Recent content by SteveMann

First- Remove the props. You sure don't want the drone in your workshop deciding upon power-up to RTH. (Return to Home).

The human eye is the absolutely worst instrument for determining altitude. As a pilot for more than a half-century, I can guarantee you that you probably haven't seen a manned aircraft below 500 ft that is not taking off or landing. The altitude rules for helicopters are more forgiving, but...

By design/specification, ADSB is not guaranteed to work below 500 ft unless near an airport in Class B or Class C airspace. If you have something like a Stratux ADSB receiver then you can see data from ADSB-Out equipped aircraft that are within your line of sight. (Unless you are near an ADSB...

Final coverage of ADSB

Images for my posts

Third-party Part 15 transmitter "signal boosters" are illegal in the U.S. 47 CFR 15.204 External Amplifiers And Antenna Modifications

I have never said that a serious injury would not happen, only that, in the U.S., it has not. Yes, I am familiar with the tragic loss of an eye by a toddler in England, which is why my post says "..there is not one verifiable report of a drone crash in the US that resulted in a serious injury...

I stand by my statement: ...there is not one verifiable report of a drone crash in the US that resulted in a serious injury as defined by the FAA in CFR 49-830.2 to someone not connected to the flight. **Not one**. (A Band-Aid is not a serious injury).

Small UAVs do not pose any significant risk to people or the National Airspace System. "Dangerous" and "invasion of privacy" concerns are ridiculous, driven by paranoia borne of ignorance. We don't need fact-challenged posts like this to add to the public hysteria. There is absolutely no...

Money, or lack of it, has absolutely nothing to do with the determination of whether a flight is commercial.

Be careful what you wish for.

The barometric altimeter is required instrumentation for all aircraft. If there is no barometric altimeter, the aircraft is unairworthy. Yes, a WAAS approach can be made without reference to the barometric altimeter, but it has a much higher DA or MAP, and higher weather minimums. The...

All IFR approaches require a barometric altimeter because GPS altitude is notoriously inaccurate. The error is a mathematical fact and no amount of fiddling of the words will change that. The FAA is slowly decommissioning the VOR system for position information; the VOR's never had any altitude...

49 USC § 40103 - Sovereignty and use of airspace (a) Sovereignty and Public Right of Transit.— (1) The United States Government has exclusive sovereignty of airspace of the United States. Only the FAA may regulate flight. Only the FAA may create a no-fly-zone

Never happened. Show me the documentation. Anyone flying a manned aircraft under the arch, or under most tall bridges, would be in violation of §91.119 - Minimum Safe Altitudes, and likely §91.13 Careless or reckless operation. No new rules required. Also, the FAA does not "lock up the pilots"...