Daylight only operations as per FAA- no more night flights

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Im I reading this right ?? is a proposal....which means ???


See below
 

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It hasn't passed, yet, apparently. There is nothing in the current guidance by the FAA that bans night flying that I could find.

Hopefully, this is still in the "Public Comment" stage and we can tell the FAA why we should be allowed to fly at night. There are so many photographic opportunities, particularly right around sunset and dawn. According to the proposed rules, the calendar sunset and sunrise times are the cutoff.
 
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The local aerial hobby enthusiast in Sacramento fly their planes/drones at night. They sit JUST outside the Sacramento airport 5 mile radius (Not even 1/4 mile outside the limit by the airmap) and they start at dusk and go a couple hours into the night.

It's actually pretty neat. They have theirs laced up with LED lighting and like to chase each other. It's quite an awesome show to be honest! If they restricted night flight.. that'd take away my thursday entertainment
 
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I stand by the proposals put in by the FAA. I am even happier they'll be taking tests before handing out flight licenses.
 
Thats wacky easy considering that a lot of times night flight is a heck of a lot safer being its almost impossible to not see it for miles around. So much much much lower change of any sort of mid air collision at night time with an air plane or helicopter compared to day time.


Tho if they wanted to make some rules on night flight such as requiring lights or beacons would make more scence. and be more safe then if they just ban it out right then have people blacking out there lights and flying dark so they cant be seen at night being there is always going to be some one that is going to not care if the law says they cant fly at night and will do it any way. But will just try and go stealth and I would think that would be a pretty serious danger to the air space if we started getting lots of blacked out stealth drones in the air at night time with no lights on them whats so ever.
 
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Tho if they wanted to make some rules on night flight such as requiring lights or beacons would make more scence. and be more safe then if they just ban it out right then have people blacking out there lights and flying dark so they cant be seen at night being there is always going to be some one that is going to not care if the law says they cant fly at night and will do it any way.

I'm pretty sure the same person who is going to do it because it's "banned" will do the same even if the regs require more equipment (lights, becon etc). If they want to break rules & regs they will regardless how strict they are.
 
You have to understand, right now it's mainly hobbyists and pro video/photographers who are using drones. That's a very very very minutely small percentage. The drone industry is slated to go from $2bil to $12 bil in two years time and keep growing exponentially. Now imagine 1000's of drones flying all over the city on a given weekend/day. There are so many chances of things going wrong that there needs to be some rules in place. I can already foresee a lot of incidents due to any of the below:
1) Some idiot decides to fly the drone right after receiving it, without any prior flying experience or reading the manual
2) Pushing your luck by flying it in a congested area (tall buildings, trees)
3) Flying on low battery: I'll-just-fly-for-two-quick-minutes and then charge it afterwards (if that opportunity ever comes)

These accidents are pretty much already a given. With 10,000+ people flying, i would estimate at least 20% will cause some trouble.

As with everything as time passes and things become the norm, laws will change, but right now it's too soon to be flexible. This forum community and yourself won't be representing a majority of the drone users out there, and just think about the 10,000's of other people out there looking to purchase their first drone sometime in the next two years.

Just like with anything else laws will change in time. I bet when cars first came out there were some pretty strict rules on how to drive them, but over decades rules changed and took different forms.
 
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I have a vision of a future looking like the traffic on Coruscant or in the Fifth Element...just instead of ships and cars, it's drones all over the place. Here's to Google coming up with object avoidance!
 
The FAA has a couple of different definitions of "night" depending mostly on whether you're carrying passengers or not (which I find unlikely for anyone browsing PhantomPilots); there's a good mini-overview on AOPA's site.
 
I'm more concerned about the requirement of us having to physically go to a location to pass a test and then have to be vetted by the TSA.

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The FAA has a couple of different definitions of "night" depending mostly on whether you're carrying passengers or not (which I find unlikely for anyone browsing PhantomPilots); there's a good mini-overview on AOPA's site.

The OP's image defines daylight right in it. Official sunrise to sunset, local time.
 
I'm pretty sure the same person who is going to do it because it's "banned" will do the same even if the regs require more equipment (lights, becon etc). If they want to break rules & regs they will regardless how strict they are.

Well there might be a few that would do it just to do it. BUT human nature dictates that when a rule is not even some thing to work around that they can some times just tend to go right out the window.

Tho many of the ones that are going to still fly at night if it means getting the shot they are after and who can do it legally as long as they have some lights are not going to black out there lights if there is no reason or need for it.
 
I'm more concerned about the requirement of us having to physically go to a location to pass a test and then have to be vetted by the TSA.

View attachment 40166


No offense to you "Othan1" but I'm using you as an example but at the same time adding to your quote to prove a point. At no time did you say what I am posting below but over the last couple of years many others have so I'm ad-libbing here so please don't take it personal. This is my 2 cents and my rant so take it for what you paid for it :)

On one hand we want our hobby to be taken seriously and not called a "toy". We want the freedom and respect of not "just playing with toys". We want to be big boys in a sense so we buy aircraft (that's what they are now) that are very complex and capable of not only long range but autonomous long-range flight. This enables them to operate in a much broader area than a simple "flying field" down on the farm. This allows them to at least "potentially" (intentionally and unintentionally) operate in the National Air Space which is where manned aircraft operate. So by not calling these a toy anymore and because they care very capable of operating within the NAS they are now subject to big-boy rules/regulations (in some cases laws). Everyone is in an up roar because all of a sudden their "hobby" is now being restricted, registered, and regulated like never before. Unfortunately part of the responsibility of operating in manned airspace will be getting "vetted" and taking a very simple and basic knowledge test.

At the end of the day flying in NAS (or having the potential to do so) is not a God given right but a privilege and with that comes responsibility and accountability. I'm not saying the new hobby registration system is perfect or close to it but it's needed. To be perfectly honest I sincerely feel like if the AMA membership had been made mandatory years ago (like a radio operator's license used to be) then the registration system would be a moot point right now. With that being said I can only imagine if everyone wanting to fly a multirotor was told today that they have to pay $56 ($75 now) per year to the AMA in order to fly they would blow a gasket. That's how we've flown R/C for decades but today it's a different time and "thought process" which in and of itself has helped created this public fear monster we are now subject to.

Think of the "required testing and vetting" is like going to get your driver's license. You don't have to drive but if you're going to drive on public roads etc you'd better follow the rules and get your driver's license etc. Very much like flying our "aircraft" today. You "can" drive without a license etc but if you get caught the penalties can add up and be painful in a hurry.

At the end of the day the media has created a threat when little to none really existed and now John Q. Public is genuinely afraid for their life and privacy every time anything that even remotely resembles a "MultiRotor" goes into the air. You can bet your bottom dollar that John Q. Public has a much louder voice than every single R/C aircraft operator in the world and John Q. Public will cause further legislation, regulation and ultimately restrictions until something else comes along that unites the many for a common goal regardless how unfounded and pointless it is or is not.

Again this is not directed at any one person but simply my 2 cents.
 
That should be the least of your concern. That proposal at the bottom states passing some basic aeronautical test at an approved FAA facility. Lol.
 
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