FAQ: What's the difference between a UAV and a RC plane?
I get this question all the time from newcomers, so I'll answer it here as we build a proper FAQ:
Q: What's the difference between a RC plane and a UAV? And why doesn't the AMA allow UAVs on its fields?
A: The generally-agreed distinction is that UAVs have the capacity for autonomous flight and navigation. A RC plane becomes a UAV with the addition of an autopilot.
The AMA doesn't allow UAVs because its insurance doesn't cover them. I actually agree with the policy, since our UAVs are by nature experimental and sometimes out of control. We're pretty careful to test away from people.
Q: What's the difference between a RC plane and a UAV? And why doesn't the AMA allow UAVs on its fields?
A: The generally-agreed distinction is that UAVs have the capacity for autonomous flight and navigation. A RC plane becomes a UAV with the addition of an autopilot.
The AMA doesn't allow UAVs because its insurance doesn't cover them. I actually agree with the policy, since our UAVs are by nature experimental and sometimes out of control. We're pretty careful to test away from people.
-
Comment by Patrick Egan on July 31, 2008 at 9:42pm
-
One other distinction is commercial use of any UA (Unmanned Aircraft).
-
Comment by Varga András on August 1, 2008 at 1:49am -
ANNEX 3n - 08_Autonomous_WG_rep_1.pdf
This attachment is a report from the FAI / CIAM conference which was in March this year. This contains some recommendations of the CIAM autonomous flight working group. The main consequence is that amateur UAV builders need to form a worldwide association, since CIAM does dot want to deal with this topic (that's why I think the next blog post is very useful) . That's the only document I found on the FAI website about it.
Comment
Social Networking
Top Content
Contests
Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.A list of all T3 contests is here.
Groups
-
Swiss Drone Group
9 members
-
ArduCopter User Group
1289 members
-
ArduCopter Evolution Team
140 members
-
Learning to program the …
313 members
-
ArduIMU Gimbal Controller
44 members
Advertisement
© 2013 Created by Chris Anderson.
Powered by
You need to be a member of DIY Drones to add comments!
Join DIY Drones