I have a few questions...

kattz · Jul 19, 2018

I found answers to some questions already, but my unanswered ones go here. Please feel free to respond.

Note: for some questions, these are for Part 107 pilots in the US, as I am flying in the US.

For Part 107 aircrew:

FPV and goggles - it appears that Part 107 contradicts itself - one part says "in visual range of the remote pilot in command using nothing other than corrective lenses." Another area of Part 107 states "FPV if visual range is used by alternative means". I am paraphrasing these, but they're pretty close to the verbiage. I read the first one as "No FPV on the part of the RPIC, EVER". The second one means maybe using a safety observer. What's the real answer?

If you can't exceed "in visual range of the remote pilot in command using nothing other than corrective lenses.", why the push for the extended receiver and transmitter range to fly farther from the RPIC? A mile away is illegal... right? Because you can't see an Inspire a mile away with the naked eye. And an observer has to be in the immediate vicinity of the RPIC, so you can't use a walkie to talk to a distant observer... right? So what is the real answer?

BTW, I believe that Section 333 says basically the same thing...

End of Part 107-specific stuff...

I insured my drone through my home and auto insurer; the drone for crash or loss, and liability/injury for several $M. Having said that, I'm putting a Mars58 system on this drone just to slow it down if (when) it crashes. Anyone else here using these or similar?

Why do I keep seeing chargers for the Inspire batteries for hundreds or even thousands of dollars? The DJI chargers are, well, not very intelligent (the charger electronics, not the users) Isn't anyone using actual LiPo cycling systems? If not, why? (I plan on using my system and doing a study of flight times and temps of a LiPo cycling charger vs the DJI units in the next few weeks and I'll post the results in a separate post.)

Lastly, I appreciate the opportunity to post here and the information shared by others.

On a side note, my local goverment says that all drone pilots in the US might have to go the Part 107 route... I do know that it was brought up to the FAA this week.

Regards,

Kev

RobH2 · Jul 21, 2018

What I find interesting and confusing about some of the Part 107 verbiage is that it's worded in a way that allows for multiple interpretations. I think if I were ever in court, that might be handy as you could argue whichever interpretation suits your need. I have goggles and I have used them many times when I'm flying alone. Technically, I think that's not allowed by Part 107, but if I'm practicing in a field, I never have an observer, plus, in a field alone, I can say I'm flying "for fun." I also lift them frequently to spot my drone and keep it well within VLOS. When I have used them around a client, I just have my client be a VO and then I'm good to go. The client is going to be staring at the drone the whole time anyway, so, why not take 5-minutes to train them and make them also a VO? As I interpret it, I can use goggles all day long as long as I have a VO.

VLOS: You can in fact see an Inspire over a mile away. It's big enough, a Mavic no, but an Inspire in clear weather, yes. I flew a 4-mile bridge with my Inspire 2 and we could see the speck in the sky 2 miles away on a clear day. You can't tell anything about which way it's going, but, technicality here, I could see it. We flew from both shores at 2 miles per mission and had the whole bridge. We could always just barely, barely make it out. But, if you are in rolling terrain with trees and structures, seeing a drone two miles away becomes difficult given we can't go higher than 400'. Your drone quickly disappears behind forests at that low altitude. It makes things more difficult but there are a number of reasons to fly within VLOS. That's why it's a prudent rule. It's not just to make life difficult for us.

It's not that the DJI chargers aren't smart or proficient, it's that (the Inspire 2 charger at least) the charger holds 4 batteries but charges them one-at-a-time. It won't charge all simultaneously. I have two Inspire2 chargers and 4 sets of batteries to solve the problem for me. And the reason that some of the 3rd party charging systems are so expensive is that they are not selling 1000s of them. That makes building them more expensive. If they were selling 10s of thousands of them the prices would be much, much lower. I've been a professional photographer for over 30-years. Believe me, in the professional world, spending $1000 for something that makes your job easier is not considered expensive. It's part of the profession and hopefully, you are charging fair professional rates such that with only one or two jobs, you can pay for a purchase that will then be used on dozens if not hundreds of future jobs. Don't always look at ONLY the sticker price. Interpret how that device will positively affect your ability to do your work and charge decent rates. Quickly that sticker shock goes away.

kattz · Jul 21, 2018

Thanks! So that cleared up some questions.

Regarding the battery charger, yes, I understand the "get what you pay for" idea. There's no way that a point-and-shoot is going to stand up to any of my Nikon pro bodies, so I agree with that.

The question regarding "smart" battery charging is based on the DJI wall brick charger and how it is not smart enough to not crush the life out of the LiPo cells vs. an intelligent charger for R/C batteries. I have, and use regularly, a Dynamite 100w X 4 charger for my R/C batteries. It cost about $149 on sale from Amazon, and can intelligently charge just about any type of rechargable battery. I say "intelligent" because it fully analyzes the cells before charging, and the charge rate is based on the size of the battery. The DJI wall brick doesn't care if you're charging TB47's or TB48's. With a charger like the Dynamite, I can charge four TBXX batteries simultaneously, and each port is set up for the mAH of the battery being charged as well as the type of cell, and you can push the data per charge to a computer for analysis. And I can charge four battieries from a car or from AC power at the same time. And If I want to run the Inspire while my daughter tools around her 1/6th scale truck, I can charge her batteries and mine at the same time.

