Drones

My insurance company, which has a number of packages for photographers, sent me details (unsolicited) for drone coverage: basically it's roughly $1250 for $1M of liability coverage. Seems somewhat high to me.

I don't know what the heck it covers though since they say: "Yes. Aerial Pak™ policyholders further agree to operate all UAV equipment within the guidelines of the RCAPA organization and the FAA. "

However the FAA has prohibited any commercial use of drones (and they have been going after commercial photographers who use drones). So you couldn't satisfy the insurance requirements. I think there have been some lawsuits challenging whether FAA can even regulate drones but the insurance company did say "guidelines" and not "legal operating requirements".
 
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photoguy said:
My insurance company, which has a number of packages for photographers, sent me details (unsolicited) for drone coverage: basically it's roughly $1250 for $1M of liability coverage. Seems somewhat high to me.
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Seems high to me too, considering that the weight of most of them is measured in ounces, not pounds. It's probably on the high side because there just isn't enough data yet to know what the risk of loss is. It'll be a decade or more before they have accurate information on that.
 
SCOTUS Justice Sotomayor weighs in on drones:

Sotomayor: Americans Should be Alarmed by Spread of Drones - Law Blog - WSJ

Said Justice Sotomayor:

There are drones flying over the air randomly that are recording everything that’s happening on what we consider our private property. That type of technology has to stimulate us to think about what is it that we cherish in privacy and how far we want to protect it and from whom. Because people think that it should be protected just against government intrusion, but I don’t like the fact that someone I don’t know…can pick up, if they’re a private citizen, one of these drones and fly it over my property.
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For the life of my I really don't understand this concern. The capability to photograph or tape things from above has been around since airplanes and cameras were invented. It's just easier now than ever before.

And it is well documented that no one has a right to privacy outside their house, back yard or no.
 
Walt34 said:
For the life of my I really don't understand this concern. The capability to photograph or tape things from above has been around since airplanes and cameras were invented. It's just easier now than ever before.

And it is well documented that no one has a right to privacy outside their house, back yard or no.
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Still doesn't make it 'right' to purposely spy and record someone in their backyard from a drone.

That is creepy and wrong in my book.
 
Hmmm... It seems that quite a few drones operate on the 2.4 GHz band under low power limits (FCC Part 15 rules).

As a licensed primary user of this spectrum, interference from the drone control signal concerns me.

Also, it would be unfortunate if a drone were to wander into the beam of the steerable azimuth-elevation very high gain directional antenna that's driven with 1.5 kilowatts (peak envelope power), more than that home microwave has inside it, while I was experimenting with Earth-Moon-Earth communications paths.

The point being: Hobbyists and others should be damn careful where they fly that thing. Don't expect someone else to look out for stray toys. Don't be surprised when someone else takes offense at your behavior.

Yeah, there's no 'right to privacy' outside the house, even in a back yard. So, what range of responses would you be expecting if you were to poke a camera through a fence knothole? You ready for that?

Remember, you are holding a radio transmitter in your hands while flying that drone. There's a whole hobby built around races to find hidden radio transmitters.
 
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BBQ-Nut said:
Still doesn't make it 'right' to purposely spy and record someone in their backyard from a drone.

That is creepy and wrong in my book.
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Oh, I understand completely about that. And if I were foolish enough to fly one over someone's fenced-in back yard I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear a loud "boom" coinciding with the sudden disintegration of my drone.:LOL:

I just don't understand the high level of emotionalism about it.
 
My son is a construction engineer for a large company in SF. So they're building a tall building for condo's....got to sell them, right?

While the pilings are going in, they send up a drone to the exact coordinates for say, the 46th floor. They then post it with their real estate agents. "This is your view looking West"
 
I have built a few drones:
 

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BBQ-Nut said:
Still doesn't make it 'right' to purposely spy and record someone in their backyard from a drone.

That is creepy and wrong in my book.
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+1 and I suspect that a couple 12 gauge birdshot would quickly solve the problem. :D
 
Walt34 said:
For the life of my I really don't understand this concern. The capability to photograph or tape things from above has been around since airplanes and cameras were invented. It's just easier now than ever before.

And it is well documented that no one has a right to privacy outside their house, back yard or no.
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So what, then, is the difference between your house and your backyard?

