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Front a back lights

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Being new to this activity I was a bit surprised to learn the front lights on the copter are red while the back ones are green. If you asked me DJI missed an opportunity to make this more intuitive by duplicating the light arrangement of a car with white lights in the front and red ones in the rear.

Just my $0.02...


Brian
 
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Being new to this activity I was a bit surprised to learn the front lights on the copter are red while the back ones are green. If you asked me DJI missed an opportunity to make this more intuitive by duplicating the light arrangement of a car with white lights in the front and red ones in the rear.

Just my $0.02...


Brian
Red for danger coming towards you...duck! Always been that way for multirotors as far as I know.
 
I guess that makes some sense, but copters can fly backwards to so they can approach while pointing in any direction.

The other thing with the lights is that they should wrap around so that they can be seen when the copter is turned to the side.


Brian
 
I wouldn't mind side lights since when you saw one green and one red you would know it was the side and which way was forward.
That being said, there are red LEDs in all 4 corners. When updating my inspire I noticed each leg would light up one at a time. Always red on all 4 legs. I was surprised. Even took a picture. Wonder if there are greens up front.
image.jpeg
 
Actually I think standard navigational lighting would be more intuitive, red on the port (left) green on starboard.
I can never remember those.

I can however easily remember that if I see 2 green lights I'm tail-in i.e. all good and no need to reverse controls, which is the point.
 
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I can never remember those.

I can however easily remember that if I see 2 green lights I'm tail-in i.e. all good and no need to reverse controls, which is the point.

The above mentioned navigation lighting is a worldwide standard for air and seagoing vessels, its counterproductive to reinvent the wheel.
It's certainly not that hard if even a slight attempt is made, with the vessels normal forward facing away from you, Green is Starboard (Right), Red is Port.
if you see a red light on the right and green on your left the nose is pointed at you, if you see two green lights, the nose of the craft is pointing to your right, two red the nose is pointing to your left. as with helicopters flight path can only be determined by observation not the orientation of the navigation lights.
Once this is clearly understood I'm sure there will be noticeably fewer surface interdiction events ("crashes" lol and yes I just made that up), because operators (I don't think its fair to call myself a pilot until/unless I am certified) will be less confused about the orientation of their craft.
If we wish to be taken seriously we need to act professionally even as hobbyist!
 
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The purposes of lights on a UAV and on a full sized aircraft or ship are completly different. On a UAV they are for the pilot-in-commnd, who is observing from a far off, to determine orriention in order to control the flight path of the aircraft. This is not the purpose of the lights on full size aircraft or ship as the pilot is on board.

For UAV purposes red/front green/back serves the purpose well of pilot control IMO.
 
The purposes of lights on a UAV and on a full sized aircraft or ship are completly different. On a UAV they are for the pilot-in-commnd, who is observing from a far off, to determine orriention in order to control the flight path of the aircraft. This is not the purpose of the lights on full size aircraft or ship as the pilot is on board.

For UAV purposes red/front green/back serves the purpose well of pilot control IMO.

Not quite ...

In a full sized aircraft with the pilot on board the light aren't for him, they're to help others avoid him. If it were just for the pilot they wouldn't need light at all.

I think MacDyver makes a good point and if I were to revise my idea I thick what I'd want is white lights on the front and blue lights on the back that wrap around a bit to the sides with a red strobe on the left side and a green strobe on the right side. The red and green lights on the left and right side are standard aircraft navigation lights that inform others in the air not only of the presence of the plane but the relative direction of travel.

With such a lighting system the ground based pilot would make it easier
to not only see the drone but know the orientation.

Of course, I don't think we'll see any changes until the FAA mandates it and it's anyone's guess what they'll come up with.


Brian
 
Your situational and orrientional awareness comes from the lights you see, AC directional movement, left or right in relation to what you are doing with the sticks. Side lights would only add confusion for my simple mind lol.
Yes..mine too. I simply turn the drone until I see the red lights to know where I am.
 
The purposes of lights on a UAV and on a full sized aircraft or ship are completly different. On a UAV they are for the pilot-in-commnd, who is observing from a far off, to determine orriention in order to control the flight path of the aircraft. This is not the purpose of the lights on full size aircraft or ship as the pilot is on board.

For UAV purposes red/front green/back serves the purpose well of pilot control IMO.
I agree. The best part of the inspire are the red lights and I know where the nose is. On my P3 I was always having trouble know g which way the cam was facing and made mistakes flying into trees etc.
 
Not quite ...

In a full sized aircraft with the pilot on board the light aren't for him, they're to help others avoid him. If it were just for the pilot they wouldn't need light at all.

I think MacDyver makes a good point and if I were to revise my idea I thick what I'd want is white lights on the front and blue lights on the back that wrap around a bit to the sides with a red strobe on the left side and a green strobe on the right side. The red and green lights on the left and right side are standard aircraft navigation lights that inform others in the air not only of the presence of the plane but the relative direction of travel.