The charging leads are on their way from Amazon for the DJI batteries and then I'll do a study of TB47's and TB48's charged to 100% on the Dynamite vs the DJI brick and let's check those battery temps and flight times.

Kev

Steve@AerialImagesPro · Jul 23, 2018

RobH2 said:
VLOS: You can in fact see an Inspire over a mile away. It's big enough, a Mavic no, but an Inspire in clear weather, yes. I flew a 4-mile bridge with my Inspire 2 and we could see the speck in the sky 2 miles away on a clear day. You can't tell anything about which way it's going, but, technicality here, I could see it. We flew from both shores at 2 miles per mission and had the whole bridge. We could always just barely, barely make it out. But, if you are in rolling terrain with trees and structures, seeing a drone two miles away becomes difficult given we can't go higher than 400'. Your drone quickly disappears behind forests at that low altitude. It makes things more difficult but there are a number of reasons to fly within VLOS. That's why it's a prudent rule. It's not just to make life difficult for us.

.

I call bs. At half a mile all you see is a spec. There’s no way you can see it at 2 miles. And the VLOS rule is in place because you must be able to maintain control of the aircraft if the auto systems fail. At half a mile you can barely tell which direction the aircraft is heading.

The reason for range being 2+ miles is because you can get a waiver to fly BVLOS and there are also places where that rule may not apply. Of course people break this rule all the time, then ***** about how they lost there bird and how DJI don’t care.

The Editor · Jul 23, 2018

I'm not commenting on this one other than to say the resolving power of the human eye is around 1 arc minute/60 arc seconds.
And how big does an Inspire airframe appear to the naked eye at 10,500ft distance?
Even if it could be seen (so not accounting for human biology) at that distance, trying to reaquire the object again in the sky after looking away would be next to impossible.

I'm out.........

slim.slamma · Jul 23, 2018

Unless an individual was sporting these....
https://www.walmart.com/ip/As-Seen-on-TV-HD-Vision-Ultra-Sunglasses/14248109

Steve@AerialImagesPro · Jul 23, 2018

Ha! I think those glasses came out after FAA made that rule.

natnatroswell22 · Jul 24, 2018

RobH2 said:
What I find interesting and confusing about some of the Part 107 verbiage is that it's worded in a way that allows for multiple interpretations. I think if I were ever in court, that might be handy as you could argue whichever interpretation suits your need. I have goggles and I have used them many times when I'm flying alone. Technically, I think that's not allowed by Part 107, but if I'm practicing in a field, I never have an observer, plus, in a field alone, I can say I'm flying "for fun." I also lift them frequently to spot my drone and keep it well within VLOS. When I have used them around a client, I just have my client be a VO and then I'm good to go. The client is going to be staring at the drone the whole time anyway, so, why not take 5-minutes to train them and make them also a VO? As I interpret it, I can use goggles all day long as long as I have a VO.

VLOS: You can in fact see an Inspire over a mile away. It's big enough, a Mavic no, but an Inspire in clear weather, yes. I flew a 4-mile bridge with my Inspire 2 and we could see the speck in the sky 2 miles away on a clear day. You can't tell anything about which way it's going, but, technicality here, I could see it. We flew from both shores at 2 miles per mission and had the whole bridge. We could always just barely, barely make it out. But, if you are in rolling terrain with trees and structures, seeing a drone two miles away becomes difficult given we can't go higher than 400'. Your drone quickly disappears behind forests at that low altitude. It makes things more difficult but there are a number of reasons to fly within VLOS. That's why it's a prudent rule. It's not just to make life difficult for us.

It's not that the DJI chargers aren't smart or proficient, it's that (the Inspire 2 charger at least) the charger holds 4 batteries but charges them one-at-a-time. It won't charge all simultaneously. I have two Inspire2 chargers and 4 sets of batteries to solve the problem for me. And the reason that some of the 3rd party charging systems are so expensive is that they are not selling 1000s of them. That makes building them more expensive. If they were selling 10s of thousands of them the prices would be much, much lower. I've been a professional photographer for over 30-years. Believe me, in the professional world, spending $1000 for something that makes your job easier is not considered expensive. It's part of the profession and hopefully, you are charging fair professional rates such that with only one or two jobs, you can pay for a purchase that will then be used on dozens if not hundreds of future jobs. Don't always look at ONLY the sticker price. Interpret how that device will positively affect your ability to do your work and charge decent rates. Quickly that sticker shock goes away.

@kattz this is the answer to your problem

Paul Jacques · Jul 24, 2018

VLOS is often, in my own opinion, misinterpreted to the benefit of the individual; ask yourself a few questions, regardless of which regulatory regime you are operating under such as;

Why VLOS? So that you can see where your aircraft is at all times.

Why do you need to see your aircraft at all times? So that you can enact your legal responsabailites of not endangering other aircraft and property by moving the aircraft to a safe position relative position.

If it’s a dot in the sky you have absolouley no relative perspective to know which way to move it.

Just my opinion.