Something like a DJI Mavic Air (which is more like $1.5k than $1k) will happily get 5-10km range. The risks associated with being 5km away piloting a drone and

Something like a DJI Mavic Air (which is more like $1.5k than $1k) will happily get 5-10km range. The risks associated with being 5km away piloting a drone and in a helicopter full of people overhead is radically different. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to be only 5km away from Mt St Helens when It blew its top ~40 years ago, but that one had spent 6 weeks giving off 4 and 5 magnitude earthquake warnings... I think there's be a huge range of volcanos where it'd be risky to overfly in a helicopter risking human life, but where it'd be perfectly safe and sensible to fly drones for fun/curiosity/commercial-stock-footage/education/some-possible-eventual-science-benefit. I mean the major reason _not_ to overfly sites with drones are entirely absent, there's nobody and nothing valuable to hit and nothing for a drone battery to set fire to if you crash one on a lava field...