DRONE VS AUTOMOBILE

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Drones have become a serious problem, not because of their growing numbers, but because of the idiots using them.

During this last fire season, air attack runs had to be aborted because drones were buzzing all over the fire zones, creating a huge potential for collision with fixed wing and rotary aircraft.

Same goes for them being operated within the 5 mile zone of airports and often at altitudes that put them in the traffic patterns.

And I had to laugh at the headlines today, a drone operator in Hawaii almost got in trouble when his drone got too close to the current president's motorcade. In the operator's defense, he was hovering his drone and the motorcade appeared un-announced and passed near his drone. So technically, the presidential motorcade intruded on the drone's space :lol:
 
I bought a small quadcopter last year, no camera of any type, just to play around with. It was not easy to control and trees/wind were a constant danger.
By road our dock is about a mile away and the road down is a rocky rutted track tough to negotiate even in 4W just to make a quick check on everything. Occurred to me that a bigger hexcopter with camera could fly from the deck over the trees and drop down to the water and dock. While bigger and more powerful and expensive it is still subject to the same dangers. Lake winds can easily hit 20 - 30mph or have gusts come from nowhere without warning. Distance is also tough to judge on the small screen. A drone with more automatic controls and GPS can easily run in the $2000 range. Now the FAA wants all drone to be registered with them. While I understand why it is still a PIA
 
I was considering a multi-camera drone recently, because there are some incredibly excellent natural areas around here that it could be used to capture great photos from otherwise impossible perspectives.

Problem is, much of the land is either BLM, USFS or NPS and they all have stupid (and often conflicting) rules/regs regarding photography AND drones.

So it's just to the point where it's not worth the hassle, especially if I have to register it before I can even pull it out of the package.
 
Now the FAA wants all drone to be registered with them.

Not All...

"Owners must register their UAS online if it meets the following guidelines:

•Weighs more than 0.55 lbs. (250 g) and less than 55 lbs. (25 kg). Unmanned Aircraft weighing more than 55 lbs. cannot use this registration process and must register using the Aircraft Registry process.

See examples of UAS that do and do not require registration (PDF).

https://www.faa.gov/uas/registration/faqs/media/UAS_Weights_Registration.pdf

Owners must register their UAS by paper if it meets the following guidelines:

•Your aircraft is used for commercial purposes.
•Your aircraft is used for other than hobby and recreation.
•Your aircraft is greater than 55 lbs.
•You intend to operate your aircraft outside of the United States."


https://www.faa.gov/uas/registration/

There are many drones on the market that are under .55 pounds.
 
The camera drone I was looking into weighed a little over 5 pounds and had a great GPS feature that automatically brought it "home" if it exceeded 1.5 miles downrange or ascended over 1,000 feet (from altitude at launch) or battery reserve was reaching point of no return.

Another excellent feature was the real-time flight display on the controller.

Anyway, I don't think I'll bother with it at this point in time.
 
My Hex with camera/transmitter is about 3lbs with no auto features. Once out of sight behind the trees it is strictly via a 4in screen view to control it. Right now with all the rain I check/move the dock twice per day as the level is going up +2ft per day so no need to do fly-bys. Probably the more sophisticated version this summer when more people are on the lake. Things have vanished from boats and docks.
 
Amazon wants to experiment with drone delivery in my area. you order online and a drone will drop your item off that day if it is in that warehouse. I can see some enterprising fellows with small gauge shotguns pirating shipments....
 

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