How do you guys fly your drones?

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So yesterday evening I was at a park that I've never been to before, and I saw at least 6 different people flying phantoms. Strangely enough, before yesterday, I've never seen another person fly a drone. So I talked to a few of them and what I noticed is, when their drones were in the sky, they are not watching it. They are focused only on the screen. So it got me thinking... Maybe I am flying mine wrong?

When I fly, while I do look at the screen too, most of my attention is on the actual drone in the sky.

How do you guys fly? It just seemed dangerous flying it blindly, so it sparked a little curiosity.
 
It's very "common" to fly by the screen but it's a MUCH safer habit of flying the aircraft by watching the aircraft because then you have "See & Avoid" capabilities. This is a very personal choice but it's hard to see manned aircraft coming from the side/behind if you're only able to see what's directly in front of you.
 
It's very "common" to fly by the screen but it's a MUCH safer habit of flying the aircraft by watching the aircraft because then you have "See & Avoid" capabilities. This is a very personal choice but it's hard to see manned aircraft coming from the side/behind if you're only able to see what's directly in front of you.

That's how I see it too, and the bolded is very important to me, which is what made me curious about this after seeing them fly.
 
I fly it while I can see it but after that look at screen since I like to take it out a few miles
 
Some of us fly like we are the only ones in the sky and some of us "think" that manned aircraft can NEVER be below 400' AGL. Both are very mistaken but none the less that's how many tend to fly.

While I do give the tablet some attention from time to time for details the mass majority of my time is watching the actual aircraft. In situations where I have to watch the screen exclusively (doing commercial work etc) I have a dedicated visual observer who does nothing but keep an eye on the aircraft and the airspace surrounding us. This is out of an abundance of safety.
 
So today I happened to be driving down the road where I often fly my drone. To my surprise I looked up and there is a helicpoter flying around just a little above the tree tops circling around and flying here and there. it looked like they were doing photography of a development but regardless of what they were doing, my first thought was wow- if my drone happened to be up in the air at that time and I was flying and I was flying outside of VLS it would have been ALL too easy to have some type of accident! He was extremely low and based on the angle I could see him at and some other reference points there near him that I know well, I suspect he was somewhere between 175-250' in the air. it made me think about the safety of flying outside of VLS and kind of reinforces the FAA's "suggestion" no flying be done outside of VLS.....

When I fly I look at both the screen and the AC but try and keep a close eye on the AC.
 
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I fly over 90% first person view because I like to fly distance flights, and because even though I like to fly, I see my P4 as a flying camera rather than a RC aircraft. My neighbors were outside one time while I was flying so I showed them the flight capabilities of my bird. Other than shows like that, I fly FPV as steady as I can to lengthen my P4's life.
 
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I learned to fly without an app.

If I can see it, I'm looking at it. I let the Litchi app talk to me verbally and keep me advised on telemetry.
 
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Some of us fly like we are the only ones in the sky and some of us "think" that manned aircraft can NEVER be below 400' AGL. Both are very mistaken but none the less that's how many tend to fly.

While I do give the tablet some attention from time to time for details the mass majority of my time is watching the actual aircraft. In situations where I have to watch the screen exclusively (doing commercial work etc) I have a dedicated visual observer who does nothing but keep an eye on the aircraft and the airspace surrounding us. This is out of an abundance of safety.

I agree 100%.
I generally watch my copter while I get in in position, hover, orbit,... then will scan the tablet, and the copter as I take the pics/video.

People that fly beyond line of sight are going to hurt someone some day.
I hope it's not me or any of my pilot friends. My cousin flew by an Inspire at 7500ft over JFK a couple weeks ago.....
The few are going to ruin it for the rest of us.
 
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Depends on what I'm doing.

When I'm flying just to be flying around yep I'm watching the bird. If I'm out a ways though I watch the screen.

If I'm flying for capturing video or photos I'm watching the screen. Then there is Litchi autonomous flights... I am usually using that for the footage and I'm wayyyyyyyyy out. All screen for those.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
My cousin flew by an Inspire at 7500ft over JFK a couple weeks ago.....
The few are going to ruin it for the rest of us.

JFK airport? If you disagree with your cousins practice, send me his name and phone number. I'll goof on him and say I'm from the FAA and let him know that we noticed he wasn't flying safe. His address would be good to have too, in case I need to threaten a visit to his home. Hah! PM me.
 
Anyone flying NEAR JFK...let alone OVER the airport at 7000' needs a real visit from the FAA. ....just plain reckless!

This in not funny... And,, beyond ruining it for the rest of us,
Could kill hundreds. I hope his cousin gets to him soon.

