I Did Not Know That Drone Sandwich Delivery Was Underdway

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Very cool! I have a M2 zoom a M2 Pro, a Phantom 4 Obsidian, an Autel Evo, Phantom 4 Advanced, a Parrot Anafi and a DJI Spark. I have more but sold them off. I'm going to sell the P4A and the Anafi.

"Dauntless" Classic!

My Zoom was my roof inspection workhorse
 
Dang, Joe - just a few, eh? :lol:

The Mavic 2 Zoom is wicked fast, but I rarely go fast, since I'm either looking for the best composition for a landscape shot, or keeping an eye on Coyotes on the south part of the property.

I also found that DJI's Smart Controller is the best way to go both for controls and additional data storage. A bit pricey, but certainly worth every cent.
 
Dang, Joe - just a few, eh? :lol:

The Mavic 2 Zoom is wicked fast, but I rarely go fast, since I'm either looking for the best composition for a landscape shot, or keeping an eye on Coyotes on the south part of the property.

I also found that DJI's Smart Controller is the best way to go both for controls and additional data storage. A bit pricey, but certainly worth every cent.
I don't own a smart controller but have used them, pretty sweet. I used the stock controller with an iPad or a cell phone. I've done a lot of stock photo stills and video in the Denver Metro area and I like to be able to put the drone up in the air real quick take my video or pictures and get it down quick so I find working with Phone the best way to go.
 
Strange that they can't hire some people to just drive the sandwhiches over
Agree - a lot simpler and less risk. Although I'm a big proponent for the UAS industry, I think these types of deliveries are just a gimmick and if there is ever a mishap, it's going to make things tougher for those who use drones in more practical applications (roof inspections, land surveys, SAR, etc.)
 
Saw Redding Police deploy a drone yesterday during a situation.

A guy, who was wanted on felony charges and known to have weapons tried to evade them, ending up crashing his pickup into the side of a building at high speed. After repeatedly telling him to exit the vehicle, to which there was no reaponse, the drone was sent in to put eyes on him before the SWAT team approached the vehicle.

It was able determine he was deceased and no need for armed response.

I should add that the P.D.'s drone is not a typical consumer drone, that thing was huge!
 
I think the idea of drone delivery services is ridiculous gimmick. Having said that I do see the benefit and future in commercial drones.

I also have an issue with all these teenagers and hobbyists and their "drones" but very little oversight and poor training in the shared use of airspace. As drones have become and more advanced and capable it has become more and more common for our aircraft to encounter drones near airports while at lower approach altitude. There are rules in place to keep it safe, but your average joe buying his toy at Walmart has zero clue or care.
 
I think the idea of drone delivery services is ridiculous gimmick. Having said that I do see the benefit and future in commercial drones.
For delivery services, yes - for other applications, they are extremely useful. Roof inspections, thermal imaging, LIDAR operations SAR and LE applications and 3D mapping to name a few
I also have an issue with all these teenagers and hobbyists and their "drones" but very little oversight and poor training in the shared use of airspace. As drones have become and more advanced and capable it has become more and more common for our aircraft to encounter drones near airports while at lower approach altitude. There are rules in place to keep it safe, but your average joe buying his toy at Walmart has zero clue or care.
Agree to a point. These days all hobbyists are supposed to take on on line test (which is super simple) and carry a "TRUST" card which shows they are legal to fly. If their drone weighs over 250 grams, they have to register themselves on an FAA website. There is also a system called LAANC which enables commercial and hobby drone operators to fly in some controlled airspace up to certain altitudes. The system works well providing everyone abides by it, but as you say, there are some who haven't a clue or can care less.

The FAA gets a lot of blame but IMO it's not all their fault. This industry was shoved down their throats several years ago and they didn't have the manpower or training to even fully understand the industry. This is slowly changing and the last set of drone laws passed on 2018 were a step in the right direction.

Once in a while the Feds do catch up to the one or two @sshols who ruin it for those who want to comply with the law.

 
The company I worked for after I retired from the USAF did safety related analyses associated with missiles and space launch vehicles. That included trying to figure out how big and heavy something was before it became a threat to air travel. I told them that drones were coming and they should expand their work to include those issues but they were not interested.
 
For delivery services, yes - for other applications, they are extremely useful. Roof inspections, thermal imaging, LIDAR operations SAR and LE applications and 3D mapping to name a few

Agreed, 100%

FLYBOYJ said:
Agree to a point. These days all hobbyists are supposed to take on on line test (which is super simple) and carry a "TRUST" card which shows they are legal to fly. If their drone weighs over 250 grams, they have to register themselves on an FAA website. There is also a system called LAANC which enables commercial and hobby drone operators to fly in some controlled airspace up to certain altitudes. The system works well providing everyone abides by it, but as you say, there are some who haven't a clue or can care less.

