common sense that could be a very bad combination. I'm not saying "I'm" a expert by any stretch of the imagination but safety is always my first concern (FF in me coming out) getting the shot is secondary. When we take it out to film shots I usually let my wife field the questions since it tends to draw a large amount of curiosity. That way I can focus on the task at hand. I "personally" never fly out of line of sight just for safety reasons. Mine of course has a lot of built in fail safes but you can't rely on the equipment to do everything for you. You must be able to know what to do when the unexpected arises and how to control it.

Mine (along with a few others) will not fly in restricted air space IE: DC. It won't even take off. Hell... It shuts itself down as soon as it picks up the GPS signal. There are "no fly" zones built into the craft and software and they are clearly visible on the map on the iPad.

The main issue to me are two things.

1: Have common sense. Would you want this in the event of a catastrophic failure to fall on anyone or anyone's personal property? NEVER fly one of these over a group of people (outdoor concert comes to mind as a example).

2: Hobbyist trying to make money off their aerial shots without having a commercial license. That is taking away money from people that have actually jumped through all the hoops and have completed it the right way. Illegal competition is ruining the good names of actual commercial pilots and give a black eye to the industry.

I still maintain that just because you have the means to purchase one of these (especially the higher end models) doesn't mean you should actually be able to purchase one just because you think it's cool. There is a large responsibility involved when you put one in the air and it is up to you to do the right / safe thing within the laws.

Perfect example of what not to do. This guy obviously doesn't have a clue what he's doing since he could barely get it off the ground nor did he even think of the ramifications of what the end result would be. It ended up falling out out of the sky and landing a few feet from a pedestrian walking on the sidewalk. If he struggled so much getting it of the ground from that small terrace I've no idea how he thought he was going to get it back.

 

Systems check this morning and discharging the battery since it only had half a charge left.

 

What exactly needs to be done in order to be able to earn money (commercial use)? I see a whole lot of the FAA and similar posting things saying you can't earn money with them but they fail to provide any info on how you can properly do so. Can't find much with my research.

 

FAA 333 Exemption. From what I understand (and I could be wrong) the FAA is supposed to come out with a ruling sometime next year that will more clarify the requirements that you must meet in order to use a drone for profit. As of right now, without the exemption you can not legally charge nor take payment for any aerial videos / pictures.

 

Crashed multiple times and recovered. I'd say he was lucky he didn't hit anyone (that the video shows anyway)

 

Common sense
Insurance
an LLC
I want to say private pilot's license (PPL) but not 100% sure. The first 3 are, here in Houston anyway.

 

He ended up crashing to the sidewalk below during rush hour. Landed a couple feet from a man who recovered the memory card and turned it over to the NYPD. Not sure of the outcome.

 

As of right now that is the way it is here also

So if for some reason I wanted to sell a picture of my house (don't know why I would) I couldn't

 

They really need something to restrict the sale of the UAVs. Thousands are sold each year and people do no research on how to properly fly them. Maybe bind the serial # to your driver's license?