Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

[spookywillow]

So would you wait or get it done?

The closing date hasn't been set yet but it's expected to be January, It was set to change on Wednesday, 1st July 2020.

I have no idea how the CAA are operating at the moment and if they are even looking at PFCO applications, You could end up spending a good chunk of money to find out it's too late and they wont process it. On the other hand the new course and permit could cost a lot more so probably best to give a training provider a call.

 

[Space Monkey]

Note to all:

There is strictly no buying or selling outside of the Members Market!

 

[neodude]

What rules Have the CAA made any attempt to notify everyone that rules or even a licence are needed, do you get informed when you purchase a drone (like you used to with TVs)?

The rules are easy to find online. It's not the CAAs responsibility to make sure you know them, it's yours. You don't get informed of PPL requirements when you buy a light aircraft, so that's just a silly argument.

 

[MadMossy]

The rules are easy to find online. It's not the CAAs responsibility to make sure you know them, it's yours. You don't get informed of PPL requirements when you buy a light aircraft, so that's just a silly argument.

light aircraft have always had rules though, drones have had them suddenly thrust upon us.

 

[neodude]

light aircraft have always had rules though, drones have had them suddenly thrust upon us.

I'm assuming you disagree with the rules?

 

[MadMossy]

I'm assuming you disagree with the rules?

I don't disagree with them as I knew from the start way back in 2013 that some form of regulation would be needed, but the manner at which they have been introduced is the issue, which has been exacerbated by the events a while ago at airports (which were never proven to have actually happened).

The problem is people who have issue with the registration scheme and fees have spent the last 60+ years being able to fly their helicopters and planes freely without issue and all of a sudden they need to register their details and pay a yearly fee to do what they have been doing for many decades all because of a few idiots with "drones". I've flown RC craft in one form or another for nearly 2 decades and been heavily into FPV since 2013/2014 way before it was seen as "the cool thing" now thanks to heavy handed policing and constantly changing regulation I am no longer able to fly them in my local area (many places have banned the use of drones completely). Which is also why I have recently just decided to sell it all because I just can't use it anymore, even though I want too.

On the plus side this covid-19 thing has put the 2nd hand price up on many drone/rc parts so I've actually not lost a penny so far

 

[neodude]

Fair enough. It's the "few idiots" that are the problem tbh. I work at the airport and we've recently introduced a "Drone Radar" that can track nearby drones, the amount of them flying about within a mile or 2 of the airport boundary is silly tbh. I'd say about 70% of drone videos on YouTube are examples of completely illegal and dangerous flying too. An example of the the many ruining the hobby for the few.

 

[MadMossy]

I wouldn't say a drone is dangerous at all, specially the ones "most" people will be using, the likes of 99% of drones are nothing more than toys with very limited range and capability. It's the expensive ones costing hundreds or even thousands of pounds that could be a risk, but even then if a mavic mini was in a head on with a plane, it'd still disintegrate and barely even scratch the plane. Even entering a turbine it'd do no more damage than a bird would, certainly less than a seagull or goose.

As for the larger more capable drones, the only likely chance of someone using them dangerously is for terrorism related incidents, because average joe is unlikely to fly his/her £1000+ drone somewhere like that. Unless they are of course complete idiots, which unfortunately there is no cure for stupid.

 

[neodude]

Birds can bring airliners down if ingested into an engine. Birds also don't have batteries and metal in them.

 

[MadMossy]

Birds can bring airliners down if ingested into an engine. Birds also don't have batteries and metal in them.

And yet there are millions of bird strikes per year, yet not a single confirmed drone incident ever.

 

[neodude]

Plenty of near misses reported though, it's only a matter of time.

 

[Gerard]

10km range, 0_o

 

[Deluxe1]

Whats the spec differences between the us and europe version?

 

[pioneer2000]

I used to have a Mavic Pro a couple of years ago, now I’ve moved within a couple of miles of an airport. If I were to buy a new Mavic, would I actually be able to fly it at low altitude at my home? I.e. you always used to be able to select the “get authorisation link” and they’d txt a code to allow the gps block to be overridden provided you certify you won’t fly above certain altitude etc.

Just curious as would still want to be able to toy about with it in the garden etc (saving any proper flights for obviously safer areas). Would probably be pointless tho if I can’t even take off at all because I’m in a restricted zone.

 

[Gerard]

Whats the spec differences between the us and europe version?

The power output for the eu version will be less so not as much range, besides that i don't think there's any other differences.

 

[adwol48]

the aircraft warning system found on the US version wont be present on the EU/UK version due to hardware shortages they say eventually they will reticify this in later production runs.

 

[Gerard]

the aircraft warning system found on the US version wont be present on the EU/UK version due to hardware shortages they say eventually they will reticify this in later production runs.

Surprised they didn't delay the eu launch so they would have this in all versions.

 

[ezekial]

10km range, 0_o

Looks awesome

 

[Gerard]

Looks awesome

Makes me wonder how the mavic 3 pro is going to top that.

 

[The_Abyss]

Looks absolutely fantastic. Once the EU version is fully specced to the same standards as the UK, I think I'll grab one in place of my Mavic 2 Pro.