Distance?
- Thread starter Christina
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Christina, do you or your boyfriend have a 107 certification? the reason I'm asking you would know the height limitations, there are plenty of Forms about max distance stupid max distance and disaster max distance you can find "Form - Search Form You mentioned your boyfriend has a drone/s is he not aware of this?
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I know what the 400 ft restriction and I am new to this and asking questions I see on here a million times a day folks asking how to forgo those limitations by rewriting thru GUI illegal parameters I am curious do you go comment as you do to a new comer to the hobby that is trying to learn, anyways thanks for the input
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Yes, I learned a lot by reading forms and watching tons of video on YouTube even before I purchased my H. It seems some folks now days would rather ask for info instead of doing some research. I'm sorry you feel insulted this was not my intention, just asking simple and direct questions.
Thanks for you guys responding, this is Matt, Christinas bf we truly appreciate the help from you guys. I am new to this although I have been building rc aircraft, 1/8 nitro buggy, truggy my entire life, however I am new to the drone platform. Side note my only regret is I hadn't found this years ago....I LOVE IT. My question was in terms of what the aircraft is capeable off, out of pure curiosity I have heard so many different answers, the second part of that question was simply to identify what other pilots are physically flying, in terms of distance and altitude. Reading your reply, that is exacgtly how I am, I had found a Typhoon 500 for sale in the bay area, and he was selling for almost full price. Point is it peeked my curiosity and I have not stopped watching, studying, building, and now flying. I studied for about a month to determine what model would best be suited for me, and if I want to expand that then I can and build as I go.
Matt,
The limitations of the typhoon H you purchased has some to do with FAA regulations and actual Yuneec equipment limitations.
Let's discuss the FAA Regs first: You must maintain visual line of sight, this means you must be able to see the UAV at all times, not using binoculars, telescopes, or other optical enhancement devices. You are not allowed to exceed 400 feet above ground level, this means if you take off from the Solano Fairgrounds in Vallejo at 235 feet mean sea level, you can fly to a max of 635 feet MSL or 400 feet displayed on your ST16 (which is AGL calculated from the takeoff point). There are a few other descriptions in this as well, if you were to, say hypothetically fly at coit tower (in san francisco) you would be able to fly 400 feet above the tower, this is because the FAA realized that flying above a tower is something pilots are going to do to inspect them. You are also not allowed to operate within five Nautical Miles of an Airport. As you are a new flyer of UAVs, I will not get into the details of how to fly inside the five bubble but it's doable once you've mastered the aircraft. You are also not allowed to fly in class B, C, D, or A airspace. These are the airspace regulations around airports and above 18,000 feet. I like the Hover app to show where airports are and the Android app avare to identify airspace types. Apple had foreflight. Most of the bay area falls under B, C or D airspace. You will need to find a patch of class G airspace. If you private message me your location I can quickly help guide you in the right direction.
Limitations on Yuneec, flying in a highly degragated Wi-Fi area, ie a neighborhood, you will notice a lot of signal interference and performance issues. You also run the higher risk of hitting something expensive. Flying in a park or large open field is your best bet to fly at distance and higher speeds. Again, you need to be able to see the UAV unaided. If you do fly in a high interference area you can upgrade the antenna setup to assist in more radio waves making it to the airframe.
The Yuneec 500, it's a good quadcopter airframe, it will fly differently from the hexcopter. It also uses the ST10 controller and cgo cameras. You lose some safety features going to the quad from the hex but it's a good flight experience.
I know I missed something in here, it's been a long three days talking about UAVs at a conference and my brain is cooked.
PatR
Premium Pilot
Matt,
I'm not going to try and spell out each and every regulation and rule associated with the use of sUAS. Instead I'm going to point you in a direction that will permit you to read them for yourself in order to gain an accurate comprehension of the law. Some of what has been previously presented in this thread is not correct and I have no desire to attempt to correct those presenting the information. Better to let everyone review the law themselves for an accurate understanding of the rules that apply to them
The first place to look is Part 336 of the federal aviation regulations. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Sec_331_336_UAS.pdf and the FAA's interpretation of Part 336. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf These parts specifically reference recreational use of sUAS and RC aircraft. Two things to remember as you wade through this stuff is there are differences in rules between recreational and commercial use of sUAS/model aircraft, and that everything that flies has been classified by the FAA as an "aircraft". A multirotor is an aircraft, as is an RC plane or helicopter.
