After this Christmas, I think we're going to see a sharp increase in the number of drones flying the skies. Do you think there are enough regulations for owning these devices? I'm not familiar the airspace regulations and how high you can fly these things so I'm sure many of the new owners will likely be just as ignorant.
A skier almost had one fall on his head during a competition. It's a scary video and I'm surprised we don't hear more stories about these things falling from the sky.
For the most part drones are limited by the same constraints as an RC plane in terms of radio range. It depends on the radio. My Parrot is controlled by 2.4GHz wifi so it goes as far as my phone's range, which isn't very far. I've seen people that have hacked in a household router to extend that range quite a bit, but it's still radio waves that control the drone so it's still based on how powerful your transmitter on the controller and the drone itself are.
The exception to this is drones that have GPS and that can be programmed to move autonomously to GPS coordinates.
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A lot of sporting events I know have banned them from operating, unless you can provide proof of insurance naming the event and all parties, to a high value and then there are operating conditions.
You won't see stricter rules for owning them, but you certainly will for operating them.
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Last edited by BlackArcher101; 12-23-2015 at 02:02 AM.
it's a huge story over here today ... skiers are pretty much the biggest and most important sport stars in Austria and Marcel Hirscher is by the far the biggest star. Scary stuff indeed, that could have ended tragically.
Apparently drone regulations in Italy (where the race took place) are pretty vague and the organizers admitted that they didn't really monitore the drone during the second run.
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I've been following the news about it a little but it appears that in the US all drone users will need to register with the FAA and they will receive a registration number for themselves and any drones they have. So not a unique identifier like an airplane registration but a way of tracking people that have them.
What is the difference between a drone and a RC Plane?
The main concern with drones, quads, uavs, whatever you want to call them, is how easy they are to operate. Someone with absolutely no experience can go to the local hobby shop and buy a drone with a transmitter and be flying as soon as the battery is done charging. Most quads these days come with some sort of internal stabilization that will keep the quad level and it's orientation consistent to the person controlling it.
Typically you will have to have some sort of experience or education (through another experienced flyer) to flying RC aircraft, as they are much trickier to fly, and need a much larger space to be flown in.
As for range, both planes and quads have really decent range these days, think a few kilometers. The issue with this of course is that you can get you can get into trouble with the drone flying away from you, or even worse, getting in the way of civilian or commercial aircraft. A couple of years ago a WestJet plane had an incident with a drone just west of Calgary. I don't know what came of it, but it is definitely a major concern with the governing bodies. This is the reason you are seeing the US trying to impose laws and registering drones with the FAA.
In Canada the hobby is governed by the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC), which I believe has imposed rules on flying drones. It is also illegal (only a bylaw really) to fly any model aircraft, including drones, within the Calgary city limits (except at designated flying fields).
Lastly the drone in the video is not some consumer model and likely a professional build. I imagine they had permission to be filming the race, but had some issues with the receiver or battery that caused it to fall out of the sky.
I am involved in the hobby and enjoy chatting about it so if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM or ask in this thread.
For the most part drones are limited by the same constraints as an RC plane in terms of radio range. It depends on the radio. My Parrot is controlled by 2.4GHz wifi so it goes as far as my phone's range, which isn't very far. I've seen people that have hacked in a household router to extend that range quite a bit, but it's still radio waves that control the drone so it's still based on how powerful your transmitter on the controller and the drone itself are.
The exception to this is drones that have GPS and that can be programmed to move autonomously to GPS coordinates.
My Phantom 3 professional has mind blowing range out of the box. I am easily getting 2 kms, and could stretch it farther if I really wanted to. Plus its throwing a 720p signal back to the ipad. You could thread a needle with it, flying FPV. I shouldn't admit this, but I flew mine from the top of the hill by Crescent heights High school, manually landed it on the roof of the Bow, took off again and flew it home. Now with ground sonar and visual collision sensors, you can do it. You just point the camera straight down. The only limitation on range seems to be battery power. But at about 30 mph, you can cover some pretty good range with a 25 min flight time.
I'll be honest, as an owner and enthusiast, they even scare me, because I am fully aware of what they are capable of, especially with how easy they are to fly. It is only a matter of time before some straps something bad to one, and does something horrible.
My Phantom 3 professional has mind blowing range out of the box. I am easily getting 2 kms, and could stretch it farther if I really wanted to. Plus its throwing a 720p signal back to the ipad. You could thread a needle with it, flying FPV. I shouldn't admit this, but I flew mine from the top of the hill by Crescent heights High school, manually landed it on the roof of the Bow, took off again and flew it home. Now with ground sonar and visual collision sensors, you can do it. You just point the camera straight down. The only limitation on range seems to be battery power. But at about 30 mph, you can cover some pretty good range with a 25 min flight time.
I would remove this for sure. That is super dangerous, any disconnection between receiver and transmitter or the battery going and you'd do some serious damage to whoever was below. As well I believe the area around the downtown is restricted airspace due to the helipad near Prince's Island...
Stricter Rules for Drone Ownership?
I would remove this for sure. That is super dangerous, any disconnection between receiver and transmitter or the battery going and you'd do some serious damage to whoever was below. As well I believe the area around the downtown is restricted airspace due to the helipad near Prince's Island...
