New to the whole higher end drone thing and loving every minute of it so far.

I'm looking into flying at night and getting some images of the city and haven't seen any posts about night flights or proper lighting needed to fly in the US. If anyone has any information I/we could find it all very useful. Thanks and fly safe

https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/

6.  Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times.

I think it used to say for recreational drone pilots not to fly at night.  This is a new statement to me.  Seems to me the MA2 has lighting that allows us to know both location and orientation at all times.

Correct Rustic, hence why I'm trying to find out what we need to legally fly at night.

I do not believe the factory lights are sufficient enough for night flights even though they do follow #6

Yamaha.r6 Posted at 6-17 14:28
Correct Rustic, hence why I'm trying to find out what we need to legally fly at night.

I do not believe the factory lights are sufficient enough for night flights even though they do follow #6

Just a few factoids: You are not allowed to legally fly at night  which is 60 minutes after sunset and 60 minutes before sunrise without a waiver. You are allowed to fly in "civil twilight" which is 30 minutes after sundown and 30 minutes before sunrise and must have anti-collision lighting. You can only get a waiver at this time if you are a part 107 pilot.

FireHouse Technologies strobes are very popular and meet the FAA requirement of 3 mile visibility. There are also strobes from other manufacturers as well. The DJI lights on your drone do not meet FAA requirements.

NightThunder Posted at 6-17 18:23
Just a few factoids: You are not allowed to legally fly at night  which is 60 minutes after sunset and 60 minutes before sunrise without a waiver. You are allowed to fly in "civil twilight" which is 30 minutes after sundown and 30 minutes before sunrise and must have anti-collision lighting. You can only get a waiver at this time if you are a part 107 pilot.

FireHouse Technologies strobes are very popular and meet the FAA requirement of 3 mile visibility. There are also strobes from other manufacturers as well. The DJI lights on your drone do not meet FAA requirements.

I believe you when you say you can't fly at night but I can't find the reference.  I found the reference linked in reply #2 above for hobbyists which is how I fly and it clearly says you can fly at night if you have proper lighting.  Can you list the reference for no night flying???  And if it's for USA or elsewhere...  And also list the reference for what proper lighting is...  Thanks

You can fly at night as a recreational/hobbyist as long as you follow the guidelines listed above from the FAA and are in uncontrolled airspace
"6.  Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times."

if you fly under Part 107 (i.e. commercial use) then you must get a night waiver.  I'm not entirely sure why as a hobbyist you are fine but commercial you need a waiver.

IF you are in controlled airspace, you have to get a waiver to fly the drone at all, even if it is 10 feet in the air.  I live in Class D airspace so I applied for a waiver. It only took a few days. Then you have to follow whatever rules they give you. Here are some excerpts from the document (main take away is that it indicated I can't fly at night in their airspace, other places may be different)
HEADER:
"Recreational Flyer, Section 44809 – Wide Area Airspace Authorization FAA Form 7711-1"

OPERATIONS AUTHORIZED:
"Operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) weighing 55 pounds or less, flown within visual line of sight and solely for recreational purposes under Section 44809. Operations are limited to the maximum altitude listed below.
Class of Airspace: D
At or Below: Altitudes in accordance with the published UAS Facility Map (UASFM)
Under the Jurisdiction of: McKinney National Airport Air Traffic Control Tower (TKI ATCT)
Airport Identifier: KTKI"

"2. SCHEDULE OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS.
a. This authorization can be rescinded by the FAA at any time and is issued in order to allow recreational operations under 49 U.S.C. 44809, as specified in the Operations Authorized section of this document.
b. TKI ATCT may terminate, restrict, or delay UAS flight operations covered by this Authorization at any time.
c. This Authorization and the Special Provisions shall be in effect between civil sunrise and civil sunset local time. Night operations are not currently authorized."
......

djiuser_BOvclbMvy6H7 Posted at 6-18 12:06
You can fly at night as a recreational/hobbyist as long as you follow the guidelines listed above from the FAA and are in uncontrolled airspace
"6.  Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times."

