New FAA rules appear to be no big deal.  In fact they raised max altitude to from 400ft to 500ft.  I hope DJI will update firmware to 500 feet.  

http://www.uavexpertnews.com/?p=2170

Thanks for posting.
FYI..
You can go in and change the height to 500' in your Phantom Assistant software!
That said, height restrictions may vary globally so who knows and frankly I don't care if they change because, I can.

The current unmanned aircraft rules remain in place until the FAA implements a final new rule

Here is the full 195 page document

The public will be able to comment on the proposed regulation for 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, which can be found at www.regulations.gov.  Separate from this proposal, the FAA intends to hold public meetings to discuss innovation and opportunities at the test sites and Center of Excellence.  These meetings will be announced in a future Federal Register notice.

Audio of the press release is here.

Going by the summery in the first post that looks to be reasonable as long as the required testing doesn't cost 1000s to achieve like it does here in OZ

I think that 500 feet and maximum airspeed is only for commercial operators. Hobbyists should still stay below 400 feet and hobbyists have no maximum speed limitation

Really there should not be any aircraft below 500ft anyway.

jeepinocala Posted at 2015-2-18 09:13
Really there should not be any aircraft below 500ft anyway.

Crop dusters, balloons, hand gliders, ultralights, police and EMT helos, fire bombers, aircraft landing on private runways and helipads, lots of aircraft below 500 feet.

trailtec.dodo Posted at 2015-2-18 09:30
Crop dusters, balloons, hand gliders, ultralights, police and EMT helos, fire bombers, aircraft la ...

What is the faa law for aircraft height?  I would not want any aircraft that low over my home .

·91.119 Minimum safe altitudes; general
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes;
(a) ·Anywhere. ·An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) ·Over congested areas. ·Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2.000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) ·Over other than congested areas.
An altitude of 500 feet above the surface except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In that case, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) ·Helicopters. ·Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed In paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator.
·Helicopter operations may be conducted below the minimum altitudes set for fixed-wing aircraft. The reason? The helicopter's unique operating characteristics, the most important of which is its ability to execute pinpoint emergency landings during power failure. Further, the helicopter's increased use by law enforcement and emergency medical service agencies requires added flexibility in the application of many FAA provisions.
It is not unusual to have police and military helos fly over my house at under 500 feet.

Helicopters pretty much live at 500'.  400' would give some leeway.  Being that high in a drone wtih such a wide angle lens doesnt really do you much good anyway unless you are trying to mimic satellite photos.

jeep, trail is right and i didnt know til it happened to me last weekend.  an medic helicopter flew over my house WELL below 500ft and it was LITERALLY right where my phantom was just 10mins earlier.  i was at an altitude of probably 300ft and DIRECTLY over my private property.  so as far as what i 'should' be doing, i cant imagine i could have done it any more in the spirit of the rules.  and even then, i could have caused injury or damage in some scenarios (albiet unlikely).  it gave me pause about just how flying these anywhere on the urban side is very different than the middle of nowhere new zealand (hi guys).  

but i think when the faa says nobody flies below 500, then mean non special utility things (like jumbo jets, private cessnas, etc) but that other vehicles operate within different parts of the code than just the normal under 500ft.  

and agree however that if any NORMAL aircraft is under 500ft and more than 5 miles from an airport, they are prob having bigger problems than our drones.

kjkisatsky Posted at 2015-2-18 09:55
·91.119 Minimum safe altitudes; general
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may ...

Not to mention TV station helicopters

Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-2-18 03:47
Thanks for posting.
FYI..
You can go in and change the height to 500' in your Phantom Assistant soft ...

But as a hobbyist keep it set to 400 feet.

I get the army blackhawks and chinooks at any altitude around here.

Here is a good summary of the proposed new rules courtesy of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Again this does not change the rules for hobbyists

http://www.modelaircraft.org/Gov ... rt-FINAL2.15.15.pdf

jeepinocala Posted at 2015-2-18 09:46
What is the faa law for aircraft height?  I would not want any aircraft that low over my home .

You would if it was on fire and the plane had a monsoon bucket!
Rod{:3_50:}

jeepinocala Posted at 2015-2-18 09:46
What is the faa law for aircraft height?  I would not want any aircraft that low over my home .