The FAA gets a lot of blame but IMO it's not all their fault. This industry was shoved down their throats several years ago and they didn't have the manpower or training to even fully understand the industry. This is slowly changing and the last set of drone laws passed on 2018 were a step in the right direction.

Once in a while the Feds do catch up to the one or two @sshols who ruin it for those who want to comply with the law.


"If everyone abides by it"

That's my issue right there. I don't trust Joe and his 15 year old kid who bought a toy at Walmart to understand and abide by it. Hell it's common to see a drone hovering over your yard here where I live. A few months ago one got shot at because his daughter was laying out at their pool in their backyard (the offender was a teen from her class). My point is simply that their us a lot if plane old ignorance going on, and I think its because Joe and others like him don't understand the seriousness of it. I don't think they understand the seriousness of one hovering a 50-100 feet in the approach path of a 172 trying to land at the local airport. I don't think they are doing maliciously, but rather they don't think like aviators.
 
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"If everyone abides by it"

That's my issue right there. I don't trust Joe and 15 year old kid who bought a toy at Walmart to understand and abide by it. Hell it's common to see a drone hovering over your yard here where I live. A few months ago one got shot at because his daughter was laying out at their pool in their backyard (the offender was a teen from her class). My point is simply that their us a lot if plane old ignorance going on, and I think its because Joe and others like him don't understand the seriousness of it. I don't think they understand the seriousness of one hovering a 50-100 feet in the approach path of a 172 trying to land at the local airport. I don't think they are doing maliciously, but rather they don't think like aviators.
Agree - the negative side right there.

Despite this little peeping Tom, it is illegal to shoot at a drone and pretty dumb to do in a residential neighborhood. At the same time this kid should get his ass thrown in jail (at least for a few hours) and fined. These are the situations ruining the whole UAS industry.

In 2016 I had a drone (Yuneec Typhoon) pop up on me while I was entering the down wind at KEIK (class G, uncontrolled). I circled around and did see where it was being flown from. I landed and a few folks did try to track down the idiot, long gone. Reported to the FAA.
 
Several years back my Mom, dog, and I were out for a walk a week or so before Christmas. As we came dow the side street to our home, a small drone flew over, maybe 20 ft up. Our dog stopped and looked behind her suspiciously, as if to say, "I could have sworn I heard something come past us.".

Further down the road we encountered one of our neighbors, his daughter, and her boyfriend, who had bought anew drone. The neighbor explained that when they first launched the drone it refused to go over about 5 ft high. Then they figured out that we were too close to the airport; the end of the runway is less than mile away. So they found out how to override that limitation and got it up higher.
 
Several years back my Mom, dog, and I were out for a walk a week or so before Christmas. As we came dow the side street to our home, a small drone flew over, maybe 20 ft up. Our dog stopped and looked behind her suspiciously, as if to say, "I could have sworn I heard something come past us.".

Further down the road we encountered one of our neighbors, his daughter, and her boyfriend, who had bought anew drone. The neighbor explained that when they first launched the drone it refused to go over about 5 ft high. Then they figured out that we were too close to the airport; the end of the runway is less than mile away. So they found out how to override that limitation and got it up higher.
Well depending on the drone manufacturer, mainly DJI, you will get "locked out" if you are too close to an airport, especially class B airspace. There are ways to unlock it but these days things have gotten pretty tight. Autel, Yuneec and Parrot have no such system and one can fly right up to the runway! Recently many airports and large stadiums have systems in place that can track down the drone and operator's position. Yesterday I actually did a job for a friend that was 2 miles off the main runways at DIA. We got all kinds of authorization to fly this.
 
I thought the process of licensing a drone was pretty massive and there was some kind of background check (While I'm pretty sure the last part is the easiest part since I have no criminal record), though I bought a drone years back and never even put it together or flew it.
 
I thought the process of licensing a drone was pretty massive and there was some kind of background check (While I'm pretty sure the last part is the easiest part since I have no criminal record), though I bought a drone years back and never even put it together or flew it.
To fly as a hobbyist its pretty easy - register if your drone if it's over 250g and take the online test which is super simple. To get your part 107 certificate, the test is more intense, about 1/3 or what you would cover for a private pilot's certificate and somewhere in there you have to show proof that you're a US citizen. I'm not too familiar with that route because I have a pilot's certificate and as able to take an online test for my Part 107 Certificate.
 

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