Friday, October 31, 2014

What's new on New Phantom 2 ? - HeliPal.com




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Friday, October 17, 2014

Drone Eye View: Eruption at Bardarbunga Volcano

Close up footage of the Bardabunga volcano from a quadcopter with a DJI Phantom 2 and GoPro.

The GoPro did not survive.

Interview with DJI's Eric Cheng.

http://youtu.be/p0_9le2NnFo?t=17s



Saturday, October 4, 2014

FAA exemption for commercial use of UAVs

Here are some of the requirements outlined in the exemption for Astraeus Aerial:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_pro ... -11062.pdf

a. The PIC must possess a Private Pilot’s Certificate and a valid third-class 
medical certificate;
b. The PIC must have accumulated and logged a minimum of 200 flight cycles 
and 25 hours of total time as a UAS rotorcraft pilot and at least 10 hours 
logged as a UAS pilot with a similar UAS type (single blade or multirotor).
c. The PIC must have accumulated and logged a minimum of five hours as UAS 
pilot with the make and model of UAS to be utilized for operations under the 
exemption and three take-offs and landings in the preceding 90 days. 
d. The PIC must have successfully completed the qualification process as 
specified in the MPTOM and FOPM, to include a knowledge and skill test.


There are an additional 6 pages (23-29) of conditions and limitations. Some of the major ones are about the size and speed the aircraft has to follow, using an observer at all times, being in VLOS at all times, 30 minute max flight time or 25% battery life, must have an Air Traffic Organization COA prior to operations, no night time operations, cannot be operated from a moving vehicle, and a whole bunch of paperwork. 

It's likely anybody with a phantom won't have the ability to follow even a couple of these let alone all of them.

Here's some more information on the exemption process:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_pro ... _petition/

Original thread
http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26543#p245828