Chances are if yu live in suburbia you will never have an aircraft that low over your home but not all drone flights are in surburbia are they? Frankly I don't think high and medium denisity housing areas are appropiate places to fly a UAV, I would n't want one over my place either.

Even if you live and fly in populated areas it is still possible to get low flyers as pointed out above. News and police/EMT craft can fly lower than that, they may need to land just up the street or in the local park fro a myrid of reasons. Any helo is quite entiteled to land anywhere it is safe to do so as can balloon pilots who often end sightseeing trips in local parks. Then of course there us the possibility of other UAVs in the area. A collision between a pair of UAVs that sensd them plumeting to earth (or indeed a simple fail on a single bird) could be catstrophic if they landed on someone.

Anyone who thinks the sky is theirs and theirs alone regardless of location because they are below 4 or 500 feet is asking for trouble in a big way.

From my Google Plus page:
When I talked to the FAA at CES this year,  it was clear that their biggest concern about drones is that they could collide with other aircraft. I really pushed the idea that they should have very relaxed rules for drones that weigh less than 1 pound like the Parrot Bebop. While drones should be kept away from aircraft, I don't think that a 1 pound drone would do any damage to a large aircraft and would at most surprise the pilot of a small aircraft. If a Bebop were to collide with an aircraft it would simply disintegrate into hundreds of small pieces. A larger drone like a Phantom probably would not do a lot of damage either but I am a lot less certain.

Let's compare the Bebop to a Canada goose. The Bebop weighs 1 pound and flies up to about 400 feet for up to 10 minutes. They tend to fly alone under manual control and in line of sight. The Canada Goose weighs on average about 8 pounds. They fly in V shape formations at about 3000 feet. They have been seen at up to 29,000 feet. They often fly in large groups and fly from early morning to mid afternoon. Canada geese don't have any built in no-fly zones or altitude limits. Every Canada goose flies autonomously.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_goose

I conclude that even in if drones became popular, they will never be as big of a threat to aircraft as Canada geese. The latter population is growing rapidly and is estimated to be over 5 million breeding geese. http://blog.allaboutbirds.org/20 ... ident-vs-migratory/

One more thing: Jet engines are tested by firing frozen geese and chickens through them using a cannon while the engine is running full throttle.

grangerfx.gmail Posted at 2015-2-19 01:30
From my Google Plus page:
When I talked to the FAA at CES this year,  it was clear that their bigges ...

You must have never seen a jet engine explode.

um, wow.  i dont even know where to start..

1.  IF the faa could control geese, they would.  but geese dont have firmware.  the fact that geese cant be controlled is not a rationale for drones not to be.  just like the fact that having speed limits dont stop people from speeding and the fact that other people speed is no reason for me to do it and be part of the problem.

2.  if engines were not affected by bird hits, then there would not have been 166 emergency landings due to them since 2000.  and just because a plane CAN operate after a single engine loss doesnt mean it ISNT DANGEROUS.  then again, im sure you'd be fine if it were your family member on the plane that MIGHT land safely.  sigh.

3.  JET engines arent the only aircraft in the air.  do you think a Cessna can take a frozen turkey hit and survive?  What about a medivac helicopter?  or a fire airplane?

It is all about the relative dangers of geese vs drones. I agree with the need with some regulations for drones but I think we can do without the hysteria. When was the last time that a pilot reported seeing a goose in their airspace and you saw it on the news?
It sure would be nice if the FAA or Boeing or Cesna tested what would happen if various types of drones hit various types of planes at various speeds. Remember that we could not use an iPad during take off for years but in the end it turned out that there was no real danger? I am worried about the FAA's future rules for amature drone pilots. We may find that we can only fly in our own back yards or indoors.

oh, now that i can get behind, didnt get what you were saying.  cheers.  maybe we should start some hysteria and start going on to bird watching sites and posting flame wars about geese dangers.  even hitting up local news for interviews.  LET DO IT.

When I was in the Air Force at Minot AFB, North Dakota the small cargo door came off a Huey UH-1 helicopter and most likely hit rotor tiller. That caused it to crash killing the pilot and three security people being ferried out to a missile site. I imagine even a Phantom could do the same.

Capt. Bill Posted at 2015-2-18 11:47
Not to mention TV station helicopters

I strongly believe any news helicopters are fair game.