Ultralight vs Drone ( Why do Drones have much tighter regulations)

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What seems ridiculous to me is that one can fly an ultralight "Paramotor" with a passenger and have no height restriction or license to fly. The premise is the FAA believes there is little chance of injuries to others if it malfunctions. However they fly at many thousands of feet and it occupys airspace with planes the same as a drone would yet drones can't fly above 400 feet. I would imagine that an ultralight would do way more damage it it collided with a plane. The requirements the FAA places on drones seems way overboard as compared to a much heavier ultralight with occupants.


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I'd imagine the average ultralight pilot has more situational awareness than drone a pilot. Also they tend to fly in specific areas. The FAA maps even have those areas marked in the foothills near me.


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Ok makes a little more sense. However if a drone pilot is in a very remote area there should be some latitude. Thanks for your input though.


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What seems ridiculous to me is that one can fly an ultralight "Paramotor" with a passenger and have no height restriction or license to fly. The premise is the FAA believes there is little chance of injuries to others if it malfunctions. However they fly at many thousands of feet and it occupys airspace with planes the same as a drone would yet drones can't fly above 400 feet. I would imagine that an ultralight would do way more damage it it collided with a plane. The requirements the FAA places on drones seems way overboard as compared to a much heavier ultralight with occupants.


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I do believe you are incorrect about pilots of ultralight aircraft carrying passengers not needing to be licensed.
 
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Also the ultralight has ZERO autonomous flight controls. If you get it wrong in the UL you might die... in an R/C aircraft it could fly and fly and fly without your input.

Do we really need to have this conversation? Seriously?
 
Also the ultralight has ZERO autonomous flight controls. If you get it wrong in the UL you might die... in an R/C aircraft it could fly and fly and fly without your input.

Do we really need to have this conversation? Seriously?

you might die? How about you'll probably die!

and meh, why not. Slow news day
 
'average' Joe does not buy ultralights at Walmart?

This. Along with the fact that when you're flying an ultralight, some level of responsibility and carefulness is a given, since your life is on the line.
 
Yes seriously ! It's all the more reason that a drone might be safer than some idiot flying ultralight. It has autonomous functions.


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My point is they don't need any license to fly it as it is considered a sport. Since their life is on the line it's all the more reason to either be certified or hold type of license. If to fly my drone to take a picture for commercial purposes I need a part 107 they need nothing to fly that thing. Even with a part 107 you still have all those restrictions. If you do any research on why hobbyists we're given all the restrictions you will see it was companies like Amazon and other commercial industries that complained that hobbiest are subject to the same standards. This was at the time they needed a manned pilot license to pilot a drone for commercial purposes. They lobbied and lobbied and The hobbyist got screwed.


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My point is they don't need any license to fly it as it is considered a sport. Since their life is on the line it's all the more reason to either be certified or hold type of license. If to fly my drone to take a picture for commercial purposes I need a part 107 they need nothing to fly that thing. Even with a part 107 you still have all those restrictions. If you do any research on why hobbyists we're given all the restrictions you will see it was companies like Amazon and other commercial industries that complained that hobbiest are subject to the same standards. This was at the time they needed a manned pilot license to pilot a drone for commercial purposes. They lobbied and lobbied and The hobbyist got screwed.

so buy an ultralight and a DSLR and use that to take shots for Dronebase and weddings etc

That would be epic
 
My point is they don't need any license to fly it as it is considered a sport. Since their life is on the line it's all the more reason to either be certified or hold type of license. If to fly my drone to take a picture for commercial purposes I need a part 107 they need nothing to fly that thing. Even with a part 107 you still have all those restrictions. If you do any research on why hobbyists we're given all the restrictions you will see it was companies like Amazon and other commercial industries that complained that hobbiest are subject to the same standards. This was at the time they needed a manned pilot license to pilot a drone for commercial purposes. They lobbied and lobbied and The hobbyist got screwed.

Why do you care about them and how does that effect you in anyway? Are there any stories you've read about them hurting people etc. that concern you? As mentioned above they do need a license for commercial activity, just as we do. For recreation they don't and we don't.
 
Yes people have died look it up. Because there is no equality and if they can fly at 15000 feet I think we should be able to fly fpv and above 400 feet when appropriate. If you have nothing constructive to add then don't. flying line of sight at 400 feet is not realistic.


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Yes people have died look it up. Because there is no equality and if they can fly at 15000 feet I think we should be able to fly fpv and above 400 feet when appropriate. If you have nothing constructive to add then don't.
I should have said other people. So what if they die? Rock climbers die, parachute's die, swimmers die and on average 760 people a year die in the US falling out of bed. Unless I know them personally they are just a statistic and have no bearing on my life.
 
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Yes people have died. Look it up. Because there is no equality and if they can fly at 15000 feet I think we should be able to fly fpv and above 400 feet when appropriate. If you have nothing constructive to add then don't.

Does punctuation classify as constructive?
 
Ok well times have changed over the decades and FPV is a recent innovation with technology. I'm trying to understand the FAA guidelines/ rules rational. The purpose touted for line of sight was so you can see approaching aircraft. Well manned aircraft are not flying below 500 feet so what's the point of this? Just because you have done this for decades means you probably should have a model airplane again instead; you have a phantom 4 pro that you can use half of the capabilities.


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I'm not a yahoo and fly with the guidelines however I question the intent. I understand their are idiots who want to push the envelope


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