Is a UAV on your, or your child’s Christmas list?

Posted by Kevin on Oct 30, 2015 in Gen-Info | 0 comments

Christmas is coming up, and UAV sales are projected to break previous records. The Drone Pilot Zone has a great article that breaks down the safety factors of UAVs, and gives you a list of drones in 4 different classes, from safest (most user friendly) to most dangerous and should be looked at by people that understand how to operate UAVs safely, because these can potentially cause major harm. I’d highly recommend checking this article out if you are shopping for a UAV for the holidays.

Mandatory registration for all UAVs and RC aircraft?

Posted by Kevin on Oct 20, 2015 in Gen-Info, UAV News | 0 comments

Yesterday, the US Department of Transportation held a press conference outlining new rules that they and the FAA want to implement. These rules would make it so that all UAVs (Hobby and commercial) as well as other hobby aircraft will need to be registered with the FAA. There are a lot of questions with this, and the obvious is about hobby use. Right now, hobbiests do not need to register their aircraft. The process to register an aircraft is very time consuming, and involves many carbon copies… yes, in 2015 they still do not have an electronic means of document submission.

There has been some good commentary about this press-release and proposed new rules:

• 8 Questions Raised by the USDOTs Decision to Register Every Drone in the US also from Aeriographer.com.
• What’s your objective opinion about the Department of Transportation’s announcement that they are forming a task force to essentially create a UAS registration process? from Droneu.com.
• The Problems with Mandatory Drone Registration by Jonathan Rupprecht on jrupprechtlaw.com.
• AMA JOINS DOT TASK FORCE ON UAS REGISTRATION from the AMA Website. They say that they are going to work on having differing rules for small hobby and toy drones.
• U.S. To Require Registration Of All Drones; Hobbyists May Pose Legal Conundrum by John Goglia on Forbes.com. This is a really good read.

Litchi app for DJI UAVs

Posted by Kevin on Sep 8, 2015 in Application | 0 comments

Just found a new app called Litchi. This is an app for DJI UAVs that features several methods of flight beyond basic control. This gives you follow, circle, and waypoint missions. It supports the P2 Vision, P2 Vision +, Phantom 3, and Inspire 1.

The first commercial paper airplane UAV has been certified for commercial use.

Posted by Kevin on Aug 28, 2015 in UAV News | 0 comments

PowerUp 3.0 from PowerUp Toys – Image from PowerUp Toys

John Goglia broke the news on Forbes that the FAA has certified a paper airplane for UAV operations. The PowerUp powered paper airplane has a 180′ range and and a 10 minute flight time. Unfortunately, the individual that got the 333 exemption is not legally allowed to fly it commercially, since his helicopter pilot’s license is out of date.

A “Cheap” way to get a pilot’s license for 333 exemption?

Posted by Kevin on Aug 27, 2015 in Gen-Info | 0 comments

Flying over a road in a Hot Air Balloon.

It seems that Alon Sicherman has found a loop-hole of sorts, for getting a pilot’s license to fly a UAS. It costs 1/2 to 1/3 of a pilot’s license, and just like flying a plane, has very little to do with flying a multi-rotor for photography purposes. The article does point out that Alon has learned a lot of background information about flight, that will help him with his UAS flying. I would think Balloons (and possibly gliders) would be the closest to flying a UAV since they are greatly affected by the weather and small changes in the atmosphere.

Air Trespassing bill approved in California.

Posted by Kevin on Aug 25, 2015 in UAV News | 0 comments

Democratic Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson in California has written a bill that has passed the assembly, leaving only 50′ of airspace for UAV operators to fly in. This new bill calls a UAV flying under 350′ trespassing, leaving only a 50′ window in which to fly UAVs in the state, legally. You can fly over businesses, though, it seems.

Here is another article that shows the level of paranoia involved in legislation. Here is the best quote: “It makes no sense that a drone should be able to look in your window and the operator should not be guilty of the same trespass.” I am not sure if this assemblyman has heard of voyeurism laws or not. The article says “if you are looking on someone’s property to break in, you are trespassing.”

It seems that law should apply to UAVs, too, instead of just making it trespass if you are under 350′. With this article, I question if their elected officials have seen any SCOTUS laws over the years dealing with this, and how their laws break the constitutional protections of the 1st amendment.

All in all, this seems like a knee-jerk reaction to a non-issue.

The “Drone” backlash

Posted by Kevin on Aug 24, 2015 in UAV News | 0 comments

Mike Elgan from Computerworld has posted a very interesting article about the “drone” backlash. He goes into the problems we, as enthusiasts, are seeing, and some of the “reasons” no matter how unreasonable they are. Then, he goes on to refute the problems, and brings light to many of the falsehoods.

I find it interesting, that the measured / non-inflammatory story has gotten 12 comments, while a much more inflammatory one would solicit FAR more comments. Of course, when a site lives on the number of clicks they get, those stories that generate the most eyeballs are the ones that get run. Is it any wonder why the inflammatory stories get posted infinitely more than articles like this?