I'm just about to start down the road of putting together my first UAV, but it's unclear to me exactly where these vehicles can be flown.
I've read that they can be flown under 400 feet if you're at least 5NM from any kind of civilian or military airfield. Is that the criteria most folks follow when searching for test flight locations?
Perhaps we can also use this thread for sharing such locations. I live in Washington State and would be happy to hear any suggestions for this area.
Thanks.
Replies
Mr. Nobody, I live in UTAH near Hill AFB. I have access to the RC flying field on the base, I do all of my testing at the air field then I plan on trying to get permission from the local Police dept to do flyovers in the city.
There is another post where the author put together a procedure for the Police Dept that outlines his plan of operation in the city limits. The Police Dept was accepting of the info 1. If the UAV was lost they would knoe who to return it to if found. 2. The Police wanted it to be available for use in aerial surveillance. My Take is if you adhere to AMA/FAA rules and get permission your good to go. Below is part of his post.
For my part I have taken a different approach that seems to give good results. As a member of MAAC (Canada) I try to follow all the rules for normal RC flight.LOS , 400feet , Insurance , spotter etc. These are only guidelines not Law, but thats OK, I do see several problems
1, How do I as a RC modeller know how high I am ? I can only use my skill and guess!!
2. What does line of sight actually mean, If I get too far away I can still see my plane but can I fly it accurately, Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
3. What happens when things go wrong. I crash.
With an UAV some of these problems are resolved, I know how high I am, If I lose sight my plane will come back home if I tell it to in a safe manner.. In these cases UAV's are safer than RC models as long as they are used responsibly.
So This is what I have done. I prepared a simple word document that provided the following information
My Name, address, telephone and cell number
A picture of the aircraft with sizes and a picture of an ID plate on the aircraft with MAAC number and address
MAAC number and expiry date.
google map print of my normal flying sites and takeoff points.
A description of my activies (a bit vague but truthful)
Description of safety procedures to find and make safe the UAV
Description of lost model transmitter / locator to help to locate a downed UAV.