Drones
- Thread starter TeeDee
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Mavic for the little extra cash over the spark 4k vrs 1080 but the spark is a small machine and much more portable in back pack ( the dji bags are the same size though) , i crashed my phantom 3&4 over the years loss of signals and cross winds even managed to see a hog bash my dji 3 up in Spain and now with the bad press i went for a smaller less intrusive machine BUT harder to find when you lose it ............and you will
Sorry, long post incoming! 
I've got a range of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS, AKA drones) . From a small and basic MicroDrone 3.0 to a 3DR Solo costing over £2000 with batteries and accessories (actually 2 of these). I'm also taking the CAA permission to fly qualification in a couple of months, to allow me to use the Solos for Mountain Rescue. I'm also in the British Model Flying Association, which gives my public liability insurance (£25/year membership).
Choice of drone:
The suggestion of a small and simple sUAS to hone your skills is a good one. The DJIs are good choices if you already have the basic skills and know what you want from the sUAS but are an expensive first sUAS (£500 ish for the Spark). They are heavily reliant on GPS and smart shot types of stabilisation. This can go wrong if you have GPS issues and you can have a "fly away", where the sUAS is out of control and flies off. This happened a couple of years ago and a kid almost lost their eye (LINK).
Learning to handle a no frills sUAS will help you maintain control if it goes rogue.
If you're happy spending £130 or so I'd recommend a Parrot AR 2.0. This was my first sUAS and is quite basic (although I have since heavily modified mine). It has an optical flow sensor, which helps it hold position, and that's about it. It if fairly large (diam. @ 500mm) and comes with bumpers to protect anything it may hit from being damaged/injured by the blades. It also streams HD video to your tablet/phone, although this is shaky as the image is not stabilised.
If you're looking at the GoPro Karma be very careful. The early models had power issues whiich saw them drop out of the sky. They were recalled (which seriously impacted GoPro's market value) so if you go for one of these be wary if buying cheap from eBay.
Buying from eBay:
Be VERY careful. There are a number of China based sUAS sellers on there who are scams. They offer cheap kit for sale which either doeen't exist and they keep your money. Others sell a warranty with the sUAS and then say the sUAS is out of stock. The issue is you get a refund for the sUAS but no refund for the warranty. eBay will not help in this case, as their payment guarantees do not cover "insubstantial goods".
Licensing:
There are no plans to introduce licensing or mandatory training for hobby sUAS in the UK. In an attempt to satisfy the media furore and public ignorance there has been announcement of an intention to introduce the registration of the sUAS , so they can be associated back to the owner if used inappropriately and the sUAS brought down.
Commercial use of sUAS requires a permission to fly from the CAA. This is training on the safe use of sUAS, risk assessments, aviation law and the like. This can be done with a number of commercial sUAS companies across the UK and costs @£1800, which includes liability insurance. I'm going for the training as using a sUAS for search and rescue is considered to be commercial use even though an MRT is a charity. This is because we get the occasional training or bag of chips from the local police service, which is considered to be compensation (I think you can tell I don't agree with this!).
Privacy:
While there is no specific legislation regarding the use of sUAS and privacy, all sUAS pilots are expected to abide by the CAAs Drone Code. The basic rules are; keep within line of sight, 120m maximum altitude, minimum 50m from people, structures and roads you do not have control over. Flying over someones garden is going to break the code as you're within 50m of the people and building. Shooting it down is not a good idea, as it's a firearms offence, criminal damage and I believe a sUAS is considered an aircraft. You can get in to a lot of trouble if you shoot down an aircraft!
Most hobby sUAS have built in cameras or take GoPros. THESE DO NOT HAVE A ZOOM FEATURE! They cannot stand off and zoom in to your bedroom window, catching you in your undies. They are not a peeping tom's tool of choice. The media make a great deal of privacy and sUAS but they are no where near as capable or a threat as made out. If you want a "surveillance drone" you're looking at a £10,000 platform with £1000 DSLR. Not the sort of kit your local chav will wing over your garden fence
POV:
Most sUAS with cameras stream video to a tablet or phone. Many tablets/phones support HDMI out ports or a MHL adaptor. This will let you plug in a set of FPV goggles. There is no need to get a specialist racing FPV type setup if you're new to this and on a budget. A good set of goggles will cost you £200+. My Fat Shark Dominator IIs were £350 is and that was an eBay overseas purchase. Some of the cheaper sUAVs let you use a phone with the cardboard goggles setup but not the Parrot.