So your first paragraph applies to hobbyists and everything else is for Part 107???  Including the lines in red???

Rustic17 Posted at 6-18 12:17
So your first paragraph applies to hobbyists and everything else is for Part 107???  Including the lines in red???

The waiver is for recreational flyers.  I don't have a Part 107 so I don't know what that waiver would look like.   I just know that even though I can fly at night in other places (class G airspace), I'm not allowed in that airport's airspace (class D).

But everything after the first paragraph is for Part 107 pilots and getting a waiver to fly in Class D airspace???

Rustic17 Posted at 6-18 12:26
But everything after the first paragraph is for Part 107 pilots and getting a waiver to fly in Class D airspace???

Yes,  if you are a hobbyist and you aren't in controlled airspace, then you can put your drone up at night.   The rest is if you are part 107 or are in controlled airspace and need a waiver.

Ok so we got that out of the way which I knew we could fly at night as a hobbyist.

What is there on the market for legal night lighting? I'm not having luck looking.

djiuser_BOvclbMvy6H7 Posted at 6-18 12:27
Yes,  if you are a hobbyist and you aren't in controlled airspace, then you can put your drone up at night.   The rest is if you are part 107 or are in controlled airspace and need a waiver.

All true, with the noted addition (already mentioned) that recreational flights at night only in uncontrolled airspace.  You will not get approval to fly at night in controlled airspace.  The stock lights are probably ok if you aren't going very far.  Pretty quickly you probably can't tell orientation so you might need something else.

Part 107 lights (if with a waiver) need to be anti-collision lights visible for 3SM.

Yamaha.r6 Posted at 6-17 14:28
Correct Rustic, hence why I'm trying to find out what we need to legally fly at night.

I do not believe the factory lights are sufficient enough for night flights even though they do follow #6

If you are in the UK you can't beat these  https://store.flytron.com/produc ... iant=32074574758019

PGYTECH has a headlight kit that also comes with landing gear extensions.  It is $40.   They are on Amazon but I got mine at B&H Photo/Video for the Same price and they were ready to ship, unlike what I found on Amazon.   Haven't gotten them yet but there are some youtube videos of them out there.  Search youtube for "DJI Mavic 2 Landing Gear Extensions With LED Headlamp Set"

Thanks stevecn70. I will have to check them out.

stevecn70 Posted at 6-18 14:20
PGYTECH has a headlight kit that also comes with landing gear extensions.  It is $40.   They are on Amazon but I got mine at B&H Photo/Video for the Same price and they were ready to ship, unlike what I found on Amazon.   Haven't gotten them yet but there are some youtube videos of them out there.  Search youtube for "DJI Mavic 2 Landing Gear Extensions With LED Headlamp Set"

Will they work on the MA2? These are for the Mavic 2

Hello there Yamaha.r6. Thank you for reaching out and for these information you have given us. I recommend that you can try to use low ISO value, increase the shutter speed, adjust the white balance. In addition I will also post a link where in you some DJI Guides and Tips on Camera Setting ( https://store.dji.com/guides/7-c ... ost-beginners-make/ ). Thank you and fly safe always.

Here is link to Amazon for the FireHouse cree lights. They come in different colors wich can aid in orientation when placed correctly, meets the FAA 3 mile visiblity requirement, and can easily be attached via velcro. Works with any drone.

As far as flying at night in class G airspace that is questionable and has been debated. Perhaps the FAA has eased things up? One thing is for sure, you cannot fly at night in controlled airspace without a waiver and as a recreational flyer you cannot ask for a waiver, it will be denied.

Putting aside the legal discussions & lighting requirements for a moment, I noticed you said you are new to drone flying. Maybe it might be a good idea to get used to flying in daytime before you step into the much more risky night flying?

InvisibleName 7 Posted at 6-19 12:55
Putting aside the legal discussions & lighting requirements for a moment, I noticed you said you are new to drone flying. Maybe it might be a good idea to get used to flying in daytime before you step into the much more risky night flying?

