So if you saw a drone with a camera in your backyard....

[87GT]

Out of curiousity, you guys that fly drones do you know how high you are agl? Is there An altimeter on these things? How high will they really go? I really don't want to plow into one on final into Delaware or Osu. I over fly lots of parks and schools lol.

 

Depends on your rig. Cheap ones have no tracking other than your eyes. The nice ones have GPS and altimeters setup through a laptop or tablet. Some of the high end ones have cameras setup for FPV. You put on goggles that have a screen for each of your eyes and that is how you fly it. They normally go a couple hundred feet. I think the FAA rules is you can not go higher than 400 feet and no more than 5 miles from an airport. Can they go higher? Yes they can. Depending on your fail-safes one could get out of range of your radio and either fall to the ground or keep going until the battery runs out of charge. I was with a buddy and he had GPS tracking on his but it somehow got stuck on 100% throttle. I think it was an actual hardware failure but it kept climbing into the sky. We tried following it in the car but it got so far away we lost visual of it. Then the GPS gave out. My guess is it went until the battery died and feel to the earth never to be found again by us. A full charge on the lipo batteries he was running could sustain 100% throttle for at least 20 minutes.

[smokin5s]

Out of curiousity, you guys that fly drones do you know how high you are agl? Is there An altimeter on these things? How high will they really go? I really don't want to plow into one on final into Delaware or Osu. I over fly lots of parks and schools lol.

My DJI Phantom does show air speed, altitude, and pretty much anything else I want to know. My cheaper quads do not show that info... there are laws about flying near airports... typical cheaper quads will fly to a max height of 400-800 feet... my DJI phantom by default has a max celing of 400 feet, but it can be modified... the record holder for height is just shy of 5,000 feet... But I'm going to be honest, that's too high and you aren't going to see it at that height anyways, nor will a standard 2.4ghz remote be able to contact, and once it falls out of range, it either flys home or just shuts off and falls out of the sky until it regains signal.

[smokin5s]

Depends on your rig. Cheap ones have no tracking other than your eyes. The nice ones have GPS and altimeters setup through a laptop or tablet. Some of the high end ones have cameras setup for FPV. You put on goggles that have a screen for each of your eyes and that is how you fly it. They normally go a couple hundred feet. I think the FAA rules is you can not go higher than 400 feet and no more than 5 miles from an airport. Can they go higher? Yes they can. Depending on your fail-safes one could get out of range of your radio and either fall to the ground or keep going until the battery runs out of charge. I was with a buddy and he had GPS tracking on his but it somehow got stuck on 100% throttle. I think it was an actual hardware failure but it kept climbing into the sky. We tried following it in the car but it got so far away we lost visual of it. Then the GPS gave out. My guess is it went until the battery died and feel to the earth never to be found again by us. A full charge on the lipo batteries he was running could sustain 100% throttle for at least 20 minutes.

depends on the quad and the battery that's in it... my v262 has a stock 850 battery... that thing is lucky to get 10 minutes, my v393 is a 2700 battery, I'll get 10-15 minutes of flight time, my Phantom is a 5400 and I'll get 25 minutes of flight time.

 

FYI, there's no laws on 400 feet in the air... that's the default set, but you can typically go about 1100 feet before your 2.4 or 5ghz remote runs out of range.

[mrs.cos]

 

If, for instance, you were sitting in your car taking pictures of my windows, house, family members, and so on, parked on the public street, you have the right to do that, but I will be paying you a visit and asking you what you are doing and why.

 

actually... Its called "Reasonable Expectation of Privacy" - So if someone does it you can call the police as its invasion of privacy inside your home.

Examples of places where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy are a person's residence or hotel room[1] and public places which have been specifically provided by businesses or the public sector in order to ensure privacy, such as public restrooms, private portions of jailhouses,[2] or a phone booth.[3]

 

http://www.andrewkantor.com/legalrights/Legal_Rights_of_Photographers.pdf

[Geeto67]

actually... Its called "Reasonable Expectation of Privacy" - So if someone does it you can call the police as its invasion of privacy inside your home.

 

 

http://www.andrewkantor.com/legalrights/Legal_Rights_of_Photographers.pdf

 

First:

I am not a lawyer. I have not had legal training. I am just a guy who did some research on this topic. Don’t consider this document as legal advice; it may be wrong. Consult your own attorney if you have questions; this is just one person’s understanding and overview.

