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The FAA and drones going past the 400ft barrier

  • June 26, 2017July 6, 2017
  • by Steven Kelley

Until recently, I believed the 400ft ceiling limit issued by the FAA was a maximum height restriction enforced by the FAA. Because drone laws are constantly in a state of flux, and the technology is progressing faster then the law’s can be created, it’s really hard to get a legitimate answer.

As of June 2017 from what I found out under FAA regulation, you can fly as high (far) as you can visually see it. However the FAA “advises” not to go above 400ft.

I have yet to fly above 400ft but its nice to know we can fly in rural area’s above that limit for non commercial use. However It’s still good practice to follow this guideline, because small general aviation aircraft can fly at 500ft AGL. So fly safe and try to stay out of the flight paths of other aircraft. Most of you best shots will be under 400ft anyway.

The FAA’s drone database Appeal

Recently due to a recent U.S. Court of appeals ruling against John Taylor, who argued that the Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t have jurisdiction over what the law classifies as model aircraft, which the drone registration database violates the 2012’s FAA modernization and reform Act.  And he won. This is a win for hobbiest however those flying for commercial use under the Part 107 rules must still register their aircraft.

 

Update 7/6/2017

This past weekend I was flying above my uncles cabin in Millersburg MI. Checking my Android Airmap app and observing the sky for several hours of any potential aircraft, I removed the height restriction on my DJI GO app and deemed it safe to fly above the 400ft recommendation, and flew my drone 915ft high to get a nice sunset of the nearby lake. The sun already set over the treeline at 80ft, very cool to see the sun peak one last time at that altitude!

References: Google App Store – Airmap App

 

Uncategorized

DJI Phantom 3 & 4 sensitivity – smooth video…

  • June 20, 2017June 20, 2017
  • by Steven Kelley

Here are the settings for smooth video movement with  panning/yaw/rudder of the Phantom 3 & Phantom 4 and most controllable tilting of the camera, making steady cinematic shots much more attainable:

On the Remote Control:

  • Lengthen the sticks. This allows finer resolution of physical stick input.

In the DJI GO app:

MC Tab (in “Advanced”):

  • EXP: Normal: Throttle .4, Rudder .25, F/R .4 (this rudder EXP setting REALLY chills out the pans near center stick)
  • EXP: Sport: Throttle .4, Rudder .35, F/R .4 (do whatever you want with Sport settings, personally I don’t use this mode for “smooth” shots, more for fast high-energy shots)
  • Sensitivity: Yaw Endpoint – 110 (this is a big one nobody talks about.  It limits the “throw” of your pan/yaw/rudder moves, decreasing overall pan speed and essentially increasing the resolution of your pan movements.  I have found that no matter how low I go on the rudder EXP setting, the Yaw Endpoint setting is the real key to chilling out the panning on the P3)

RC Tab:

  • Gimbal Speed – 60 (personal taste, but I’ve found this setting to work well with the rest of the gimbal settings below)

Gimbal Tab:

  •  Gimbal Tilt EXP – 20 (allows finer resolution around the center detent of the gimbal wheel)
  • Gimbal Tilt SmoothTrack – 22 (this is MAGIC and nobody talks about it, kinda like the Yaw Endpoint. SmoothTrack automatically smooths out the start and end of your gimbal wheel input.  It can seem really spongy at first, but once you start getting used to it, doing nice long sweeping tracking shots or horizon reveals, you’ll never turn it off)
  • Enable Synchronized Gimbal Pan Follow – OFF (this keeps the gimbal centered and lets the P3 aircraft do all the smooth panning work, that way you don’t get the sudden camera jerk to the side when trying to do a smooth pan)

Just keep flying and keep testing and you’ll get buttery smooth video results…and don’t forget that you can test a lot of these settings (especially the yaw settings) in the flight simulator.  The Yaw Endpoint is especially obvious in the simulator…just bring the simulated P3 close to you, hover, and try timing a 360º rotation with various Yaw Endpoint settings.

Uncategorized

DJI Phantom 3 shell arm cracks

  • June 8, 2017
  • by Steven Kelley

The DJI Phantom 3 drones are prone to stress cracks under the motors, much like this one over time. Its a faulty design however DJI will repair it if your drone is under warranty. If you start to see these stress cracks on your drone arms contact DJI for repair immediately. If you don’t have stress cracks on a Phantom 3, make sure its part of your regular flight inspection before flying.

 

The cause, and the solution

I believe DJI over tightens these screws, and the viberations from the motors and thin plastic weakens. All DJI Phantom 3 owners (even those without problems) should take a 2mm hex driver and back them off 30* and do the same for the two rear torx screws (T8 torx driver needed) as that area has been known to cracks as well.

Arm Mounts

Many people bought these arm mounts (including myself). I put them on to prevent any cracking, however I started to notice small hair line fractures under my mounts, so they do not preventing the cracks from forming, save your money and back off the screws off. After I backed them off I noticed the cracks stopped spreading. But once drone season ends I will be sending my drone back to DJI, they have about a month turn around time.

I don’t believe the Phantom 4 and above are affected.

 

Drone

Welcome to the Detroitarchive Drone blog

  • June 8, 2017
  • by Steven Kelley

Thank you for visiting my new site DetroitArchive.com. I won this domain off a buddy from a bet decades ago, and while it was in my hands it contained everything from a custom built blog with classic asp stored on a server in my basement, to a Minecraft server, and a personal upload center full of photos to share with my friends. That site has come and gone and I haven’t really touched this domain for years. Now that I have a new Phantom 3 Pro drone and a small website business, and soon to be a aerial photography business running on the side, I figured it was time for a web designer to have a website.

Where to go from here? Why drone’s of course!

This blog will mostly contain posts of my adventures and misadventures of flying a drone, along with tips and tutorials about flying drones to get that perfect shot and safely. Also including the ever changing laws on this new technology that are completely ridiculous. I’m excited to help answer lots of question a new drone pilot might have.l.  I have over 5 years experience flying drones starting with my Parrot AR 2.0 drone, and my newly acquired business drone.  I already started a collection of drone video’s on multiple sites including my youtube channel and Vimeo channels. All new video’s will get their own blog here explaining how I achieved every shot and the details. So stay tuned!

 

 

 

Recent Posts

  • The FAA and drones going past the 400ft barrier
  • DJI Phantom 3 & 4 sensitivity – smooth video movement
  • DJI Phantom 3 shell arm cracks
  • Welcome to the Detroitarchive Drone blog

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