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>the only legal way to fly a drone was with an actual aircraft pilot’s license. That must have been a rather large drone (or maybe what you mean is "fly a dron
by swiley 5y ago
>the only legal way to fly a drone was with an actual aircraft pilot’s license.
That must have been a rather large drone (or maybe what you mean is "fly a drone near an airport or city") since you don't even need a pilot's license to fly small planes in the US.
- sokoloff 5y agoYou don't need a pilot's license* to fly ultralight category aircraft in the US, but for the category commonly called "small planes", you do. Ultralights are governed by Part 103 and limited to: single-seat, day-only, VFR-only, weighing less than 254 pounds, carrying 5 US gallons or less, and having a top speed of not more than 55 knots [calibrated]. * - Technically "certificate", but practically the same.
- swiley 5y agoYes, to people who don't fly though an ultralight and Cessna both look like "small planes."
- tinus_hn 5y agoThe only reason I see for drones not being compliant with that is that they lack the single seat.
- ptero 5y agoOne part commonly overlooked is "see and avoid". That is, under VFR, a pilot should look out the window and avoid hitting other things. Which, strange as it sounds, has been a sticking point for some drone flight approvals.
- labcomputer 5y agoIt’s not strange at all. Drone pilots have more limited visibility. The bigger issue is that drone pilots have no skin in the game. If they cause an mid air collision resulting in fatalities: opsie daisy!
- sigstoat 5y agoonly the most psychopathic individuals say "oopsie daisy" after causing accidental death. for everyone else the result is usually a lot of sobbing. that doesn't mean they're not blase about taking risks ahead of time. but that's more because they misevaluate the risk, and can't clearly imagine the negative outcomes.
- xhkkffbf 5y agoDoes a person need to be sitting in the seat? Or could I just put some plastic Lego seat on my drone and qualify?
- sokoloff 5y agoYou'd fail 14 CFR § 103.1.a: "Is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a single occupant;"
- dragonwriter 5y agoHuh, so if I build a remote control system for an intended-to-be-manned ultralight, I could use it as a drone without a certificate, but not an actual purpose-built drone?
- sokoloff 5y agoSo long as you could successfully argue in front of an FAA Administrative Law Judge that you "used or intended to use it" as a manned aircraft. Since it sounds like you're doing so with the specific intention to use it as an unmanned craft, the Part 103 rules would not apply (and would not permit it). (The law is “is” rather than “was originally built to be”.)
- beerandt 5y agoThe commercial use aspect also came into play- if you were hired to use the drone to do something (like take pictures), or were a company using a drone as part of a product/service, it would arguably fall under a different set of rules. Which is another reason clarification was needed.
- TheFreim 5y agoYou don't? Multiple people I know who fly regularly say they're required to fly a certain amount or else they'll lose the license to fly.
- briandear 5y agoThey won’t lose their license. They’ll just be out of currency. Which means they can’t fly passengers until they get current which is as single as three takeoffs and landings.