Excellent news concerning Drones

wheelsup said:
Those videos basically contradict what you are writing RE: 400' restriction. If they do it there, why couldn't you? Just because you don't want too? Is that really a valid reason?
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Because that's under the departure path of Van Nuys, so it's necessary. But it limits severely what you can do. And there is always people who violate the 400ft rule at Apollo field, even in that video.

Why is it a problem, if I am 30 miles away from the nearest airport, and go vertical for 600-800 feet? What are you doing that low? Chances are, you're not supposed to be there.
 
mshunter said:
Why is it a problem, if I am 30 miles away from the nearest airport, and go vertical for 600-800 feet? What are you doing that low? Chances are, you're not supposed to be there.
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I'm that low because it's my job, and yes, I'm supposed to be there.

(No worthwhile opinion on the debate, just throwing that out there.)
 
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MikeFavinger said:
I'm that low because it's my job, and yes, I'm supposed to be there.

(No worthwhile opinion on the debate, just throwing that out there.)
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You knew the risk of accepting the job. Powerlines are your biggest risk, not an occasional model airplane. Flying that low, that is what you risk. But don't worry, responsible hobbyist don't fly near pipe, or when people are spraying.
 
mshunter said:
You knew the risk of accepting the job. Powerlines are your biggest risk, not an occasional model airplane. Flying that low, that is what you risk. But don't worry, responsible hobbyist don't fly near pipe, or when people are spraying.
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No worthwhile opinion on the debate, just throwing that out there.

Also, I know exactly what my risks are, but thanks for the wisdom.
 
From today’s Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-ha...scapes-1418086281?mod=WSJ_TechWSJD_NeedToKnow). Describing his customers, the CEO of drone maker 3D Robotics said, “It’s not that people are worse pilots; it’s that they’re not pilots at all.”

Other excerpts:

“They’re dangerous,” says Darren Kelly, a videographer from Ontario, Canada, who watched one of his Chinese-made drones fly into a tree and another fly into Lake Ontario while he frantically tried to regain control. After the second flyaway, “That’s when I said, ‘Nope, this could hurt people,’ and hung it up,” he says.”

In an online forum for drone users, a poll of 774 people who said they owned DJI Phantoms showed that nearly a third had experienced a flyaway, including 122 users who never saw their devices again.”

Todd Humphreys, an aerospace professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies drones, blames many flyaways on impatient users who fly their drones before the devices have saved their “home” location. If the devices lose connection and try to return home, they revert to a previous takeoff spot, Mr. Humphreys says, “and it’s grandma’s house half a state away.”
 
tomokc said:
Todd Humphreys, an aerospace professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies drones, blames many flyaways on impatient users who fly their drones before the devices have saved their “home” location. If the devices lose connection and try to return home, they revert to a previous takeoff spot, Mr. Humphreys says, “and it’s grandma’s house half a state away.”
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Now that's funny stuff.

Anyway, no one here said there shouldn't be SOME regulation/training, particularly for the larger devices that aren't "toys."

But you don't have to be a "pilot" in the traditional sense to operate one of these responsibly.
 
See they are dangerous! http://www.cnbc.com/id/102250262#.

TGI Fridays' "mobile mistletoe drone" left a woman bloody and missing a piece of her nose last week.

Photographer Georgine Benvenuto was at a Fridays in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, when one of the operators tried to land the 10-inch aircraft on her head, but clipped off a part of her nose instead.

"It literally chipped off a tip of my nose," Benvenuto told the Brooklyn Daily. "It took off part of my nose and cut me here, right under my chin."

Read More10 gifts gadget lovers will crave

The drone's operator said the mistake wouldn't have happened if the woman hadn't flinched, according to the website.

"This was an isolated event during a demonstration for the reporter and photographer only, given by the licensed operator of the drone during the last day of this particular promotion," TGIF Fridays said, in a statement. "Of course, safety is our first priority and we are sorry that this isolated incident occurred."

The drones were intended to hover over couples and inspire a little "mobile mistletoe mischief," according to promotional material for the event. "If guests show a little love under the mistletoe, Fridays might just show them a little love with some nice holiday gifts," Fridays said in a press release last week.
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Hindering development of a technology where the US should lead the world, and at the same time endangering those who use our airspace.

Thanks FAA.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nd-on-drone-rules-until-2017-at-the-earliest/
"The consensus of opinion is the integration of unmanned systems will likely slip from the mandated deadline until 2017 or even later," said Gerald Dillingham, the GAO's director of civil aviation.

Lawmakers pounced on the confession, with some, such as Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), complaining that the process is moving at a "geological time scale."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/faa-approves-four-companies-to-use-drones-1418223003?KEYWORDS=drone
The comments on Wednesday came as the Federal Aviation Administration made its latest incremental move to open the skies to commercial use of drones, approving four companies to use the devices to create maps and collect data on construction sites. The decision brings the number of approved commercial-drone operators in the U.S. to just 13—compared with thousands in Europe.

“I can’t help but wonder: If the Germans, French and Canadians can do some of these things today, why can’t we also be doing this?” said U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.) at a hearing Wednesday on U.S. drone regulations. “Are they smarter than us? I don’t think so.”
 
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