I'll believe this when someone is actually killed. We have something on the order of 13~ midairs a year, and those are full scale. So the odds of being hit are exceptionally low to non existent.

When considering that number I am not losing sleep over drones. Bring them on, just make sure the governemnt types see and avoid theirs as they are about the only ones who are going to be any kind of threat to us.

I know of at least one effort to design and produce transponders for professional sized multi-rotor UAVs. I suspect the FAA will issue a drone squawk as soon as its Part 107 rules are issued.

Jim

Here is an excellent map for quadcopter guys. Shows airports, airspace, AND phone numbers.

https://app.airmap.io/index.html#

I have a Phantom 4 that just shipped today.

> https://app.airmap.io/index.html#

Missing quite a few hospital (& other) heliports that I checked ... based on personal knowledge and the FAA's own B4UFLY app.

I wonder how many birds will make their way thru an engine before the first drone does. And the birds won't make the news. Me, I'll take my chance waiting for the drone rather than the birds that love to fly right in th approach corridor. Most people that buy drones have a real short attention span with them and they end up an a shelf after the first crash. Birds on the other hand seem to fly a lot more often.
Here's a RR engine vs sandhill crane.

Who won?

Drones are not as safe as the drone operators think.

Drones are not as dangerous as the anti drone people think.

The question is if this issue can remain on a scientific and fact based track to proper regulation so the safety of aircraft and the potential of drones are both achieved, or will it become political and hopeless tangled in a yelling war.

Time will tell.

Mike C.

It should be really simple. Go have a blast with your drone, but don't fly it within 5 miles of any airport and/or above 500 ft. If you do, you are guilty of criminal offense and get to spend a couple of years in jail. A few well-publicized cases, and we'll have pretty good compliance.

Commercial ops, not so much.

Drones are toys until that gets figured out. Toys are the danger, not the commercial ops.

Mike C.

Call Chip McClure for all your drone disposal needs!



Sorry Mike... I couldn't resist!

Except they ruled it illegal to shoot a drone down just recently right?

The marketing slogan for Chips new Drone elimination service is "Shoot, Shovel, Shut Up".

I agree. I see no reason why commercial drone rules should be more restrictive than amateur ones. It should be the other way around.

On the bright side, I keep getting email from various folks offering me money to be "observer pilot" for their drone operations, as apparently you need to be a licensed pilot to fly those things in commercial ops.

Soon we'll all me making millions flying drones.

Do you guys differentiate between drones and traditional R/C model aircraft?

I guess not because I fly my model plane right beside the airport. If I flew a drone the same way I would be thrown in jail.

Kevin

There is a distinction between RC aircraft and drones and it has to do with control autonomy. The RC aircraft will crash in mere seconds after a pilot stops controlling it. The airplane does not, generally, have an autopilot (sensors and logic) to fly it autonomously.

In contrast, the drones are unflyable by humans without a semi autonomous control system. This control system stabilizes the drone so the human can put in simplified commands and not actually "fly" the drone.

This has two consequences.

The first is that flying a drone is now accessible to unskilled pilots allowing millions more of them to exist and to be flown by less well trained and perhaps less careful individuals.

The second is that many/most of the drones have semi or fully autonomous flying modes where they can perform certain actions without second by second control inputs from the pilot. With that capability, errors in programming can lead a drone to fly off, NOT crash, and end up in a dangerous place outside the supervision of the "pilot". This can also occur even without programming on certain errors, like a programmed "home" position, or simply flown out of range.

An RC aircraft has neither of those properties. It takes skill, it can't fly on its own.

That's the distinction, but it is kind of subtle to the average person, and to the law.

The RC model airplane guys are struggling with this question politically. They've kind of been swept along with this drone issue since what they do looks superficially the same, a pilot flying a remotely controlled aircraft.

For example, this FAA FAQ on drones:

Q19. I would like to fly my Radio/Remote Controlled (RC) aircraft outdoors; do I have to register it?

A. Yes, RC aircraft are unmanned aircraft and must be registered.

That never happened before drones, now RC models must be registered according to the FAA.

Here is the AMA fighting RC aircraft registration in court:

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov ... -aircraft/

Here is the legal definition of a "model aircraft":

In this section, the term "model aircraft" means an unmanned aircraft that is—
(1) capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere;
(2) flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and
(3) flown for hobby or recreational purposes.

Notice the lack of acknowledgment of the fundamental control differences I pointed out above. Drones and RC aircraft are the same as far as the FAA is concerned.

I spent much of my youth flying model airplanes, and the recent developments sadden me greatly.

Mike C.