In Poland (and likely the whole EU), you’re only allowed to fly a C0 drone within its visible range.
How strict is that rule? Does it just mean there must be an unobstructed line of sight, or do I actually need to be able to see the drone at all times?
Flying two miles away would be considered Beyond VLOS (BVLOS). You need to be able to see and identify your drone at all times.
Binoculars aren’t allowed because the rules say ‘unaided’ vision. They also limit your field of view, which makes it harder to monitor the airspace.
A spotter is fine, but at least one of you must have the drone in sight at all times.
VLOS means you need to see the drone with your own eyes—no binoculars. In the UK (which follows similar EU regulations), you must be able to tell which way the drone is facing. If it’s just a tiny dot in the sky, that’s not VLOS.
Think of it this way: if a helicopter suddenly appears, could you safely move your drone out of the way without second-guessing its position? If not, you’re probably flying too far.
@Oak
You don’t necessarily need to know the drone’s exact orientation. If a helicopter appears, the safest move is just to descend and wait for it to pass. That way, you’re not guessing where to go.
Zeek said:
@Oak
You don’t necessarily need to know the drone’s exact orientation. If a helicopter appears, the safest move is just to descend and wait for it to pass. That way, you’re not guessing where to go.
If your drone is just a tiny dot in the sky, you won’t react as fast as you think. Finding the helicopter in your camera and maneuvering accordingly is harder than it sounds.
@Fin
That’s why you don’t need to find it in the camera. You just descend immediately to a safe altitude where manned aircraft can’t fly. If needed, you land.
Zeek said:
@Fin
That’s why you don’t need to find it in the camera. You just descend immediately to a safe altitude where manned aircraft can’t fly. If needed, you land.
But what if you’re at 200m and half a kilometer away, and a medevac helicopter is descending to an accident scene? Dropping altitude immediately might actually be the worst thing to do.
If I was somehow breaking multiple laws and hovering over an accident scene, I’d still hear and see the helicopter coming long before it got close. Getting lower is usually the safest move.
VLOS rules aren’t well-defined, and they assume you have no telemetry or video feed. The real question is: how close does the drone need to be for you to take full manual control without looking at your screen?
EASA released a formula last year, but it basically made Mini drones useless (putting their VLOS range at around 80m). Here’s my general guideline:
@Onyx
500m for a Mavic is pushing it, but an M300 can handle 1000m easily.
Fin said:
@Onyx
500m for a Mavic is pushing it, but an M300 can handle 1000m easily.
I stretch the limits a bit for smaller drones; otherwise, they’re nearly useless. But also, a Mavic crashing isn’t nearly as dangerous as an M300, so I factor that in.
For the M300, 750m is just enough to map a 1km² area from the center.
@Onyx
In the grand scheme, the size difference between a Mavic and an M300 doesn’t change the risk much. If a manned aircraft is going to hit one, it’s probably going to hit anything else in that airspace too.
@Fin
My concern is more about emergency landings. A Mavic coming down somewhere unexpected isn’t as big of a deal as an M300 crashing.
I lose sight of my drone at around 150 feet, so for a drone with a range of 9800 feet, I’d need a lot of spotters… which isn’t realistic.
Emil said:
I lose sight of my drone at around 150 feet, so for a drone with a range of 9800 feet, I’d need a lot of spotters… which isn’t realistic.
In the US, you can’t use multiple spotters to extend VLOS range.