The next area of review is Part 107 of the federal aviation regulations. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Part_107_Summary.pdf This part specifically addresses the commercial operation of sUAS/model aircraft and how to qualify to become a commercial operator. Careful reading of this regulation will reveal quite a few differences between recreational and commercial use of sUAS, and clearly defines distance and altitude limits, some of which are not the same as provided to recreational operators in Part 336.
Since you are in California, specifically the Bay Area, there are other laws and rules to contend with enacted at the state and local levels. Start with the anti-paparazzi law and research outwards. Law section
Moving forward, the City of San Franscisco enacted several laws that are enforced at the local level, and even went to far as to enacts laws restricting sUAS at the Bay Area's state beaches, which complicate matters even further since they conflict with other state park regulations. Here's Where You Can Fly Drones in the Bay Area I'll let you research the laws governing your local areas as I don't know where you will operate and until I elect to operate in those areas they have no relevance for me.
So answering your original question of "max distance of the Pro model out of the box" is a little complicated. Physically, it has the same maximum range and distance as the H standard model. The Pro designation does not add additional operating range. You also need to bear in mind that an area's frequency saturation, terrain, and buildings that occlude visual line of sight act to reduce effective useful range. Note the documentation that comes with an H uses the qualifier "up to" to describe range and flight time. In actual use those times and distances will be less than the stated maximums. How and where you fly impact them greatly. If you choose 2,000' as a point at which even those with the best of vision will lose sight of the H, and reduce that distance to what your visual acuity allows visual contact to be maintained you will have an accurate estimate to work from. That distance can of course be reduced by conditions generated by the area you are flying in.
In closing, something many fail to consider is that when they elected to become involved with the operation of sUAS, be it for recreational or commercial purposes, they accepted a personal responsibility to become cognizant of the laws governing their use. Doing so requires that each individual exercise personal initiative in reviewing the actual laws, not the "hearsay" information collected through numerous social media sources that provide little or nothing to support the information presented.
I'm not going to try and spell out each and every regulation and rule associated with the use of sUAS. Instead I'm going to point you in a direction that will permit you to read them for yourself in order to gain an accurate comprehension of the law. Some of what has been previously presented in this thread is not correct and I have no desire to attempt to correct those presenting the information. Better to let everyone review the law themselves for an accurate understanding of the rules that apply to them
The first place to look is Part 336 of the federal aviation regulations. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Sec_331_336_UAS.pdf and the FAA's interpretation of Part 336. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf These parts specifically reference recreational use of sUAS and RC aircraft. Two things to remember as you wade through this stuff is there are differences in rules between recreational and commercial use of sUAS/model aircraft, and that everything that flies has been classified by the FAA as an "aircraft". A multirotor is an aircraft, as is an RC plane or helicopter.
The next area of review is Part 107 of the federal aviation regulations. https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Part_107_Summary.pdf This part specifically addresses the commercial operation of sUAS/model aircraft and how to qualify to become a commercial operator. Careful reading of this regulation will reveal quite a few differences between recreational and commercial use of sUAS, and clearly defines distance and altitude limits, some of which are not the same as provided to recreational operators in Part 336.
Since you are in California, specifically the Bay Area, there are other laws and rules to contend with enacted at the state and local levels. Start with the anti-paparazzi law and research outwards. Law section
Moving forward, the City of San Franscisco enacted several laws that are enforced at the local level, and even went to far as to enacts laws restricting sUAS at the Bay Area's state beaches, which complicate matters even further since they conflict with other state park regulations. Here's Where You Can Fly Drones in the Bay Area I'll let you research the laws governing your local areas as I don't know where you will operate and until I elect to operate in those areas they have no relevance for me.
So answering your original question of "max distance of the Pro model out of the box" is a little complicated. Physically, it has the same maximum range and distance as the H standard model. The Pro designation does not add additional operating range. You also need to bear in mind that an area's frequency saturation, terrain, and buildings that occlude visual line of sight act to reduce effective useful range. Note the documentation that comes with an H uses the qualifier "up to" to describe range and flight time. In actual use those times and distances will be less than the stated maximums. How and where you fly impact them greatly. If you choose 2,000' as a point at which even those with the best of vision will lose sight of the H, and reduce that distance to what your visual acuity allows visual contact to be maintained you will have an accurate estimate to work from. That distance can of course be reduced by conditions generated by the area you are flying in.
In closing, something many fail to consider is that when they elected to become involved with the operation of sUAS, be it for recreational or commercial purposes, they accepted a personal responsibility to become cognizant of the laws governing their use. Doing so requires that each individual exercise personal initiative in reviewing the actual laws, not the "hearsay" information collected through numerous social media sources that provide little or nothing to support the information presented.
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