Can I fly a drone, hovering outside your 2nd story bedroom/bathroom window? Using your argument, a plane could do a quick fly-by from 5,000 ft and use a high-res camera to zoom in to the same view. The only difference is, the drone could hover there for 30 minutes, while the plane would have a few seconds of random footage - and you would hear the plane.

If a neighbor blasts their stereo loudly, don't I have a right to the use of my backyard without nuisance noise? I highly doubt you would allow someone to do anything they want on their property, which has an impact on your use and enjoyment of your own backyard. So then, what standards am I allowed to have to enjoy the use of my backyard? If I build a solid fence/wall around my property, are you allowed to simply fly a drone over and still peep into my yard?

It might be a little bit of a gray area, but I can't see how someone could make an argument that a drone - moving almost silently, and with the ability to hover for long periods of time - could wander wherever they want, and there's nothing anyone could say or do about it with respect to privacy. Yes, they had RC helicopters before - but they also didn't have tiny video cameras you could stick on said RC helicopter with enough zoom capability to get any detail they want outside of your window.

Perhaps if you were the victim of a peeping drone, and you/your wife, your son or your daughter suddenly appeared on a voyeur porn site courtesy of a drone, you might have a different take on the matter (no, I haven't been a victim of that...but I'm sure it has already happened, and just a matter of time before it happens to enough people to finally demand action)
 
BBQ-Nut said:
Still doesn't make it 'right' to purposely spy and record someone in their backyard from a drone.

That is creepy and wrong in my book.
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How correct you are. Not a drone but we had a peeping tom spying on us in a fenced in hot tub(20+ years ago). He ran when he saw the double barrels of a 12 gauge I pointed at him, unloaded with the action open (he couldn't tell that).

He was more surprised when DW went to their front door and had a conversation with his wife. His DW filed divorce papers shortly afterwards.
 
Only a jerk would intentionally spy on folk. Although to each his own, I have nothing to hide come check out my back yard, you will find a few naked ducks, herons, pelicans, deer and such like. :) That is not the reason why we fly these. It is fun.

I also have spent a lot of time printing up specialty parts for them on my 3D Printer.

I like the 3DR Iris as the flight controller is awesome.
 
Thanks for posting. I need to get a drone soon, so that I'm all practiced up by spring. Just need to find out what their cold temp tolerance is
 
Something tells me that drone will sell for less than half this price right after the holidays. :cool:
 
I must admit that I've been interested in playing around with one of those drones, until I saw this. Santa are you listening:
 
I remember when jet engines for R/C models first came out. You almost needed to be an engineer just to get the thing started and they cost five figures. They were started with external electric motors or even a strong gas powered leaf blower to spin the turbine.

Now they have on-board electric start, computer-controlled engine parameters (early ones had "step" settings) and last time I looked prices started at ~$1,200. Just amazing.
 
Walt34 said:
I remember when jet engines for R/C models first came out.
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Me too... but before the turbines, pulse jets... Sold by the hobby stores... Most burned up before leaving the ground.


I had an OK Cub .75... a monster of a model engine that was designed to have ignition system, but that was broken. Bought it for $2. I ran it.. more or less, using a glow plug... Started on a bench... and ran for about 30 seconds at a time. Closest I ever came to losing a finger. It had a 7 inch propellor and sounded like an F80 taking off.
 
My son has a pulse jet engine that he bought somewhere. Also a 5 cylinder Morton radial. Neither have been mounted and flown. As I recall, the radial was used as a training tool for mechanics during WWII. The one in our family looks like it actually ran at some point in it's life. It was picked up at a garage sale about 20 years ago for $5.

He flew a ducted fan plane once I believe, but didn't care much for it. He's always been more into aerobatics.
 
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Just had an OMG moment... My Cub 75... That I spent hours of flipping the prop to get it to run for a more than a few seconds.... was a Diesel...
Something to add to the "wish I knowed back then" list...:facepalm:

The lightest engines in their classes are the Cub .14 and .19. Following basic Cub layout with screw-in radially ported cylinders are the .29 and .35 models, the largest American engines to feature this type of cylinder design. O.K. makes two diesels, the only American made compression-ignition engines on the market, of .049 and .075 cubic inch displacement. Their variable compression head differs from most European diesels in having a flange on the contra-piston which automatically prevents the compression adjustment from exceeding a certain value and makes the use of a nitrated diesel fuel virtually essential. They also feature a unique "shock absorber" member between the contra-piston and compression screw.
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