- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Yeah I stopped flying RC aircraft. I decided to fly RC ultralights instead, way fewer legal hurdles.
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Nov 24, 2014 23:45
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May 17, 2024 18:09
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Except that Ultralights (without a commercial license) cannot be used for commercial work.
FAR Part 103:
-Used only for sport and recreation
-Daylight operations only
-No operations over congested areas
-Used by a single occupant
-Maximum five gallons of fuel
-Yield right-of-way to all other aircraft
-Operation in controlled airspace and restricted areas requires prior permission
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Nov 26, 2014 06:36
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I don't think they're going to ask for full commercial rating and I don't think that some sort of licensing for a light weight UAS is out of order. Even PPL level ground school would go a long way and I would not have objected if they had introduced that here in Canada (which it looked like they were going to).
The medical requirement is kinda stupid, though.
So for these reasons, I don't think a real estate agent should required to have a license and a physical to fly a Phantom. I think it's a good idea to license operators of more advanced equipment or if they're going to fly around people or for the police/firefighters for example.
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Nov 26, 2014 19:24
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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My local RC park has a strange rule on the sign that I'm not sure what to make of.
"No electric rear thrust motors allowed."
Considering it's a city park, it has to be about reducing their liability. Is it referring to ducted fan stuff maybe? I can't think of any reason they specifically would be banned.
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Dec 2, 2014 05:57
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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The first flying car will be a multirotor. That F16 multirotor is just the beginning. There's another one from Europe somewhere that has a guy sitting on the multirotor piloting it (with a handheld 2.4ghz tx lol) and hovering around.
I did some (very) rough calculations and using the efficiency of T-Motor's biggest motor/prop combo, it would take roughly 200hp to lift 2000lbs. That is more than doable with a lightweight aluminum gas engine in a 2-seater car if there's an efficient and light enough generator is available. Perhaps a battery pack large enough would allow it to make an emergency landing if the motor failed. I could fly it with a $50 Naze32 or a Pixhawk or a Wookong and I'd be able to land exactly in my parking spot. Of course if we're at this stage why is there a need for it to be a "car" at all.
All assuming a friendly regulatory environment, of course.
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Dec 16, 2014 23:55
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I want a RC off-road car but with a FPV camera setup. The car needs to be something like a rock crawler or a 4WD truck, that can drive over 3" pipes laying on the ground. I don't need (or want to pay for) a wearable goggle display, just a regular phone-sized screen would work.
This will be used for looking around under buildings, so anything that flies won't work (there is not much vertical space and often there are wires hanging loose).
Everywhere I look that sells drones just sells the quadcopter things complete. Is there anyplace that sells the FPV setups that you can mount on any RC vehicle you want?
https://www.readymaderc.com
https://www.sierrarc.com
https://www.rangevideo.com
Nope, nobody sells FPV stuff by itself.
I recently bought one of these for a customer along with the TX mount and now I'm loving jealous. I hate when my customers have cooler toys than me:
http://www.hobby-wing.com/fpv-fever-7in-fpv-monitor-w-5-8g-receiver-7450diversity-html.html
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Dec 24, 2014 03:02
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Is there a parts list somewhere if I just want to build a quad copter without researching motor brands and propeller sizes and whatnot? I'd basically like to build something to slap my gopro on and dick around with. My budget is fairly high, but I know better than to, say, buy something for $800 that I could build in an afternoon for $200. I can solder and assemble, but I'd prefer not to spend more than say 8 hours putting it together. Is that realistic?
$200 is about the going price for a basic flight controller without GPS like NAZA, Pixhawk, Vector, etc. The Naze32 or CC3D Multiwii, etc are much less money but require a lot more DIY work and customization to get to work as well. If you are good with electronics you can get the same frame and motors but get a $50 Naze32 and hook it up to a GPS but this requires some knowledge of arduino, USB TTL, and fidly soldering and also won't position hold as well.
Add another $200 for a decent gimbal.
You should just buy a used Phantom and fix it when it breaks/upgrade parts to learn.
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Dec 30, 2014 19:02
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I don't know what a Phantom 2 comes with, but a 3-axis gimbal for the GoPro makes a 2-axis gimbal look like trash.