With such a lighting system the ground based pilot would make it easier
to not only see the drone but know the orientation.

Of course, I don't think we'll see any changes until the FAA mandates it and it's anyone's guess what they'll come up with.


Brian
Im happy the way things are.
 
You can be happy but that won't change the fact that the FAA or your government aviation board might well impose new rules governing the lighting scheme used on drones and that those new rules if they come are likely to resemble current aircraft lighting rules (ie red on left/port side and green on right/starboard side).

OTH, they may just make it illegal to fly from dusk till dawn and eliminate the problem of conforming to existing aircraft rules. Given the trends in governance I'd guess banning will be there first choice.


Brian
 
You can be happy but that won't change the fact that the FAA or your government aviation board might well impose new rules governing the lighting scheme used on drones and that those new rules if they come are likely to resemble current aircraft lighting rules (ie red on left/port side and green on right/starboard side).

OTH, they may just make it illegal to fly from dusk till dawn and eliminate the problem of conforming to existing aircraft rules. Given the trends in governance I'd guess banning will be there first choice.


Brian
Brian, where are you getting this from? Is it just your own guess? As I said above the purposes are entirely different and I personally doubt a change is afoot mainly from a safety perspective.

So a red on your left and a green on your right means it's facing you. Green on the left and red on the right means your looking at the tail. For flight decision reasons having to make split second navigation stick movements this has too many elements that can confuse any pilot when there are other thought demands from other close proximity environment factors (more factors than full sized aircraft have to cope with)...I.e. the order of the colours and the number of colours.

The current accepted system is much safer...if it's red you know, if it's green you know.
 
Brian, where are you getting this from? Is it just your own guess? As I said above the purposes are entirely different and I personally doubt a change is afoot mainly from a safety perspective.

So a red on your left and a green on your right means it's facing you. Green on the left and red on the right means your looking at the tail. For flight decision reasons having to make split second navigation stick movements this has too many elements that can confuse any pilot when there are other thought demands from other close proximity environment factors (more factors than full sized aircraft have to cope with)...I.e. the order of the colours and the number of colours.

The current accepted system is much safer...if it's red you know, if it's green you know.
Im with you. I think they have gone bonkers with this. Im keeping my red lights no matter what. I can never see which way my P3 is pointing. The inspire is great. I can see it coming.
 
Brian, where are you getting this from? Is it just your own guess? As I said above the purposes are entirely different and I personally doubt a change is afoot mainly from a safety perspective.

So a red on your left and a green on your right means it's facing you. Green on the left and red on the right means your looking at the tail. For flight decision reasons having to make split second navigation stick movements this has too many elements that can confuse any pilot when there are other thought demands from other close proximity environment factors (more factors than full sized aircraft have to cope with)...I.e. the order of the colours and the number of colours.

The current accepted system is much safer...if it's red you know, if it's green you know.


The purpose of the different colored navigation light on aircraft are to provide info to other pilots to assist them in determining the direction of flight of the aircraft in question, For example, if you see a plane and the red light is on the left and the green is on the right then it's flying away from you. If, OTH, the lights are on the other side the AC is heading towards you. Useful info to other pilots don't you think?

I'm not getting this from anyone! I've been around a long time and I think I have a pretty good sense as to how the political system works and drones are the pet evil thing to many in the media and many in the public. These are still fairly new things and the regulators are struggling to deal with them and the input from the public and media have to be taken into account.

It's just a matter of time before some numbskull flies his drone where he shouldn't and causes a plane or helicopter to crash killing the passengers -- does anyone here doubt this? And what will the end result of that incident be?

If drones are occupying the same airspace as human piloted aircraft then it's not hard to surmise that sooner or later drones will need to conform to a greater degree to the same rules as other aircraft.

There are other thing beyond lights and frankly lights are the least of it as it's almost certain that sooner or later we will all need transponders -- altitude, heading and speed and ID reporting transponders.


Brian
 
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But many of us dont have a clue about boats.
I knew little about UAS's but I'm learning, Green and red navigation lights are the standard on the entire planet and not wanting them to change simply because you don't like or want to learn, well thats up to you. If you apply for a commercial permit trust me you WILL learn that system.
@Irish Sights,
"The purposes of lights on a UAV and on a full sized aircraft or ship are completly different. On a UAV they are for the pilot-in-commnd, who is observing from a far off, to determine orriention in order to control the flight path of the aircraft. This is not the purpose of the lights on full size aircraft or ship as the pilot is on board.
For UAV purposes red/front green/back serves the purpose well of pilot control IMO."
The purpose of the "international standard" of navigation lights are to inform anyone observing a craft of it's orientation, and it in fact serves all professional pilots and captains and has for a long time, are they all wrong?
suppose every brand of auto had different colored lighting systems based on the manufacturers whimsy?
 
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