Line of Site

[WEDWay]

I am really enjoying this forum and love watching videos that have been shared. I don't have a lot to share so far, since most of my flying time has been in the same boring local park in Huntington Beach. My one time fly out in the desert resulted in varied degrees of useable video and two crashed. I'd like to blame both on the Q500 4K, but one may have been partly my fault. I have shared my drone falling out of the at 150 feet. That was scary watching my new investment falling fast. Luckily it mostly survived. Only lost the blades.

My real question is Line of Site and how many people actual follow this FAA guideline/regulation. So many of the shared videos do not seem to be possible if controlled within LOS. I even saw one suggestion that said if you wanted to fly over a National Park, just launch and land outside of the park. That hardly seems possible with LOS.

I am just looking for realistic suggestions to get more out of my videos and investment. LOS seems limiting, yet as a new and cautious pilot at this time, also seem reasonable. I am looking forward to the conversation my questions might raise.

 

[DroneClone]

Line of Site is the regulations, and as a commercial pilot, I do obey them! For safety and common sense reasons! Alot of National Parks can be seen/viewed from roads and side BLM dirt roads that are not NPS areas. Granted, you may not be able to get a closey, but I have been able to get some nice shots in.

 

[Losiracer11]

Wedway,

I am new to this forum, but far from new to the industry and to drone flying. LOS flying, in my opinion, is a MUST for people to fly by when you are still new to it. With that being said though, for a lot of my flights where i am personally flying beyond my human eyes can see, i do a couple of things. 1, i fly where there are no people, ( or shouldn't be people) , and 2, i have my buddy with me with the same scope we use to hunt with. It has a range finder built in to it which helps drastically. Having a spotter with you helps a lot, even if you're not flying out of LOS.

 

[DroneClone]

Wedway,

I am new to this forum, but far from new to the industry and to drone flying. LOS flying, in my opinion, is a MUST for people to fly by when you are still new to it. With that being said though, for a lot of my flights where i am personally flying beyond my human eyes can see, i do a couple of things. 1, i fly where there are no people, ( or shouldn't be people) , and 2, i have my buddy with me with the same scope we use to hunt with. It has a range finder built in to it which helps drastically. Having a spotter with you helps a lot, even if you're not flying out of LOS.

I think the main FAA ruling is because you can not see above, below and 30 degrees left and right of you with the camera view as your line of sight. Thus putting manned aircrafts at risk!

 

[Losiracer11]

You are correct. Plus not being able to see or hear anyone or thing that may be below it. I never go above 400 ft and honestly, i never really go above 200. Usually only time i go out of LOS is when I'm over water or in the desert. I am also a firm believer in checking in with local ATC if im anywhere near an airport. Moral of my story is this. Don't do dumb stuff. Friend of mine has a quote that i believe in. " if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. "

 

[WEDWay]

Line of Site is the regulations, and as a commercial pilot, I do obey them! For safety and common sense reasons! Alot of National Parks can be seen/viewed from roads and side BLM dirt roads that are not NPS areas. Granted, you may not be able to get a closey, but I have been able to get some nice shots in.

I guess I was thinking of places like Yosemite. The valley floor is a long way from private land.

 

[WEDWay]

When I first read the FAA's new rules, I was first kinda of frustrated. I bought this drone for one reason mainly, to supplement a travel show I am hosting and producing and wanted to save money on hiring people to get aerial footage of the places we visit in the show. By the time I finally made a decision after looking at all my options over the last two years and talking to vendors at NAB, rumblings of the FAA's possible ruling was not slowing down the sales guys of all these UAV. I went with Yuneec. I was happy with my early flights until it fell from the sky. I expected an accident or two, it seems pretty normal from reading this forums and watching videos online. In fact on my first flight I tested the "home" feature, it landed in tall grass and tipped over when the blades hit the tall grass and broke a few blades. Lesson learned and the drone was ok.

Back to the FAA regs, I doubt I'll ever use it much over 50 to 70 feet. For my purposes, that seems high enough, though higher can produce beautiful footage. See this test footage for one type of typical shot I want to the show.

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The framing is not perfect, but this was only my third flight. My biggest worry no is that I think I need to get a commercial drone license. I am shooting for myself and not selling the footage directly, but the footage will end up in a program that will end up un PBS, Cable, etc, etc. Fingers crossed. If you notice horizontal banding that I see and can help me identify what cause this, I would be grateful.

 

[DroneClone]

When I first read the FAA's new rules, I was first kinda of frustrated. I bought this drone for one reason mainly, to supplement a travel show I am hosting and producing and wanted to save money on hiring people to get aerial footage of the places we visit in the show. By the time I finally made a decision after looking at all my options over the last two years and talking to vendors at NAB, rumblings of the FAA's possible ruling was not slowing down the sales guys of all these UAV. I went with Yuneec. I was happy with my early flights until it fell from the sky. I expected an accident or two, it seems pretty normal from reading this forums and watching videos online. In fact on my first flight I tested the "home" feature, it landed in tall grass and tipped over when the blades hit the tall grass and broke a few blades. Lesson learned and the drone was ok.

Back to the FAA regs, I doubt I'll ever use it much over 50 to 70 feet. For my purposes, that seems high enough, though higher can produce beautiful footage. See this test footage for one type of typical shot I want to the show.

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The framing is not perfect, but this was only my third flight. My biggest worry no is that I think I need to get a commercial drone license. I am shooting for myself and not selling the footage directly, but the footage will end up in a program that will end up un PBS, Cable, etc, etc. Fingers crossed. If you notice horizontal banding that I see and can help me identify what cause this, I would be grateful.

Do you mean the trailing wiggles on rooftops and areas similar, I get ride of those by adjusting mt shutter/iso and white balance. Nice work!

 

[WEDWay]

Do you mean the trailing wiggles on rooftops and areas similar, I get ride of those by adjusting mt shutter/iso and white balance. Nice work!

I noticed mostly when I was taking off, thought it by be dust kicking up or heat waves. Were do you change shutter speeds. I have been looking through the menus for that and cannot find it. I do miss total control of f/Stop, Shutter Speed, and ISO like I have on my other camera.

 

[DroneClone]

On the ST16 since I fly the H you switch from Auto to Manual mode and there is a dial that you can roll/increase shutter/ios speed values, Is the ST10 the same? Man, all this time chatting with you and I just realized you have a Q500! If you don't look carefully, it's hard to tell with all the birds showing on one page!

 

[KBflyer]

ST10+ and ST16 camera settings a pretty much all the same. The only difference now is with the new update to the ST16 it now has a few more options with the trim tabs. Other wise the ST16 just uses all the same old things the ST10+has been using for two years now.

 

[WEDWay]

ST10+ and ST16 camera settings a pretty much all the same. The only difference now is with the new update to the ST16 it now has a few more options with the trim tabs. Other wise the ST16 just uses all the same old things the ST10+has been using for two years now.

Found it ... thanks guys.