Drones
 

Last thread I could find on Drones was 6 years old. Had a quick read and thought wow how quick this tech changes!

Long story short I just ordered a DJI Mavic Pro as the wife insisted.. (saw it at the Brissy 4x4 camping and boating show then went home and did some research).

Wow these things are an impressive bit of kit. Anyone else out there playing with this stuff and have hints or tips?

For those that havent seen it, it has a full 4k camera on stability gimble, 2.4 gig remote that also feeds video back to your phone that locks into the transmitter, auto landing, return to home, auto obstacle avoidance, top speed of 64kmh and a range of 4km, all in a package that folds up into a block the size of a shoe. Has 9 onboard processors to handle all the tech! Impressive little beast, though not cheap..

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Need license and permission to fly em in National Parks, State Forest apparently. Some crashes have started bush fires and hefty fines have been imposed.

Stefan Fischer of Alloffroad has recently done the course and flies the same mavic pro.

Other than that, it's a great piece of kit. Need to make more time to edit the videos..:)

Drones, fines and an app – A drone operator has been fined almost $2000 for crashing his drone and starting a bushfire, in the latest offence involving remotely piloted aircraft. It was the fourth fine issued this year by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), as a Senate inquiry examines their use and regulation. The Herald Sun reported that CASA will release an app later this year to help users identify whether they were operating their drone legally, and alert users if they’re in restricted airspace or too close to an airport or operating in a flight path.

DJI Mavic Pro weighs less than 2 kg so falls under the newish non-licence rules, as far as I understand, but yes, National Parks have extensive rules and permission requirements.

Cool - thanks for the heads up guys. Yeah looking now and yes it can be flown under the new regs without a licence, providing I stay more than 30m away from other people and keep it within line of sight. Might still look into the licence as well and just downloaded a great little program for the phone that lets you know if you are in a no fly area, download Android here or iOS here

One thing I cant work out yet is the laws apply for a small UAV - one over 1 kilo and less than 2 kilo. The Mavic is less than a kilo so do any of the laws apply at all? Will keep looking.

EDIT: Found it on the CASA website, the new rules are for 100gm to 2kg.

Please be careful as the rules will apply to you as well regardless of how heavy your drone is. Those rules are more for commercial purpose if you want to make money out of your video clips or pictures.

I don't have a web link to give you but here it is in a nut shell..
- no flying closer than 30 meters to any person. This includes flying over them.
- No flying in populous areas i.e. on the beach or sport events and the like.
- No flying within 5.5km of ANY airport, heli pad or sports airport.
- No flying higher than 120m
- No flying closer than 30 meters to any object i.e. cars, houses, boats, whales and no flying over other peoples properties.
- You must fly in the line of sight, That means your 4km range is useless unless you have eagle eyes :D
- No flying at night. There is a rule that allows you to fly within 30min I think before sunrise or sunset.

There are a few more rules but I think I have the most important ones listed. Even if you fork out for a licenses you can not get around those rules. If you happen to be in Sydney your chance of flying are just about nil because of all the hospitals and heli pads. There are a few apps that show you where it is safe to fly. (Safe to Fly?, RPAS Logger, Hover)

There are good links and groups you can join i.e DJI Owners of Australia Group for example. There are a few guys from CASA in there too that are more than happy to help out with ruling questions.

A couple of links:
https://www.oic.qld.gov.au/guideline...one-technology
https://www.casa.gov.au/publications...fety-australia
Hope this helps a bit....

I am thinking of buying one for my motorcycle adventures, but my situation will vary as it will depend what country I'm riding through.

Great size and nice and compact to have on the bike, but the price tag is a little up there still for my budget.

Please be careful as the rules will apply to you as well regardless of how heavy your drone is. Those rules are more for commercial purpose if you want to make money out of your video clips or pictures.

I don't have a web link to give you but here it is in a nut shell..google CASR101
- no flying closer than 30 meters to any person. This includes flying over them.
- No flying in populous areas i.e. on the beach or sport events and the like.
- No flying within 5.5km of ANY airport, heli pad or sports airport.This is not law... The actual Law is DO NOT ENDANGER OTHER AIR CRAFT
- No flying higher than 120m
- No flying closer than 30 meters to any object i.e. cars, houses, boats, whalesWhales are covered by EPA and are something like 300m and no flying over other peoples properties.
- You must fly in the line of sight, That means your 4km range is useless unless you have eagle eyes :DNo one has been prosecuted for this... The actual legislation does not refer to FPV
- No flying at night. There is a rule that allows you to fly within 30min I think before sunrise or sunset.

There are a few more rules but I think I have the most important ones listed. Even if you fork out for a licenses you can not get around those rules. If you happen to be in Sydney your chance of flying are just about nil because of all the hospitals and heli pads. There are a few apps that show you where it is safe to fly. (Safe to Fly?, RPAS Logger, Hover)

There are good links and groups you can join i.e DJI Owners of Australia Group for example. There are a few guys from CASA in there too that are more than happy to help out with ruling questions.

A couple of links:
https://www.oic.qld.gov.au/guideline...one-technology
https://www.casa.gov.au/publications...fety-australia
Hope this helps a bit...