Cetacean
Captain
Flight distance : 2528264 ft
United States
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BearDrone Posted at 2018-2-13 12:53
"A permanent working group would mirror what other states have done, as far as having all the stakeholders together constantly making recommendations and interfacing with the federal government," said McKelvey.
Bureaucrat speak for, "We are desperately trying to find a way to outlaw drones in the beautiful state of HI..."
Aloha Bear,
Actually, it is even closer than that. We stay below 400 feet and helicopters (and other manned aircraft) stay above 500 feet. And in fact, helicopters have no regulatory minimum altitude since they can land most anywhere. The only real altitude limitation helicopters have is if they fly too low and a complaint is filed and the hearing goes against the pilot, they can loose their license or be otherwise sanctioned.
My flying grounds are scenic mountain cliffs (called Pali in Hawai'ian). Tourist helicopters are always buzzing the cliffs and mountain tops to give the tourists a nice flight. Even circle island fixed wing pilots, putting in their hours, like to fly as close as 500 feet to the cliffs, ridges and mountain tops. So, as a defense, my flying friend and I drop into the rocks ASAP when we see or hear those aircraft. Even though we are within 400 feet of the structure (mountain ridge or cliff), the manned aircraft has the right-of-way.
To do this, we use both VLOS and Camera View. With the cliffs, at 1640 feet, there are really only two ways the aircraft can approach. (To go straight into the cliffs, they would have to fly right over us and be real easy to detect.) As soon as we hear the aircraft, we look to see if it is visible. We have a lot of trees (since we are in a jungle) so VLOS to the intruding aircraft is not easy. Without visual ID, we dive into the mountain.
Diving into the mountain is where the Camera View is very useful. With the collision avoidance sensors and VPS, we have a good supplement to Camera View. The idea is to get close to the mountain, say within 100-50 feet. The Camera View is used specifically to look at the closest part of the mountain we are flying toward. We do not have to worry about the intruding aircraft. They are not going to fly into the mountain, and if they do, a drone is not their problem!
So, there are resources available to you as a Phantom flier that can be used to help keep everyone healthy. As soon as you hear an approaching aircraft, start dropping further into your safety zone, the lower parts of the 400 feet allowed for us to fly in. After the aircraft passes, go back to what you were doing. If there are too many intruding aircraft for you to have an enjoyable flight, find another location to fly. When flying in strange locations, try to stay at 300 feet. This is high enough to allow privacy to those on the ground, that you did not know were there, yet below the 400 feet maximum altitude we are allowed to fly at, but may have intruding aircraft. It is also closer to safety if you have to hit the deck quickly.
This is just a general principle of attempted safe flying. You can customize the basics to fit your specific flying area. But to be successful, you have to think ahead about what are the normal conflicts in your flying area and then plan a strategy to reduce the conflict.
Hope this helps!
Aloha and Drone On! |
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