http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/03/dji-phantom-2-vision/Not sure how I feel about this, this is the very example of why the future is uncertain for us as drone flyers in the UK!Without any research or guidelines, you can buy a rtf quad and fly around crowds, in a busy London park, by the beach and above the recommended 300ft...I fear my hobby won't be around in its current state for much longer...
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This is a big reason the FAA is taking their own sweet time to "green light" the use of drones in business in the US. As the unwashed masses get their hands on drones and treat them as toys, they'll create problems for those that are careful, cautious and responsible UAV flyers.
Technology is making flight affordable to people, avoiding existing regulations and previous cost barriers that kept the space sparsely populated and manageable before. The problem is, that in the absence of any real way of finding and dealing with the offenders, the gubmint will find it easier to try to ban it entirely. They won't be happy until they make criminals of every last citizen it seems. And those bent on being offenders will find ways around it, just as those wanting to use guns in crime get guns despite all the "gun laws".
I think there is also an element of helicopter pilots not wanting these things flying, even at 400 feet or lower, because with telemetry, logs and cameras, it's a lot harder to deflect complaints about noisy low overflights by saying, "they just look low". "Yeah!? The GPS and altimeter say you're a lying sack of crap!" The lower you fly, the less you have to zoom in to get the shot, and the sharper the picture is. We know the motivation, but it's aggravating to sit under them and have your inner ears pounded so they can video two cars piled up on the freeway for half an hour. They're also not thrilled at the prospect of letting this technology advance to the point where all hover vehicles are unmanned, for traffic reporting and law enforcement. If they didn't need people in them, they could be smaller, and make a LOT less noise. They could also fly regular autonomous circuits around the freeways in any metropolitan area, providing more timely information at a much lower cost. And with a lighter craft, they could include parachute recovery, so they'd be safer for those on the ground as well.
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Also...this just made me realize why we don't have flying cars yet!
This is a big reason the FAA is taking their own sweet time to "green light" the use of drones in business in the US. As the unwashed masses get their hands on drones and treat them as toys, they'll create problems for those that are careful, cautious and responsible UAV flyers.
Technology is making flight affordable to people, avoiding existing regulations and previous cost barriers that kept the space sparsely populated and manageable before. The problem is, that in the absence of any real way of finding and dealing with the offenders, the gubmint will find it easier to try to ban it entirely. They won't be happy until they make criminals of every last citizen it seems. And those bent on being offenders will find ways around it, just as those wanting to use guns in crime get guns despite all the "gun laws".
I think there is also an element of helicopter pilots not wanting these things flying, even at 400 feet or lower, because with telemetry, logs and cameras, it's a lot harder to deflect complaints about noisy low overflights by saying, "they just look low". "Yeah!? The GPS and altimeter say you're a lying sack of crap!" The lower you fly, the less you have to zoom in to get the shot, and the sharper the picture is. We know the motivation, but it's aggravating to sit under them and have your inner ears pounded so they can video two cars piled up on the freeway for half an hour.
They're also not thrilled at the prospect of letting this technology advance to the point where all hover vehicles are unmanned, for traffic reporting and law enforcement. If they didn't need people in them, they could be smaller, and make a LOT less noise. They could also fly regular autonomous circuits around the freeways in any metropolitan area, providing more timely information at a much lower cost. And with a lighter craft, they could include parachute recovery, so they'd be safer for those on the ground as well.