Testing the IFR capabilites of the Mini 3 Pro.

Very possibly you lost the drone from view once you flew up through the fog bank. So technically, yes you transgressed the regulations. Happily, no harm done.  Interesting view once the drone was in the clear, by the way.

Not sure what IFR is but if you lost visual of it then its gone BVLOS and therefore, illegal, but hey, whats a fracture here or there ;)

Bashy Posted at 11-7 07:48
Not sure what IFR is but if you lost visual of it then its gone BVLOS and therefore, illegal, but hey, whats a fracture here or there ;)

IFR = Instrument Flight Rules,  its really a private pilots term of flying in the dark/above clouds etc

Slap a good strobe or two on the drone and you'll be legal.

IFR is NOT legal in the U.S. VLOS only at this time.

Back in 2014, I got above the clouds with my Phantom FC40 with its fixed 720p resolution camera with microphone. Listening to the props making different pitch sounds flying through the clouds was quite the thrill. I’m old you know so doesn’t take much to entertain myself. Lol

DAFlys Posted at 11-7 07:51
IFR = Instrument Flight Rules,  its really a private pilots term of flying in the dark/above clouds etc

Ah, thanks, so really n/a for drone usage

Never been up that high but isn't there some issue that could happen when trying to come back down thru the clouds and the drone thinking it is landing on solid ground so it won't go?

Bashy Posted at 11-7 17:41
Ah, thanks, so really n/a for drone usage

Not legal,   it would mean flying only with the telemetry coming back to the controller.  

The Saint Posted at 11-7 19:21
Never been up that high but isn't there some issue that could happen when trying to come back down thru the clouds and the drone thinking it is landing on solid ground so it won't go?

Happened to me with M2P...
Fog was sitting so low I basically took of from it. Climbed to 60m and stuck at that altitude, had to disable sensors to bring in down.
Quite an inconvenience.

DAFlys Posted at 11-7 23:41
Not legal,   it would mean flying only with the telemetry coming back to the controller.

Thanks, i have never like the VLOS idea myself, height, yes, VLOS nope, thats the best part lol

Bashy Posted at 11-8 04:20
Thanks, i have never like the VLOS idea myself, height, yes, VLOS nope, thats the best part lol

I know exactly what you mean.

The Saint Posted at 11-7 19:21
Never been up that high but isn't there some issue that could happen when trying to come back down thru the clouds and the drone thinking it is landing on solid ground so it won't go?

There can be with the moisture on the bottom sensors, normally though you can edge your way down, i think it happened to me once with my P4P, i just cant tapping the stick and it finally came down.

There is one other way if your are deffo stuck and thats, CSC and once again straight after and hope that A, youre high enough to recover and B, the drone doesn't flip else you wont be able to restart it, I think you would struggle with this method if you're below 100m though, I'm not sure of the distance it would need to shut down and then restart, also, I'm not sure if the later drones will let you restart midair, you deffo can with the Mavic Pro

DAFlys Posted at 11-7 07:51
IFR = Instrument Flight Rules,  its really a private pilots term of flying in the dark/above clouds etc

Then we have - VFR.

Visual Flight Rules.

IFR  is for pilots flying by instruments only IN CLOUD and the dark etc, and you need to pass another flying test to do this and it's the next stage up of a standard Private Pilot's License.

Before you have this certification, a pilot can only fly by Visual Flight Rules (VFR), so only when it's clear and there is no low cloud to impede visibility 360. Technically Drone pilots should only ever fly by VFR.

Cheers

Blackbuckone Posted at 11-8 04:47
Then we have - VFR.

Visual Flight Rules.

Yep. I think we already established that.

Not legal in the USA. Check the FAA site for horizontal and vertical limits regarding fog and cloud distances.

DAFlys Posted at 11-8 04:51
Yep. I think we already established that.

As a former ATC officer I thought some people might like to know a bit more background.

You clearly don't and for some reason felt the need to say so

Blackbuckone Posted at 11-8 05:10
As a former ATC officer I thought some people might like to know a bit more background.

You clearly don't and for some reason felt the need to say so

I had just summarised a quick response personally to Bashy that had asked the question, he seemed fine with the details at the time.

Dirty Bird Posted at 11-7 18:45
An FC-40.  Now there is a throwback rarity, sort of like the Phantom 3 4K.  Thinking back to those days here is some above the clouds action with a Puantom 2 Vision+...

https://youtu.be/rXB87j2iNkU?si=mut3DJ5K91vJrLu5

You were up there. Still have the FC40 camera but the Phantom 1 is long gone.  Back in those days, battery life was no more than 15 minutes as I recall and had a digital stop watch attached to the remote that I set for 10 minutes to remind myself to prepare for landing. I forgot to set the timer and I could see the Phantom begin to lose altitude from a distance of maybe 2000 feet, directly over the middle of the Lake of the Ozarks. It took a few seconds to orientate the direction of the drone because even from that short distance, it was impossible to few the drone from the phone’s screen due to lousy transmission so flying was always by the wire in those days. I kept pushing up on the throttle to no avail. It would up in the water maybe 150 feet from the shoreline. Lost the drone along with my GoPro wannabe camera that I was using instead of the FC40 camera. DJI has come a long way Baby since those days.

