Iam wondering from all of you that fly either the inspire or the P3 (I haveboth and I love them both) who flies out of visual range and then uses thevideo and map/radar feeds for positioning. The reason I ask is simple, to keepthem close in is not really using them to their full potential considering thatthey are made to fly much further than we would be ableto fly engaged visually. For instance my P3 pretty much disappearsfrom my visual ability to stay on it at around 6-800 out feet especiallyat 150-200 feet high and I have good eyesight I can see it but it is smalland orientation is completely gone moving from the video back to visual can be difficult at times. If clouds are present or overcast it’s muchharder. The Inspire 1 I can stay on further because of its size and designbut I do rely on the radar/video/map for orientation on both. I know that the "right"thing to do is keep them in your visual range, but it just seems silly to do soconsidering the tools that we have been given i.e. the map, radar and video.The landscapes available to photograph or shoot video on are vast and gettingout there where you can't walk or drive makes it necessary or you won'tget the shot. Ground station would be nice too but :-( we don’t have thatdo we.

Sodo you go explore or do you stay in visual range that is the question?

Ken

You "should" fly line of sight and governmental authorities will say you "must"!

But...

Hypothetically if I were the kind of person who often roams kilometres away from take-off to explore wilderness or gain access to areas that i could never access by foot... well, if I WERE the kind of person I'd say that I do so using the FPV feed and just fly it like i'm sitting in it.

I find the map is slightly helpful but I cut my teeth doing FPV flying with goggles and an OSD so I've (again, hypothetically!) had many flights where I've never seen the aircraft take off or land with my own eyes - just saw it from the copters perspective. You can usually navigate by landmarks but once or twice I've needed to reference my flight distance and bearing-to-home to reorient myself if I've meandered a bit.

I'd also point out that I'm pretty safe at this as, if I WERE flying outside of LoS, I'd be doing so in deep wilderness and/or over open water where even a full-speed aircraft wouldn't make it to anything resembling civilization before running out power.

Incidentally, if you want to see some really great non-LoS exploration flight, check out Team Blacksheep on YouTube.

You can see in this video, for example, that they are kilometres away the entire time. They fly with 900mhz or 2.4ghz analog FPV gear and 433mhz UHF control gear (ImmersionRC EzUHF) so range is really limited to battery life only.

Well, let me ask you this.  Do you fly above 400 feet?  In other words, did you modify the altitude limit?  

FAA says. line of sight.  That's not a sugestion, and they don't have a sense of humor.  So far they have said we can fly as a hobby, without jumping through hoops to get a permit.  That could end with people ignoring their rules.

For what it's worth I seldom fly above 50-60 meters as the subject becomes so small in the frame ...unless the subject is say a building and the section which it occupies.

I always seek to keep the UAV in LoS - no way to maintain appropriate situational awareness otherwise.
Just because the tech enables you to fly well beyond visual range doesn't mean it is the right  thing to do.

just a matter of common sense - if you are flying in a populated area, keep it close - in open free terrain you can go further.

SimplePanda Posted at 2015-7-7 05:56
Incidentally, if you want to see some really great non-LoS exploration flight, check out Team Blacks ...

Black Sheep it's not the example to follow.
They do the most irresponsible vids.
When visiting my hometown they were flying within support cables on a very busy bridge and over one of the heaviest demographic concentrations in the world.
Disregard to public safety and lack of common sense are obvious and unacceptable.

LoS it's not a suggestion, it's a MUST.

300hp cars are also made for speed.
Do you drive your car at 150miles per hour in your neighbourhood?

I can fly out of visual range on my own property, should I be able to do that?   The sheriff called me a few months ago, to go up into the national forest and search for a lady that was lost.  With fpv glasses in hand I told the sheriff that we were not supposed to fly out of sight and that the glasses use was questionable.  He  shrugged his shoulders and said lets get on with it,  it is starting to snow, ( it was 70 degrees earlier in the day) We went to different locations in the forest and searched as much area as we possibly could.

Starship Posted at 2015-7-7 06:34
Well, let me ask you this.  Do you fly above 400 feet?  In other words, did you modify the altitude  ...

The FAA's not my problem.

Transport Canada has pretty similar opinions though.

Incidentally, I keep under 120m  (about 390 feet). Honestly I don't find a lot to I want to photograph much higher than 30m so I don't see the point. To each their own I guess.

Like I said if I'm way out of LoS it's either over open water or in pretty vast wilderness. It's neither recommended nor smart to do anything other than very very controlled LoS flying in developed areas.

In Toronto it's become a bit of an annoying trend that people are buzzing the CN Tower with their Phantoms. The problem is: a) it's right downtown in and amongst 100+ skyscrapers and b) there is a class B airspace airport right in the harbour. Fortunately TC has been pretty cool about simply notifying people to smarten up rather than bring down harsh regs.

Linolens Posted at 2015-7-7 10:14
Black Sheep it's not the example to follow.
They do the most irresponsible vids.
When visiting my  ...

Fair points.

Starship Posted at 2015-7-7 06:34
Well, let me ask you this.  Do you fly above 400 feet?  In other words, did you modify the altitude  ...

Nope can't do that neither platform allows you to fly above 400 feet which in my opinion is high enough. Actually video at this altitude is spectacular. But again 400 feet high the machines get pretty small for the eyes.

Kenrwi Posted at 2015-7-7 20:31
Nope can't do that neither platform allows you to fly above 400 feet which in my opinion is high e ...

I asked that question as an example.  Flying above 400 feet and flying beyond line of sight are both breaking the law.  

Starship Posted at 2015-7-8 01:04
I asked that question as an example.  Flying above 400 feet and flying beyond line of sight are bot ...

Any more you break the law by getting up in the morning

I always stay within visual range. I am able to get all the footage I want or need that way.

Kenrwi Posted at 2015-7-7 20:31
Nope can't do that neither platform allows you to fly above 400 feet which in my opinion is high e ...

400 meters dude not feet...is the platform limit.............................. the Canada Transport "recommends" below 400 feet for safety .................FAA "mandates" to keep below 400 feet

arunmehta Posted at 2015-7-10 07:01
400 meters dude not feet...

FAA says 400 FEET not meters.

Linolens Posted at 2015-7-7 10:14
Black Sheep it's not the example to follow.
They do the most irresponsible vids.
When visiting my  ...

Well said.  It is the irresponsible folks that are going to give the rest of us a bad name and make things more difficult.  Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

We usually work in close proximity to our subjects, such as houses, boats, buildings, etc.  We stay away from flying directly over people unless they are part of our crew or the subject matter for filming. Concerning flying out of sight, we have done it a couple of times by mistake, but ALWAYS bring it right back as soon as we figure out exactly where is it and its orientation. We had to use the "Home" button once because we didn't know the area or roads that we could see on the tablet.
I recommend keeping it in sight at ALL times. This will keep you out of trouble.

FloridaDroneLLC Posted at 2015-7-11 10:43
We usually work in close proximity to our subjects, such as houses, boats, buildings, etc.  We stay  ...

The home button can be a real life saver.