Is a blimp a drone?

[Suwaneeguy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... miz7KkU_0k

If the FAA is so hell bent on damning drones, will they include blimps?
Ok a blimp doesn't have the speed or aerodynamics capability of a quadcopter, but they are commonly used in advertising.
One could easily attach a gopro camera and get the same video a quad can.
The main reason you don't see them all that much, is they cost a ton more.
Not to mention trying to find a source of helium.

 

[QYV]

technically, yes. "drone" is another term for "UAV" Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which any RC aircraft is. We typically try to separate ourselves from that larger group by referring to Phantoms as "quadcopters" or "quads" due to the 4 blades.

recreational, hobby RC aircraft have been around for quite some time, however the technicalities and cost involved kept the hobby's population low. Now with the proliferation of cheap quadcopters and other hovering vehicles, tons of people are flocking to the hobby so there's going to have to be some newer regulations introduced.

but you're right that in principle all RC UAV's should fall under the same guidelines, and currently do.

 

[locoworks]

technically, yes. "drone" is another term for "UAV" Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which any RC aircraft is. We typically try to separate ourselves from that larger group by referring to Phantoms as "quadcopters" or "quads" due to the 4 blades.

recreational, hobby RC aircraft have been around for quite some time, however the technicalities and cost involved kept the hobby's population low. Now with the proliferation of cheap quadcopters and other hovering vehicles, tons of people are flocking to the hobby so there's going to have to be some newer regulations introduced.

but you're right that in principle all RC UAV's should fall under the same guidelines, and currently do.

so is a helium balloon on a length of fishing with a go pro on a gimbal strapped below a UAV?

 

[N017RW]

Is this an aircraft (there are other designs too)?:
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Defaul ... &catid=231

Technically it's a type of W.I.G. (wing in ground effect vehicle) and this one claims to be only capable of 20' heights.

No pilots license but may require boat registration. :lol:

 

[Monte55]

To me, a drone type is something than can be controlled from a remote place. A blimp being tethered or not and just floating is not a drone in my opinion. As soon as the string is cut and it has power to control its movement, it is.. Just my view...but who cares. It's what the FAA wants to call it.

 

[QYV]

Monte is right we aren't talking about opinions, we're talking about government definitions, yes?

anything that is TETHERED like the blimp on a cable in the above example is not considered a UAV. I'm not sure what the propulsion requirements are but since it is tethered, it is not considered a UAV or drone.

that was actually one of the more common examples of the ridiculousness of our laws and regulations in this country and using drones for real estate photography... it's not legal to sell pictures taken from a drone, but set up a ladder or camera on a balloon and the exact same photo is now legal to sell (like from the photographer to the agent).

silly

 

[ProfessorStein]

I'm not sure it's really fair to say that this blimp is "tethered", for the sake of definition. I have to imagine that the ultimate goal is to get it flying UNtethered (if they haven't already)... and that they just have it cabled up in this video during their testing and R&D phase, in case something goes horribly wrong (just like they cable up VTOL craft during testing).

But, I'm with Monte and QYV... who really cares. How a blimp is designated should only really concern you if you intend on taking up the sport of RC blimp flying. It has no practical reference for multi-rotors or other types of craft, since it's obvious that you can't compare apples to oranges in anything the FAA does or says (and comparing apples to apples is even sometimes iffy).

 

[locoworks]

Monte is right we aren't talking about opinions, we're talking about government definitions, yes?

anything that is TETHERED like the blimp on a cable in the above example is not considered a UAV. I'm not sure what the propulsion requirements are but since it is tethered, it is not considered a UAV or drone.

that was actually one of the more common examples of the ridiculousness of our laws and regulations in this country and using drones for real estate photography... it's not legal to sell pictures taken from a drone, but set up a ladder or camera on a balloon and the exact same photo is now legal to sell (like from the photographer to the agent).

silly

so if you tethered your phantom to take photo's for business use, is it still a UAV?? are the photos legal??

and on that note, to prevent flyaways, if you flew a phantom that was tethered in gps mode and it reached the end of its tether would it continue in an arc all the way to ground level, or would it hold its height before its direction and just keep pulling at whatever altitude it ran out of line???

 

[ProfessorStein]

so if you tethered your phantom to take photo's for business use, is it still a UAV?? are the photos legal??

I stand corrected. That is a great question!

and on that note, to prevent flyaways, if you flew a phantom that was tethered in gps mode and it reached the end of its tether would it continue in an arc all the way to ground level, or would it hold its height before its direction and just keep pulling at whatever altitude it ran out of line???

Someone actually mentioned that they had trained with a tether. We should find that thread and ask 'em.

 

[QYV]

so if you tethered your phantom to take photo's for business use, is it still a UAV?? are the photos legal??

I stand corrected. That is a great question!

indeed, it's a good question that was what my comment about "not being sure about propulsion" meant... I Don't know exactly at what point your device becomes a UAV even if it's tethered.

I've been doing some googling "UAV vs tethered" and reading a bunch of documents from researchers and stuff talking about having to keep their quadcopters tethered to the ground in order to stay legal, so as far as I can tell as long as you maintain a tether it doesn't matter if you're self propelled (quadcopter) or not (balloon).

I'm actually looking forward to these new regulations, if for no other reason than to clear up the confusion

 

[eagleseye]

For that matter, other than video, who's to say you didn't use a balloon to take those photos for the real estate agent?

 

[ATOMSK]

Is this an aircraft (there are other designs too)?:
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/Defaul ... &catid=231

Technically it's a type of W.I.G. (wing in ground effect vehicle) and this one claims to be only capable of 20' heights.

No pilots license but may require boat registration. :lol:

Dont you just love Hammacher.
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/12185?promo=search

I would think it'd be easy to mod this with FPV and enable it to shoot fire while flying. This could be considered a drone.

 

[flyingtim]

Re: Is a blimp a drone? NOT

There are NO laws that say a quad cannot be used for commercial purposes:
http://dronelawjournal.com/

 

[flyingtim]

Another good site:
http://www.drone-laws.com/