So it's useless.

 

Second:

Technically, taking the

photo isn’t what’s

illegal. Violating the person’s privacy is.

The article deals mostly with what's ok to publish not what's ok to film. In this case the article doesn't even cover my third point which is....

 

Third:

subject matter plays into this. If you are filming a city scape and you accidentally catch someone on the 20th floor changing it generally isn't illegal for your to have taken that picture because you were not there specifically to photograph that person. It may cause harm to publish that photo but generally speaking you are talking about civil repercussions. If you are specifically trying to spy on that person it is a different scenario because state and local laws concerning invasion of privacy (peeping tom laws) usually require intent to invade privacy.

 

However, given our subject matter in this case: if you look at the map posted earlier in this thread, shooter has an open lot and a road behind his house without a visible privacy fence and his backyard appears to be visible from the road so he does not have an expectation of privacy to begin with if he is in his backyard. He thinks he does but he is wrong.

[87GT]

depends on the quad and the battery that's in it... my v262 has a stock 850 battery... that thing is lucky to get 10 minutes, my v393 is a 2700 battery, I'll get 10-15 minutes of flight time, my Phantom is a 5400 and I'll get 25 minutes of flight time.

 

FYI, there's no laws on 400 feet in the air... that's the default set, but you can typically go about 1100 feet before your 2.4 or 5ghz remote runs out of range.

 

It is an FAA safety guildline. Here I found it

 

https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/

 

Model Aircraft Operations

 

Model aircraft operations are for hobby or recreational purposes only.

The FAA has partnered with several industry associations to promote Know Before You Fly, a campaign to educate the public about using unmanned aircraft safely and responsibly. Individuals flying for hobby or recreation are strongly encouraged to follow safety guidelines, which include:

Fly below 400 feet and remain clear of surrounding obstacles

Keep the aircraft within visual line of sight at all times

Remain well clear of and do not interfere with manned aircraft operations

Don't fly within 5 miles of an airport unless you contact the airport and control tower before flying

Don't fly near people or stadiums

Don't fly an aircraft that weighs more than 55 lbs

Don't be careless or reckless with your unmanned aircraft – you could be fined for endangering people or other aircraft

[smokin5s]

It is an FAA safety guildline. Here I found it

 

https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/

guidlines, not law.... just saying... the guidlines are in place because honestly above 400 feet, it gets hard to see and identify what's front and back, etc... and planes are much harder to fly... helicopters and quadcopters are easier to fly at higher altitudes just because you can stop and gain your bearings... I'm not suggesting it especially near a city as there could be an airport nearby and planes are coming in for landings...

[criitter7]

guidlines, not law.... just saying... the guidlines are in place because honestly above 400 feet, it gets hard to see and identify what's front and back, etc... and planes are much harder to fly... helicopters and quadcopters are easier to fly at higher altitudes just because you can stop and gain your bearings... I'm not suggesting it especially near a city as there could be an airport nearby and planes are coming in for landings...

Planes won't be 400 500ft agl around city's a populated areas. It's just stupid. I don't get that low until I'm turning final. I'll always be 1k ft or higher

[smokin5s]

and my Phantom will hit 1k+ all day long no questions asked.... and they are set to have a specific decent rate, so if I gotta get it out of the way in a hurry, I can't because it's locked to a decent rate of 2 feet per second... and it has a max flight speed of 32mph

 

regardless, I won't take the risk of hurting anyone, so I just fly out in the country or I keep it below building height if I'm flying in the city... a hobby just isn't worth the risk of someone's life, regardless of how small.

[TTQ B4U]

Planes won't be 400 500ft agl around city's a populated areas. It's just stupid. I don't get that low until I'm turning final. I'll always be 1k ft or higher

 

I don't think it's stupid. The last thing someone needs is a 5-12lb object falling out of the sky into traffic or a person. 400ft is plenty high enough.

[criitter7]

I don't think it's stupid. The last thing someone needs is a 5-12lb object falling out of the sky into traffic or a person. 400ft is plenty high enough.

 

 

No I meant airplanes flying around populated area at 500ft. I get nervous below 1000ish

[ImUrOBGYN]

I don't think it's stupid. The last thing someone needs is a 5-12lb object falling out of the sky into traffic or a person. 400ft is plenty high enough.

 

Given the intricacy, price, and fragility of these, I'm surprised they don't have emergency chutes of some kind.