Here's Why You Shouldn't Parachute Toy Army Men From Your Drone.

GadgetGuy said:
Kill joy! :rolleyes: It was all among consenting adults, even if the kid receiving the "cold one" wasn't old enough to shave! ;)
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Yeah, I hear ya, but if the FAA has such a rule there are zero exceptions. Interestingly, Amazon and others want to deliver stuff using drones and unless the rules are changed to permit that it will be illegal to use a drone in this manor for the reason mentioned before in addition to the need to keep the drone within eyesight. Obviously the military drones operate beyond eyesight so it's at least feasible that the FAA will permit some drones to operate beyond visual range but I know of no such exception at this point for non-military uses.

I think part of the reason the FAA has a rule about dropping stuff from a drone is due to fears of terrorists though I doubt those guys would worry about obeying an FAA rule if they had bad intent. As to the beyond visual range thing ... SAR (search and rescue) drones are going to be a thing as they should and for them to be truly valuable they will need to operate beyond visual range.

The FAA has a lot on there plate to deal with drones and it isn't getting any easier for them.


Brian
 
Raptorman0909 said:
Yeah, I hear ya, but if the FAA has such a rule there are zero exceptions. Interestingly, Amazon and others want to deliver stuff using drones and unless the rules are changed to permit that it will be illegal to use a drone in this manor for the reason mentioned before in addition to the need to keep the drone within eyesight. Obviously the military drones operate beyond eyesight so it's at least feasible that the FAA will permit some drones to operate beyond visual range but I know of no such exception at this point for non-military uses.

I think part of the reason the FAA has a rule about dropping stuff from a drone is due to fears of terrorists though I doubt those guys would worry about obeying an FAA rule if they had bad intent. As to the beyond visual range thing ... SAR (search and rescue) drones are going to be a thing as they should and for them to be truly valuable they will need to operate beyond visual range.

The FAA has a lot on there plate to deal with drones and it isn't getting any easier for them.


Brian
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Zero exceptions, but for all the violations, only some two dozen prosecutions nationwide in the last 2 years for only the most egregious offenders. These are blue sky laws/regs at best. Carry on! :cool:
 
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GadgetGuy said:
Zero exceptions, but for all the violations, only some two dozen prosecutions nationwide in the last 2 years for only the most egregious offenders. These are blue sky laws/regs at best. Carry on! :cool:
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What's your problem? I merely point out what the law is and you act like no one should bother to care. Yes, the FAA is unlikely to prosecute the OP for dropping toy soldiers onto his own property and that's to be expected -- they can't go after everyone and will chose the worst offenders over a dad playing with his kids. My guess is the OP did not know it was illegal and if he now does then job done -- I hope.


Brian
 
Raptorman0909 said:
Not to be a spoil sport, but I do believe it is illegal to drop anything from a drone as per the FAA. Now I know this wasn't explosives like ISIS, but to the FAA anything being dropped is a no-no. And the risk of having a parachute foul a prop should have been immediately obvious.

Well, at least someone had fun...


Brian
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It is NOT illegal to drop items from aircraft. There are caveats, but it is NOT illegal.

Here is just just ONE example:
Golf Fundraising Idea: Helicopter Ball Drop - Greater Giving Blog

Why don’t people research before making such claims.
 
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Raptorman0909 said:
What's your problem? I merely point out what the law is and you act like no one should bother to care. Yes, the FAA is unlikely to prosecute the OP for dropping toy soldiers onto his own property and that's to be expected -- they can't go after everyone and will chose the worst offenders over a dad playing with his kids. My guess is the OP did not know it was illegal and if he now does then job done -- I hope.


Brian
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Because you are wrong about the law and the likelihood of any enforcement action, even where there is a violation. Misinforming others only adds to the confusion.
 
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GadgetGuy said:
Because you are wrong about the law and the likelihood of any enforcement action, even where there is a violation. Misinforming others only adds to the confusion.
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No, not wrong... The act carried risk because the parachute could and did foul the prop and that risk, as mentioned before, was predictable. While not illegal if there is no risk it is prohibited if there is risk. Check the law!


