Drone / Heli photography (1 Viewer)

[Mark Booth]

So, how many of you saw this on your local news? Video of a drone supposedly flying dangerously close to a passenger airliner landing in Las Vegas.



Well, it is FAKE. It's CGI from a video game. The video game has a feature offering a "drone view" of the game's (relatively) realistic landscapes. The person that created the video apparently added some overlays to make the video look more realistic. He/she succeeded in fooling a bunch of people, apparently including some FAA officials (they are supposedly investigating). Not to mention a bunch of TV news people.

The moment I saw the video I immediately suspected it was fake. Why? Because if my drone shot video that was that horrible in quality I would return the drone for a refund. Anyway, here's some proof (click image for larger version):



Still frame from faked video on the left, Google Earth satellite view of same area on the right.

What happened to all of the swimming pools?

Mark

 

[Sam Posten]

You have my attention!
https://www.skydio.com/

Looks like Skydio wasn't vapor after all....

 

[Sam Posten]

Lotta caveats tho!
https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/13/skydio-r1-smartest-consumer-drone-in-the-sky/

 

[Mark Booth]

The AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) sent out a Temporary Flight Restriction notification email to its San Diego area members today. The FAA's TFR is for a "VIP" visit to San Diego tomorrow. It's in effect from 11:00am to 3:15pm. Three sets of coordinates are given and based on those locations it seems pretty clear that Air Force One will be flying into Miramar Marine Air Station and Trump will be visiting the Otay Mesa border area (visiting his border wall prototypes, which has already been announced on the news). Drones aren't permitted to fly within 7 miles of those two areas during the TFR time frame. The TFR is from the ground to 17,999 feet.

The third set of coordinates is for Gillespie Field, a small airport in El Cajon. The TFR's radius for Gillespie is 13 miles. Our home is about 7 miles from Gillespie so I'm grounded from 11:00am to 3:15pm.

Mark

 

[Sam Posten]

Phantom 4 v2 incoming, hopefully more on Mavic at the evolve event today:
http://dronereviewsandnews.com/official-fcc-clears-the-all-new-phantom-4-pro-v2-0/

 

[Sam Posten]

Event live tweets start at 3:15 EST
https://twitter.com/DJIEnterprise/status/979047972620066816

DJI enterprise just announced a big partnership with Komatsu for 3d scanning job sites, so maybe we won't see any consumer news at all. Weird.

 

[Sam Posten]

I meant 2:15...

#DJI announces a new feature called Responder Mode, for First Responders...

 

[Sam Posten]

DJI: 73k commercial drone pilots in the US, 54k piloting DJI platforms...
DJI introduces the Zenmuse XT2 dual sensor.
The XT2 has been announced with FLIR MSX Technology, auto-lock to highest temp reading as well as temp alarms...#DJI

 

[Sam Posten]

No consumer news.

 

[Sam Posten]

https://www.dji.com/zenmuse-xt2?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=XT2

 

[Mark Booth]

Looks like hobbyist drone piloting is about to get regulated by the FAA. The House passed HR 302 (the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018) last week and the Senate is expected to approve it this week. Then the 1,200 page Bill will only be a signature away from law.

HR 302 pretty much repeals Section 336 of a 2012 FAA Bill, the Section that covered Hobbyist drone use. Some parts of 336 are retained in HR 302 but the significant changes are:

* A hard limit of no more than 400 feet above ground level.
* Mandatory registration and markings on the aircraft.
* Permission/notification when flying in certain airspace classes that didn't require permission/notification before.
* Mandatory aeronautical knowledge test.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of those. In fact, I WELCOME required aeronautical knowledge tests. There are too many morons that knowingly skirt the rules (because they don't think the rules should apply to them) and create problems for the rest of us that enjoy the hobby.

Where I have difficultly with HR 302 is the overly broad powers it grants the FAA and law enforcement with regard to regulating Hobbyist drones. Under HR 302, a law enforcement officer could confiscate your drone if he believes it is being used in a manner that violates the law. I know first-hand that some (many?) law enforcement officers don't know crap from Shinola when it comes to drone rules and regulations. I agree with the guy in the video below, portions of HR 302 are a possible violation of the 4th Amendment's protection from unreasonable search and seizure.