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Jan 7, 2015 06:39
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Colorado RC flyers of all types! Come to the Capitol tomorrow at 2pm if possible!
http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?36754-PROPOSED-BILL-WOULD-BAN-ALL-RC-AIRCRAFT-IN-COLORADO
prelator posted:Heads up guys, there is apparently another drone bill going to be introduced in the Colorado State Senate by Senators Linda Newell and Kevin Lundberg. According Vic Moss, it mainly deals with how law enforcement will be allowed to use UAV's, but part of the bill is EXTREMELY troubling. It states, "If a person or entity wants to use a UAV for for recreational or commercial use or for UAV research, the person must obtain an experimental airworthiness certificate or certificate of waiver or authorization from the FAA."
They will be holding a stakeholders meeting this Tuesday January 13th, at 2PM in room SCR356, at the Colorado Capital building.
I wrote a very long email to Lundberg (I interned for him in high school when he was a State Representative) and I hope to attend the meeting if I can get off work early on Tuesday. Seeing as how this bill would outlaw all model aviation in Colorado without an FAA waiver which doesn't even exist for hobbyists, everyone who can should try to come.
The full text of the bill has been posted here: https://fetch.hightail.com/storage-a....15%20Bill.pdf
From the language it is quite clear they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
Here is the contact info for the two state senators who are sponsoring the bill: kevin@kevinlundberg.com, and linda.newell.senate@gmail.com. We should have as many people email them as possible. You can read what I wrote to Lundberg here: http://pastebin.com/DKQMFzs1
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Jan 12, 2015 18:05
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Good news! The bill is going back for major rewrite and should be much more reasonable the second time around. Summaries here:
http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?36754-PROPOSED-BILL-WOULD-BAN-ALL-RC-AIRCRAFT-IN-COLORADO&p=635860&viewfull=1#post635860
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Jan 14, 2015 06:17
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Along these lines, is there a way to use an Occulus Rift or similar headset to control a camera gimbal? So it turns and tilts the same way my head is?
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Jan 16, 2015 18:54
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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The cat is out of the bag! Anti-UAV actions by the FAA and private pilots have nearly NOTHING to do with safety! They are afraid of losing money plain and simple!
http://www.suasnews.com/2015/01/33886/man-vs-drone-some-pilots-fight-back-against-robots/
quote:In an unfolding battle over U.S. skies, it’s man versus drone.
Aerial surveyors, photographers and moviemaking pilots are increasingly losing business to robots that often can do their jobs faster, cheaper and better.
That competition, paired with concerns about midair collisions with drones, has made commercial pilots some of the fiercest opponents to unmanned aircraft. And now these aviators are fighting back, lobbying regulators for strict rules for the devices and reporting unauthorized drone users to authorities.
Jim Williams, head of the Federal Aviation Administration’s unmanned-aircraft office, said that many FAA investigations into commercial-drone flights begin with tips from manned-aircraft pilots who compete with those drones. “They’ll let us know that, ’Hey, I’m losing all my business to these guys. They’re not approved. Go investigate,’” Mr. Williams said at a drone conference last year. “We will investigate those.”
Unlike the vast majority of commercial pilots in the U.S.—those that helm passenger jets tens of thousands of feet above the ground—the primary drone opponents operate helicopters and small planes generally between 500 feet to 2,000 feet, making maps, inspecting pipelines and spraying crops. Drones are supposed to stay below 400 feet, but the FAA has received dozens of reports of the devices flying too close to manned aircraft—typically smaller planes and helicopters.
“I’m now looking for lawn mowers flying around,” said Mike Peavey, a former Vietnam War pilot who flies helicopters around New England to monitor power lines and shoot movies. “A 40-pound object impacting certain parts of a helicopter would be disastrous.”
Mr. Peavey said he initially refused to film a sailboat competition in Newport, R.I., in June because drones would also be buzzing above the water. He lobbied Rhode Island’s aeronautics inspector to reconsider its authorization for drones at the event.
A week before the event, the inspector said operating a drone near an open-air event would be a misdemeanor under Rhode Island law. Mr. Peavey filmed the sailboats but drones did not.
The FAA has effectively banned the commercial use of drones until it completes rules for the devices in the next few years. Meanwhile, the agency has approved limitedcommercial-drone flights for 15 operators.