Automatically enforced geofences and altitude limits:
These only apply to GPS enabled sUAS. DJI have introduced geofences in some areas, such as Washington DC. As far as I'm aware these have not been introduced in the UK, yet! You can download an app from NATS which gives you a map with live update on NOTAMS flight restrictions, restricted airspace and the like. This is realy useful where there are temporary restrictions in place. It's obvious you don't fly too close to an airport
Media coverage:
You may have a feeling that I don't like the hysterical media coverage and misinformation around sUAS. The issue is that "drone hits plane" and "drones can cause crashes" makes a great headline. The media misreport stories for dramatic effect and do not report the facts (something I've seen a lot in Mountain Rescue). This feeds the public fear and ignorance around the subject. A good example was the report of a sUAS strike on a plane at Heathrow in April this year. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN! This made headlines all over the world and generated a lot of fear and "hang 'em high" comments. What didn't make big headlines was the official report less than two weeks later stating it was not a drone strike. At this time there has not been any formal destructive testing looking at the damage a sUAS will inflict on a plane. Even so, there are calls far and wide to restrict sale or even total bans.
Yes, if flown inappropriately they can be a danger to aircraft but this is not as big an issue as made out by the media.
The CAA recorded 1835 bird strikes in 2016, against a reported 29 sUAS NEAR MISSES in 2015.
I think that's enough for now (the Mrs is looking a bit miffed!). Drop me a PM if you'd like to follow up on this.
I've got a range of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS, AKA drones) . From a small and basic MicroDrone 3.0 to a 3DR Solo costing over £2000 with batteries and accessories (actually 2 of these). I'm also taking the CAA permission to fly qualification in a couple of months, to allow me to use the Solos for Mountain Rescue. I'm also in the British Model Flying Association, which gives my public liability insurance (£25/year membership).
Choice of drone:
The suggestion of a small and simple sUAS to hone your skills is a good one. The DJIs are good choices if you already have the basic skills and know what you want from the sUAS but are an expensive first sUAS (£500 ish for the Spark). They are heavily reliant on GPS and smart shot types of stabilisation. This can go wrong if you have GPS issues and you can have a "fly away", where the sUAS is out of control and flies off. This happened a couple of years ago and a kid almost lost their eye (LINK).
Learning to handle a no frills sUAS will help you maintain control if it goes rogue.
If you're happy spending £130 or so I'd recommend a Parrot AR 2.0. This was my first sUAS and is quite basic (although I have since heavily modified mine). It has an optical flow sensor, which helps it hold position, and that's about it. It if fairly large (diam. @ 500mm) and comes with bumpers to protect anything it may hit from being damaged/injured by the blades. It also streams HD video to your tablet/phone, although this is shaky as the image is not stabilised.
If you're looking at the GoPro Karma be very careful. The early models had power issues whiich saw them drop out of the sky. They were recalled (which seriously impacted GoPro's market value) so if you go for one of these be wary if buying cheap from eBay.
Buying from eBay:
Be VERY careful. There are a number of China based sUAS sellers on there who are scams. They offer cheap kit for sale which either doeen't exist and they keep your money. Others sell a warranty with the sUAS and then say the sUAS is out of stock. The issue is you get a refund for the sUAS but no refund for the warranty. eBay will not help in this case, as their payment guarantees do not cover "insubstantial goods".
Licensing:
There are no plans to introduce licensing or mandatory training for hobby sUAS in the UK. In an attempt to satisfy the media furore and public ignorance there has been announcement of an intention to introduce the registration of the sUAS , so they can be associated back to the owner if used inappropriately and the sUAS brought down.
Commercial use of sUAS requires a permission to fly from the CAA. This is training on the safe use of sUAS, risk assessments, aviation law and the like. This can be done with a number of commercial sUAS companies across the UK and costs @£1800, which includes liability insurance. I'm going for the training as using a sUAS for search and rescue is considered to be commercial use even though an MRT is a charity. This is because we get the occasional training or bag of chips from the local police service, which is considered to be compensation (I think you can tell I don't agree with this!).
Privacy:
While there is no specific legislation regarding the use of sUAS and privacy, all sUAS pilots are expected to abide by the CAAs Drone Code. The basic rules are; keep within line of sight, 120m maximum altitude, minimum 50m from people, structures and roads you do not have control over. Flying over someones garden is going to break the code as you're within 50m of the people and building. Shooting it down is not a good idea, as it's a firearms offence, criminal damage and I believe a sUAS is considered an aircraft. You can get in to a lot of trouble if you shoot down an aircraft!
Most hobby sUAS have built in cameras or take GoPros. THESE DO NOT HAVE A ZOOM FEATURE! They cannot stand off and zoom in to your bedroom window, catching you in your undies. They are not a peeping tom's tool of choice. The media make a great deal of privacy and sUAS but they are no where near as capable or a threat as made out. If you want a "surveillance drone" you're looking at a £10,000 platform with £1000 DSLR. Not the sort of kit your local chav will wing over your garden fence
POV:
Most sUAS with cameras stream video to a tablet or phone. Many tablets/phones support HDMI out ports or a MHL adaptor. This will let you plug in a set of FPV goggles. There is no need to get a specialist racing FPV type setup if you're new to this and on a budget. A good set of goggles will cost you £200+. My Fat Shark Dominator IIs were £350 is and that was an eBay overseas purchase. Some of the cheaper sUAVs let you use a phone with the cardboard goggles setup but not the Parrot.