Thanks for your thoughts away from the original post. I consider myself rather new to drones in a sense of a high end drones, but have flown many of the so called toy drones for a long time which take a whole ton more skill to fly because they do not run off GPS and wind effects them with the slightest breeze.  I am extremely confident in my abilities and why I asked such a question. Again, thanks and keep the props up.

Yamaha.r6 Posted at 6-19 13:08
Thanks for your thoughts away from the original post. I consider myself rather new to drones in a sense of a high end drones, but have flown many of the so called toy drones for a long time which take a whole ton more skill to fly because they do not run off GPS and wind effects them with the slightest breeze.  I am extremely confident in my abilities and why I asked such a question. Again, thanks and keep the props up.

Hey, good to hear. There are so many horror stories of people diving into the VERY deep end within days of getting their new drone, only to end in disaster! Happy flying and post some of your night shots when you finally get the lights sorted!

In Canada it is perfectly legal to fly at night when drone lights are available and visible to the pilot and any visual observer.
Mirek


Night Flight Requirements

• [url=]901.39[/url] [url=](1)[/url] No pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system during the night unless the remotely piloted aircraft is equipped with position lights sufficient to allow the aircraft to be visible to the pilot and any visual observer, whether with or without night-vision goggles, and those lights are turned on.
• [url=](2)[/url] No pilot shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system using night-vision goggles unless the goggles are capable of, or the person has another means of, detecting all light within the visual spectrum.
  
  

I would think at night you would fly a much shorter distance than in the day, getting as close to your subject as possible before launching.  With that said, I would think the existing lighting is enough for you to keep track of your drone.  Don't forget that you do have the Aux light which can be quickly turned on/off with the FN button.  I wouldn't be thinking I need lights for others to see the drone...I don't plan on ever getting that far away or high at night to be a factor to others.  I just want to be able to see it to fly back to me...and you always have the compass at the bottom of the app to turn the MA2 icon towards you and push forward on the pitch control.  Or you can use Map mode to do the same.   Or RTH which I seldom use during the day, but might use more at night.  I have been out at night events and you can see a drone a long way away with just it's generic lights.  The Aux light would be icing on the cake.  Also remember, if you push forward on the pitch and the drone is moving from left to right, turning right will get the drone headed back in your direction.  If it's moving right to left, turn left to head towards you.

InvisibleName 7 Posted at 6-19 13:15
Hey, good to hear. There are so many horror stories of people diving into the VERY deep end within days of getting their new drone, only to end in disaster! Happy flying and post some of your night shots when you finally get the lights sorted!

So what did you use for additional drone lighting???

Rustic17 Posted at 6-24 09:05
So what did you use for additional drone lighting???

Nothing at the moment. I just took it straight up to see what I could see and do. I'm still looking for something. Lots of good posts on lighting, but nothing I want to attach to my drone.

Yamaha.r6 Posted at 6-24 08:24
[view_image]

Great shot, managed to land ok?

InvisibleName 7 Posted at 6-24 11:57
Great shot, managed to land ok?

Absolutely. Just used the aux light once I had gotten down to around 30'

NightThunder Posted at 2020-6-19 12:07
Here is link to Amazon for the FireHouse cree lights. They come in different colors wich can aid in orientation when placed correctly, meets the FAA 3 mile visiblity requirement, and can easily be attached via velcro. Works with any drone.

As far as flying at night in class G airspace that is questionable and has been debated. Perhaps the FAA has eased things up? One thing is for sure, you cannot fly at night in controlled airspace without a waiver and as a recreational flyer you cannot ask for a waiver, it will be denied.

Seen several people use just a white or green light on the air 2. Is there a correct configuration and color for forward and rear lights as on a boat. Thanx Tom

djiuser_AsR5o9Md2vZu Posted at 5-14 07:59
Seen several people use just a white or green light on the air 2. Is there a correct configuration and color for forward and rear lights as on a boat. Thanx Tom

Not in the US. If you are a Part 107 flying at night, you must have a light visible for three miles. No color or location stated.