I've written to both of my Senators and asked them to vote NO on HR 302. The vote is expected to take place tomorrow.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

The Senate is voting on HR 302 today at noon (Eastern).

https://www.democrats.senate.gov/2018/10/02/schedule-for-wednesday-october-3-2018

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

Well, HR 302 was approved by the Senate. Trump is expected to sign it. All hobbyist drone pilots need to prepare themselves for the aeronautical knowledge test that is coming at some point.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

In other news, the FAA is fed up with drone pilots that interfere with emergency operations. Even first time offenders can be subject to a $20,000 fine.

https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-drones-emergency-violations?enews100218

Now THAT is what I call a good deterrent! Bravo. Let's get these morons' drones out of the sky.

Speaking of which... A teenager was bitten by a shark off the coast of San Diego last week. The teenage was diving for lobsters at the time of the incident. Sea lions were reported in the area, it is believed the shark was more interested in the sea lions and simply mistook the boy for his regular lunch. The boy survived and is expected to recover fully. He said he'll go lobster diving again as soon as he can.

So, what does that have to do with drones? Well, a local resident was caught flying his drone over/near an emergency situation. A sheriff's helicopter was trying to land on the beach but had to be waved off because of the drone in the area. A sheriff's deputy found the pilot and issued him a citation. The pilot subsequently posted about this on a drone forum:

https://mavicpilots.com/threads/i-m...-advice-on-the-severity-of-this-ticket.49074/

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I have no sympathy for this drone pilot. Drones such as a Mavic are NOT toys. They can cause serious threats to public safety and that is why there are rules that need to be followed.

With the passage of HR 302 and the FAA's decision to start applying fines up to $20,000, it is my fervent hope that the rule breakers will ultimately decide the risks just aren't worth the rewards. I will laugh every time one of them is caught, convicted and fined.

I don't enjoy being so harsh but, if you read some of the bragging that goes on in forums and groups from idiots that KNOWINGLY skirt the rules, I'm sure you'll all agree it's time to seriously crack down on these morons.

Mark

 

[Citizen87645]

Drone interference also caused problems on a wildfire in my area. I'm glad to see some stiff penalties for this kind of behavior.

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/st...huts-down-firefighters-5-400-acre/1110570002/

 

[Mark Booth]

There was another Space-X Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg tonight. I sent the drone up to 400' and shot 4K video of the launch. Unfortunately, it wasn't as spectacular as last December's launch. That one was just a half hour after sunset, this one was more like an hour. Plus there was cloud cover over SoCal that obscured the first part of the launch. Still, it looked pretty cool!

This is a frame from the 4K video. It's cropped down to a little below HD resolution. Click the image for a larger version.



Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

I've been reading a number of reports about the new Mavic 2 Pro drones simply dropping out of the sky. It appears that it's fairly easy to fail to snap the battery fully into place. There are latches on 2 sides and some folks are getting loose battery warnings and, when they land the drone, they find one side not fully snapped down.

Still, others, have watched their drones fall out of the sky and crash to the ground.

I've seen a few stories about this for the original Mavic Pro too. But not anywhere near as many (particularly given how new it is to the market) as for the Mavic 2 Pro. Maybe it's just that Mavic 2 Pro buyers are a higher percentage of inexperienced and careless pilots? Either way, be careful out there.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

Went for a drive with Miata friends along some very twisty roads and then took the long way home. Put almost 300 miles on the Miata. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with the smell of Fall in the air in our local mountains.

While near Julian, I stopped at the desert view area and sent up my drone to grab a couple of shots. Click the images for larger versions.






In that second photo, if you look closely you can see a horizontal strip of blue color that is just to the right of the shaded area of the mountain top in the middle. That strip of blue is the Salton Sea.

Mark

 

[Mark Booth]

DJI will soon be updating its GeoFencing mapping features regarding no-fly (permission to fly, etc.) areas around airports. Instead of just a circle, DJI will be using a bowtie configuration.

For high and medium risk airports there will be a circle (oval) but instead of it extending 5 miles (as is current practice) it will extend about 3.7 miles (6 km) outside of the area not covered by the bowtie. This is a much more real-world configuration and will allow drone pilots to fly 1.3 miles closer to airports as long as the flight is perpendicular to the runway.

However, I don't understand how this will jibe with the FAA's sectional charts because those charts definitely use circles.

Press release:

https://www.dji.com/newsroom/news/d...o-enhance-airport-safety-clarify-restrictions

Mark

 

[Sam Posten]

Cool:
https://www.dji.com/mavic-2-enterprise?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=M2E

How long until someone weaponizes that port tho?