Automatically enforced geofences and altitude limits:
These only apply to GPS enabled sUAS. DJI have introduced geofences in some areas, such as Washington DC. As far as I'm aware these have not been introduced in the UK, yet! You can download an app from NATS which gives you a map with live update on NOTAMS flight restrictions, restricted airspace and the like. This is realy useful where there are temporary restrictions in place. It's obvious you don't fly too close to an airport
Media coverage:
You may have a feeling that I don't like the hysterical media coverage and misinformation around sUAS.
The issue is that "drone hits plane" and "drones can cause crashes" makes a great headline. The media misreport stories for dramatic effect and do not report the facts (something I've seen a lot in Mountain Rescue). This feeds the public fear and ignorance around the subject. A good example was the report of a sUAS strike on a plane at Heathrow in April this year. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN! This made headlines all over the world and generated a lot of fear and "hang 'em high" comments. What didn't make big headlines was the official report less than two weeks later stating it was not a drone strike. At this time there has not been any formal destructive testing looking at the damage a sUAS will inflict on a plane. Even so, there are calls far and wide to restrict sale or even total bans. Yes, if flown inappropriately they can be a danger to aircraft but this is not as big an issue as made out by the media.
The CAA recorded 1835 bird strikes in 2016, against a reported 29 sUAS NEAR MISSES in 2015.
I think that's enough for now (the Mrs is looking a bit miffed!). Drop me a PM if you'd like to follow up on this.
Thanks, I have considered ditching the IT world and working with drones full time. I hate being stuck in the office and love flying
Re the raptors, I have seen footage of this. IIRC the Dutch are working on this. Not certain I'd take this route due to the risk to the bird. I'd have thought that targeted jamming of the control signal would be better. If it's a "dumb" drone (no GPS) it'll just drop out of the sky. Not a good idea in a crowded area. If it is GPS enabled, in most cases on the loss of the control signal they return to their takeoff point. Much safe and an opportunity to follow it home and grab the pilot. Wins all 'round!
It's also worth noting that the proposal to register drones in the UK is based on the US model. The US Supreme Court recently ruled this illegal and overturned the FAA' s scheme. I wonder how the proposal will fare over here. Or whether it was just a media sound bite to make the government look good, which will be quietly forgotten in time.
Thanks, I have considered ditching the IT world and working with drones full time. I hate being stuck in the office and love flying
What sort of work could you do with a drone?
I was half thinking of a few ideas a while ago for starting working for myself, and someone suggested drone work. I kind of shrugged that off then as i didnt know anything about drones, but ive seen a few mentions since of drones being used. Unlikely i would do anything like it, but just curious as to what different types of work you would actually do with a drone.
We have a sub contractor at work who comes in to perform flights over solar farms to check panel damage and also performs thermography tests to identify any underperforming panels and cables. Quite impressive to watch; he also has started to do surveys on our wind turbines checking the structure and blades for damage and corrosion.
The 'start up' costs involved for him were high but that was down to the thermal camera he uses!
Check out this firm:
http://www.flythru.co.uk/index.html
Had a chat with one of their guys recently and as expected, flying a drone is only a small aspect; interpreting the data is a skill set of its own! The drone flying aspect appears to be a bolt on to existing engineers and surveyors...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The 'start up' costs involved for him were high but that was down to the thermal camera he uses!
Check out this firm:
http://www.flythru.co.uk/index.html
Had a chat with one of their guys recently and as expected, flying a drone is only a small aspect; interpreting the data is a skill set of its own! The drone flying aspect appears to be a bolt on to existing engineers and surveyors...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
With the right kit you can do anything normally done by helicopter/plane. Examples are: Near IR crop surveys, archiological investigation {looking for anomalies in vegetation, ground profile}, land surveys, tv/movie shoots, HV electric transmission cable inspection and more.
Then you have lower level jobs where you would have people working at height. Such as tower inspections, roof surveys basically anything where someone would climb up to inspect.
Finally you have "other". There is a growing use in wedding/event photography, 3D modelling of structures and the like.
sUAS can be used in a multitude of different ways. The limiting factors are the sensor package (e.g FLIR for counting deer in parkland at night, NIR for vegetation /soil surveys, visible light cameras for too much to mention) and your imagination (and sales skills!).
Well, you can do any of the reconacense/photography type stuff. Even small package delivery (FedEx is experimenting now) but drones still don't have a heavy enough payload for the real workloads yet (crop dusting, etc.)
did someone say drones ....I have had quite a few this year ...I am now on drone number 5 which is the Mavic Pro Zoom