I fly near airports ( small ones not JFK SIZE) but only with approvals and after filing a NOTAM 48hrs prior, and then only while monitoring the airport frequency. I'm always within VLOS Visual Line of Sight...as required by Transport Canada. I often look at FPV for 10-15 sec or so to get the video or photo lm after but I'm more interested in avoiding obstacles and other aircraft....it's the same as driving and texting ... In 3dimensions....

500m (1640ft) is about as far as you can see the Phantom ( or what is near it) without binoculars under normal sky and lighting condition so that's my limit. I agree FPV And the map are enough to know there the bird is but not enough to know what is around you and if you are flying that way... Even at 500'... You have no idea what is around you. Or coming up behind you....the worst that can happen is you lose your drone... But someone else can lose their life...and above 1000' near an airport there could be hundreds die if you get sucked into an intake.

Think about others and fly more responsibly than his cousin.
 
JFK airport? If you disagree with your cousins practice, send me his name and phone number. I'll goof on him and say I'm from the FAA and let him know that we noticed he wasn't flying safe. His address would be good to have too, in case I need to threaten a visit to his home. Hah! PM me.

Sounded to me like his cousin is an actual pilot, who while flying an actual plane, saw an inspire.
I am sure he will chime in


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JFK airport? If you disagree with your cousins practice, send me his name and phone number. I'll goof on him and say I'm from the FAA and let him know that we noticed he wasn't flying safe. His address would be good to have too, in case I need to threaten a visit to his home. Hah! PM me.

You miss read that. My cousin (also a pilot) was flying a Cirrus Single engine Piston airplane going about 160 mph.
He was in the airplane and passed an Inspire.
I have no idea who was flying the drone
 
Anyone flying NEAR JFK...let alone OVER the airport at 7000' needs a real visit from the FAA. ....just plain reckless!

This in not funny... And,, beyond ruining it for the rest of us,
Could kill hundreds. I hope his cousin gets to him soon.


Think about others and fly more responsibly than his cousin.

I think you miss read it as well.
I said " My cousin flew by an Inspire at 7500ft over JFK"
My cousin was flying a Cirrus Single engine Piston airplane he was the pilot inside the airplane that passed the inspire.
I have no idea who was flying the drone
 
I fly the screen quite a bit. Virtually all of my flying has been on our company property (about 28,000 acres) and is the power plant I work at and a bunch of used-to-be mine property that has been reclaimed and is now hay fields and small lakes. There's no air traffic for miles and pretty much no people to fly over other than the odd one that I'd probably know and they'd probably be fascinated to see the drone anyway.

I love to do distance runs and there's nothing underneath the drone that could possibly be hurt if it failed and fell.

It's all about exercising good judgement and completely eliminating the possibility of interfering with manned aircraft. There's too many dolts out there and I'm completely convinced that any enjoyable drone flying will be kaboshed in short time, so might as well enjoy it while you can.
 
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That's an amazing tale. Especially since, like the Phantom, Inspires are limited to 1640' vertical height. Almost as entertaining as the mystery drone that hit a plane over Heathrow, only they never found the drone & there was no damage to the aircraft. The Immaculate Drone Strike! :rolleyes:

My cousin flew by an Inspire at 7500ft over JFK a couple weeks ago.....
 
First, he said his cousin "flew by an Inspire at 7500' over JFK." As in his cousin was flying a plane and passed by an Inspire.

Second, like Phantoms, the Inspire is software limited to 1640'. As in his cousin was telling a tale.

Anyone flying NEAR JFK...let alone OVER the airport at 7000' needs a real visit from the FAA. ....just plain reckless!

This in not funny... And,, beyond ruining it for the rest of us,
Could kill hundreds. I hope his cousin gets to him soon.

I fly near airports ( small ones not JFK SIZE) but only with approvals and after filing a NOTAM 48hrs prior, and then only while monitoring the airport frequency. I'm always within VLOS Visual Line of Sight...as required by Transport Canada. I often look at FPV for 10-15 sec or so to get the video or photo lm after but I'm more interested in avoiding obstacles and other aircraft....it's the same as driving and texting ... In 3dimensions....

500m (1640ft) is about as far as you can see the Phantom ( or what is near it) without binoculars under normal sky and lighting condition so that's my limit. I agree FPV And the map are enough to know there the bird is but not enough to know what is around you and if you are flying that way... Even at 500'... You have no idea what is around you. Or coming up behind you....the worst that can happen is you lose your drone... But someone else can lose their life...and above 1000' near an airport there could be hundreds die if you get sucked into an intake.

Think about others and fly more responsibly than his cousin.
 
I was flying my p4 AT 120 metres near my home in the UK when a small plane flew below me. CAA rules are that they should not be below 1000 feet, very scary


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