In many of those exemptions, the Air Line Pilots Association, the biggest U.S. pilots union, and the National Agricultural Aviation Association, a trade group for crop dusters, helped persuade the FAA to place tight restrictions on the drone flights, including requiring operators to have pilot licenses and to keep the devices within eyeshot.
For several exemptions, the FAA agreed with the crop-duster group’s recommendations to require operators to file notices with local aviation authorities two days before flying and to display identification numbers on their drones. The group urged the FAA to also require bright paint, strobe lights and transponders that broadcast the drones’ location to other aircraft, but the agency declined.
Last year, after a judge struck down the FAA’s first-ever fine against a man for operating a drone recklessly, the crop-duster group filed the only outside legal brief in support of the fine. If the FAA can’t punish unsafe drone users, “then the safety of flight of agricultural air operation (and all manned aircraft operations for that matter) is in jeopardy,” wrote the group, which urges its members to report drone sightings to the FAA.
Pilot Chuck Boyle, president of the Professional Aerial Photographers Association International, said drones have been a hot topic at group meetings for years. “We have lots of members who are very frustrated,” he said. “I hear stories of them losing business to a construction company who’s decided to do it themselves [with a drone], or a drone operator who just took another job from them.”
Mr. Boyle has started reporting drone users who flout the FAA ban. “I am very concerned that the cavalier attitude that he displays and his very open commercial ’drone’ offering will get someone hurt,” he wrote to an FAA inspector last year, reporting an Orlando, Fla., businessman whose company shoots TV commercials with drones.
The inspector told the company, CineDrones, that if it was using drones commercially, “I must insist you stop operations immediately.”
CineDrones President Mike Fortin said he ignored the warning and is still operating without issue.
Many pilots, however, aren’t as critical of drones, and some are even adopting them.
Former U.S. Air Force pilot Robert Hicks, who runs an aerial-photography company using manned aircraft, said he recently started his own drone company after realizing his industry was shifting. He has targeted Latin America for customers because of the strict regulations in the U.S.
Julie Belanger, who runs an aerial-mapping company with her husband in San Martin, Calif., said they want to use drones but are waiting for FAA rules. Meanwhile, they’re competing against entrepreneurs who are using the devices against FAA policy. The system is encouraging unsafe users, she said. “In the right hands drones produce beautiful stuff and are safe,” she said. “In the wrong hands, they’re a danger to aviation.”
Bill Richards, a pilot who shoots films with his helicopter in New York City, said that while “everybody in my business is pooh-poohing them,” he decided to build his own drone for $15,000. “They can do something I can’t: get within a few feet of you without blowing everybody off the set,” he said.
Still, he said, manned choppers will maintain a role. “The speed and power of a real helicopter is not going to be challenged.”
Indeed, some pilots say drones don’t threaten them because their manned aircraft can carry heavier payloads and fly much longer and farther.
Japanese farmers have been using Yamaha Corp. helicopter drones since 1990 to spray crops; those devices carry 4.2 gallons of pesticide, fly 12 miles an hour and cost about $150,000. That is not commercially viable in the U.S., said Andrew Moore, executive director of the agricultural aviation association. His members’ planes sometimes cost a fraction of the Yamaha drone, carry 500 gallons of pesticide and fly 160 miles an hour.
“I think that drone works fine in Japan where they have postage-stamp-sized fields,” he said. “But when you’re looking at agriculture on the U.S. scale, it doesn’t translate.”
I think the trainer port is more traditionally used to connect a second controller, so you can train someone else in flying their rc vehicle (like a driving school car with a second brake)
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Jan 17, 2015 18:43
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Here is the FAA's James Williams pulling off his best Michele Leonhart of the DEA impression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVimXNPue1g
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Jan 22, 2015 15:33
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Naze32 warning: be sure to set the Naze specific failsafe in baseflight! Default is throttle at 1200 which could lead to a fly away. Also another issue which may or may not be related is to power your RX independently from the Naze. Personal experience with a flyaway here:
http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?20175-What-s-going-on-in-Colorado...&p=651798&viewfull=1#post651798
Keep reading for a discussion on this stuff.