Brian
 
Every flight carries a risk we all accept with every flight.
It’s more pronounced however with these quads as there is no redundancy in the power and propulsion systems... and no glide ratio.
Any flight could be your last. If you have any r/c aviation experience you know that.

If you don’t want to drop items, don’t.
 
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This is quite true, every flight caries some risk and a quad has more risk than a hex or octo, but doing things like dropping stuff just adds to the risk. In this particular case the risks to outsiders was minimal but not so for the family members who could have had a drone fall on them -- the drone did in fact fall. I've had several cases were a problem like the Go app closing on me and that could have resulted in a crash, but so far and with more than 300 miles of flying I've not crashed into the ground. The closest I came was with my Inspire 1 Pro at "Two Guns" abandoned theme park in Arizona. I had flown out to look at the "Kamp" building and was attempting a partial orbit around it when I hit a tree. I noticed the problem and the bird kept sinking on me but I managed to make it back without further issues. Wound up discovering one of the props lost about 40mm off the tip of one blade (see video).


So, there are risks and this close call was my closest but I did not then or any other time crash into the ground. The OP for this story did in fact crash his drone -- I'd say that the risk of dropping something greatly increased the risk of crashing and in this case he did crash. I have hundreds of flights with several close calls but no ground impacts and no risk to others.


Brian
 
Raptorman0909 said:
This is quite true, every flight caries some risk and a quad has more risk than a hex or octo, but doing things like dropping stuff just adds to the risk. In this particular case the risks to outsiders was minimal but not so for the family members who could have had a drone fall on them -- the drone did in fact fall. I've had several cases were a problem like the Go app closing on me and that could have resulted in a crash, but so far and with more than 300 miles of flying I've not crashed into the ground. The closest I came was with my Inspire 1 Pro at "Two Guns" abandoned theme park in Arizona. I had flown out to look at the "Kamp" building and was attempting a partial orbit around it when I hit a tree. I noticed the problem and the bird kept sinking on me but I managed to make it back without further issues. Wound up discovering one of the props lost about 40mm off the tip of one blade (see video).


So, there are risks and this close call was my closest but I did not then or any other time crash into the ground. The OP for this story did in fact crash his drone -- I'd say that the risk of dropping something greatly increased the risk of crashing and in this case he did crash. I have hundreds of flights with several close calls but no ground impacts and no risk to others.


Brian
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So what does all this have to do with an experiment of dropping items to cooperating family members of the flight crew, who willingly and knowingly accepted all risks associated with the experiment? :rolleyes:
 
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GadgetGuy said:
So what does all this have to do with an experiment of dropping items to cooperating family members of the flight crew, who willingly and knowingly accepted all risks associated with the experiment? :rolleyes:
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Now you're trolling, I see no need to waste any more time with you! Hopefully the OP and others will think twice about doing this but you, OTH, well, thinking isn't your forte...


Brian
 
Raptorman0909 said:
Now you're trolling, I see no need to waste any more time with you! Hopefully the OP and others will think twice about doing this but you, OTH, well, thinking isn't your forte...


Brian
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Nice deflection, but you still haven't answered the question...:rolleyes:
 
Your right he made a mistake..flying the drone so close to his kids..would you?I really hope he has learned from it..I dont get some of the post..their was a risk to the kids n some people fail to see that..I'm sure he' a good dad..he just has a lapse in judgement no doubt ..honestly how many on this board would drop a little toy from their drone..I'm going to guess not many
 
Raptorman0909 said:
Come on, let's not make him out to be a monster, he made a mistake and has hopefully learned from it.


Brian
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No, but Darwinism thins out the herd, and promotes survival of the fittest. They eventually learn, or they self destruct, and die off. :cool: Just like the incompetent pilots who quickly crash, and can't afford to replace their aircraft. :p
 
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