Dirty Bird Posted at 11-9 04:45
Someday I'd like to have access to one of those RC subs with lights & a grappling claw & try to recover the Mavic Pro I lost when I clipped a boat antenna at the Inner Harbor.  It was only a few feet from shore but the water is 30' deep.  It's been 5 years so the odds of finding it would be slim but it would be make for an interesting story.

This July, I lost my Mavic 3 in the same Lake but different location. I was flying very very slowly through a boat dock and it clipped one of the support poles for the roof. Landed in only 16 feet of water directly below the boat lift. My son and son-in law made several attempts to dive for it but no luck. I wound up hiring a scuba diver a couple days later and recovered the water logged Mavic 3 in 26 seconds. I’ll post the video of it going through the boat dock and also the video of the scuba diver recovering it in the next few days.
I shipped the drone back to DJI and replaced with a new one for around 1K. Ouch!!!

DAFlys Posted at 11-7 07:51
IFR = Instrument Flight Rules,  its really a private pilots term of flying in the dark/above clouds etc

(Pedant's corner)

Close, DA, but not quite.

Night flying can still be done under VFR (Visual Flight Rules). You don't actually need an IR (Instrument Rating) or IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) rating to fly at night. But you do need a Night Rating

Odd, but true.

I've wanted my Night Rating for years because landing more than 30 minutes after sunset requires one and in the winter the days are so short getting home in time limits where you can go on a round trip. But I still struggle with the idea of flying at night without an IMC rating 'coz clouds can creep up on you in the dark!

So, it's not legally required, but in my opinion it'd be a bit scary not to have instrument flying experience when flying at night.

Bashy Posted at 11-8 04:20
Thanks, i have never like the VLOS idea myself, height, yes, VLOS nope, thats the best part lol

VLOS sounds like a job for crowdsourcing spotters.

simmoji Posted at 11-9 15:51
VLOS sounds like a job for crowdsourcing spotters.

Sadly thats not legal, the spotter has to stand next to you, i find that a stupid rule too.

Bashy Posted at 11-7 07:48
Not sure what IFR is but if you lost visual of it then its gone BVLOS and therefore, illegal, but hey, whats a fracture here or there ;)

IFR = Instrument Flight Rules

This is why everyone in the U.S. should be required to take the Part 107 exam, regardless of whether it's recreational or commercial use to operate a drone - like a driver's license for vehicles. Passed my Part 107 a couple weeks ago and having that aviation knowledge base is helpful to make me a safer pilot.

Dirty Bird Posted at 11-10 03:43
Congrats on passing the 107 exam.  Now that you have your 107, obviously everyone should be compelled to obtain a 107.  Not so fast mate!  Everyone should be required to obtain a full commercial pilot's license, include IFR, to fly a drone.  Afterall, that knowledge would certainly make everyone safer pilots.  It's all about the safety with all these deaths & serious injuries caused by consumer drones.

Ah, so you get it then....

No Original Thought Posted at 11-9 15:24
(Pedant's corner)

Close, DA, but not quite.

When you say Night Rating doesnt that mean you have to take some flights with an instructor at night and be signed off for it.

OK.  Time to come clean.  The drone was never out of sight although a little "sucker hole" in the fog and some clever editing made it appear so.  I chose the thread title because I thought it would attract hits and I guess it worked.  As an aside, I'm a retired  Naval Aviator and hold a commeercial multi-engine license and a sailplane rating.  I know the rules.  I guess I should be sorry for the deception, but it was fun reading all the opinions.

Dirty Bird Posted at 11-10 03:43
Congrats on passing the 107 exam.  Now that you have your 107, obviously everyone should be compelled to obtain a 107.  Not so fast mate!  Everyone should be required to obtain a full commercial pilot's license, including IFR, to fly a drone.  Afterall, that knowledge would certainly make everyone safer pilots.  It's all about the safety with all these deaths & serious injuries caused by consumer drones.

Thanks for the compliments about passing the exam.

I do think obtaining a full commercial pilot's license is a bit overkill for drone usage. Part 107 testing does a pretty good job with aviation theory and is a good foundation for every drone pilot.

DAFlys Posted at 11-10 04:20
When you say Night Rating doesnt that mean you have to take some flights with an instructor at night and be signed off for it.

Correct, but you don't need an IR or IMC rating to be able to get a Night Rating and fly at night. You'd then just have to hope you didn't enter IMC by accident

It never quite made sense to me but I checked with a number of instructors at a couple of different clubs.

(I also questioned the meaning of the VFR requirement to be "able to see the ground at all times". I asked how much ground I needed to be able to see - a small patch between the clouds? Both instructors I asked this of gave me the exact same answer, word for word - "you must be able to see the ground"! They wouldn't expand on that at all.

Technically, no.
But I loved the footage.