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Feb 15, 2015 06:18
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I'm so stoked about these proposed rules!!! Come on guys don't expect FPV to be granted right off the bat, I think the pilot's license requirement was a bigger issue! IMO the LOS issue will come down to mostly the distance you fly from yourself, whether FPV or not, when it comes to prosecution. The real threat from BLOS operations comes from things like mapping drones. I've talked to a lot of eager people about LOS requirements and they seemed to have thought they could just load a mission into the plane and let it fly 10 square miles by itself, which is technically possible but also completely irresponsible. I will be using my goggle for a long time coming.
These rules are commerical/non-recreational only, existing hobbyist exemption is still in place. The inconsistencies between the FAA's stance on FPV and the AMA's is still to be settled. The FAA says FPV is BLOS and therefore not exempted and illegal period. The FAA also says if you follow a community based set of guidelines then you're legal. The AMA rules allow you to fly FPV with a spotter, which is against the FAA's interpretation but also in a community based set of guidelines.
Vitamin J fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Feb 15, 2015
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Feb 15, 2015 21:13
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Some of my FPV footage from a year ago was featured on the Discovery Channel Canada show Daily Planet. They used my footage in a story about wind turbines and how they affect birds. Pretty sweet!
The story with my footage starts at 22:50 on the video on their front page here:
http://www.discovery.ca/dailyplanet
My original video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP9JH-MEmp8
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Apr 28, 2015 20:26
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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bulletz 4 lyf
Video from last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngyue3rTGD0
Vitamin J fucked around with this message at 06:04 on May 6, 2015
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May 5, 2015 17:02
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I can't help but see the same situation go down with the GoPro Karma. DJI unveiled the Mavic a week later and now the Karma looks like an outdated pos.
I work in the drone ag industry and have lots of experience with the Solo, Pixhawk, DJI and others. The Solo was a total flop on launch, could barely fly more than 100ft away before losing signal and RTLing. GoPro glitches causing the camera to freeze mid-flight was also a big problem. The gimbal also sometimes would snap to 45 degrees sideways right after take off and was useless when it finally was released. By the end there were enough software fixes to make it work OK but then 3DR pulled the plug on new developments and threw Tower to the open source community. When it worked it was pretty dang cool and the image quality was very impressive, the gimbal turned out very good in the end, but it still just was no where near as good as what DJI had.
DJI developed their own wireless technology and 3DR tried to use normal Wi-Fi. DJI added sonar and other sensors and 3DR was using last year's GPS. DJI was simply 3 generations ahead.
The Karma doesn't even do half the stuff the Solo did, either. No follow me or automatic flight modes, maybe that's coming. At this point I see no reason to sell a drone without a camera either.
I can't wait for Mavic. My pre-order should be here by the end of the month! I'm leaving for vacation to New Zealand on the 28th so I'm biting my nails in anticipation and keeping my fingers crossed it arrives on time.
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Oct 14, 2016 20:28
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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And thank Jeebus that DJI didn't give two shits about interference with competing systems.
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Oct 17, 2016 18:40
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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I got my Mavic today! Wow it's awesome gonna go fly more.
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Dec 1, 2016 21:16
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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Get a toy micro drone for $20 and fly it around until xmas. Once your Mavic comes it will feel like a Mercedes Benz after you've been riding a bike for the month.
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Dec 8, 2016 17:34
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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3DR.com/FAA has some good 107 material for free including practice tests. Also the Mavic is indeed "out" but only pre-orders and very early October orders have been fulfilled. Some people are getting lucky and finding them in stock at their local Microcenter, Apple stores, and DJI flagship stores.
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Dec 16, 2016 18:35
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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You don't want to charge different capacity batteries at the same time. It's a good way to start a fire.
Regarding lipo size, the best way to determine size of a lipo is watt-hours. Watt-hours track closest to weight. More watt-hours more weight. Also C rating, higher C rating more weight all else equal.
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Dec 27, 2016 22:07
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May 17, 2024 18:09
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- Vitamin J
- Aug 16, 2006
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God, just tell me to shut up already. I have a clear anti-domestic bias and a lack of facts.
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The software on the Mavic limits height to 500m from takeoff altitude. Some locations you have to "authorize" yourself and agree to fly legally and some locations you're locked out from flying completely (airports). I wonder what brought that Mavic down, it should RTL on lost connection as long as everything is functioning. Could have just been a momentary disconnect also.
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Jan 2, 2017 03:29
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Nov 24, 2014 23:45
this just looks like an rc plane with a plastic man underneath and more frame
