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Comment by kbos87 | Hacker News Reader

As a drone owner I think it’s only a matter of time until enough stupid and reckless things like this happen before it’s ruined for everyone who is safe and thoughtful about their drone use. DJI has gotten better as has the FAA in making it easier to decipher where you can and can’t fly, but the fact of the matter is that they have a lot more they should be doing. Why not limit flights in the US to the FAA mandated 400ft ceiling? There are enough high altitude videos on YouTube to indicate that people still like to test the limits and don’t think of the possible consequences.

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While I'd understand if such a limit was implemented, for me it'd kill the hobby. Not because I like going high above the terrain -- that's illegal, after all -- but because I do my photography somewhere very hilly, with grades averaging 45 degrees in most of the places I fly.

"120 meters above the launch site" would also mean "120 meters away from the launch site", and then only in two possible directions. The other two have cliffs.

Before you ask, it's pretty deserted. It's also really pretty.

I don’t like restrictions as well. I am quite capable of working within the law without mandated restrictions. It seems weird as well since from about 8yrs old I would go to my local hobby shop myself and buy model rockets capable of reaching several thousand feet easily.

At least some states require notification of local authorities before launching model rockets (such as California). Some states also put out altitude ceiling regulations for them. When I lived outside Chicago in the first half of the 00's, you had to get approval for launching above 2500 ft. You were also required to cease launching if any low flying aircraft were visible. You could get in some real nasty trouble if you violated those rules.

You could phrase it as distance from nearest terrain rather than altitude.

That's how it's already phrased in the law, but it isn't a practical rule for DJI to implement. Maps aren't detailed enough, so they'd have to put ground radar in the drones, which wouldn't work...

Or they'd just reduce the max altitude above launch site limitation already in their firmware. An easier-to-implement limitation that stays within the legal restrictions.

> Maps aren't detailed enough,

Yes they are. All of the US is mapped to 3m horizontal resolution and 1m vertical resolution, the world to 15m. This is grossly overkill. A 30m lossless compression dataset will run you about 1GB, which is plenty for this purpose.

It's free too.

https://terra.nasa.gov/news/aster-digital-elevation-model-ve...

I think we'll see more flight restrictions on drones, and enhanced structural requirements for resisting drone strikes for low-speed, low-altitude aircraft such as helicopters.

Eventually all aircraft are low altitude.

There are valid use cases to fly over 400’. I believe the FAA even allows this with the correct permit/license/whatever. The drones have this capability so it can be used in the correct circumstances. The problem is people disabling that existing 400’ limited mode without FAA approval.

Would mandating ADS-B on drones provide enough warning to other aircraft?

>The problem is people disabling that existing 400’ limited mode without FAA approval.

>Would mandating ADS-B on drones provide enough warning to other aircraft?

I assume the same type of person might just disable the beacon..

No. Most aircraft don’t have ads-b receivers and TCAS doesn’t use it.

I’m not sure what the percentage is, but at least some aircraft will have to have ADS-B Out in 2020, per https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/faq/#g2

I like the idea of requiring ADS-B Out on drones. For those aircraft with ADS-B In, it introduces the possibility of seeing drones sending ADS-B Out. And others with ADS-B receivers will be able to see and identify them.

As an additional step, drones could be required to use ADS-B in for aircraft avoidance.

Well there’s a button on the drone to disable the altitude restrictions, I’m not sure why you’d disable the ADS-B transceiver unless you are just trying to cause trouble.

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