Tractor from drone's pov

[IslandTractor]

".....with the intent to conduct surveillance of that person or property." Within two years.

Summary and Analysis of the Texas Drone Law - DIY Drones

I'm not so sure as some folks here that this law and its $5000/$10,000 penalties are much of a solution but it sure will tie up small claims courts.

For starters, how do you know that a drone is capturing "images" of you on your property? Secondly, can you, on suspicion of being photographed, trespass on your neighbors property and seize his drone camera? I rather doubt it. If you go to the police and they approach your neighbor then the new law basically says a valid defense is simply to erase the image once you have been alerted that it is illegal. The only people who are going to be subject to these big penalties are the jerks who take photographs, are caught with the images on an SD card or website, and who then refuse to erase them. Sounds like a great law for nailing complete f'ing morons but otherwise will just create hassles for police, neighbors and small claims court.

 

[ovrszd]

And if you are one to think technology and innovation will not allow 'anyone' to see/hear etc. more than one can now... and/or you have a problem with it... better go underground and, good luck!

I agree.

I'm not against the live video concept. I use Google maps a LOT. I'd like to see it go live.

 

[dfkrug]

I have 70 ACRES there and haven't seen or set foot on probably 55 acres of it.

I have that issue, too, but slopes here are so steep my trails will never reach the South border
of our property. In 20+ years, I have only been to our Southern boundary of our 19 acres 4 times.
A drone would be useful, if I could dodge all the 135' trees.

We were in Tallulah Gorge last spring (where Deliverance was filmed). Some drone footage of
that would have been impressive.

 

[Garandman]

I have that issue, too, but slopes here are so steep my trails will never reach the South border
of our property. In 20+ years, I have only been to our Southern boundary of our 19 acres 4 times.
A drone would be useful, if I could dodge all the 135' trees.//

With the Phantom 3 you can now set waypoints, then direct the drone to fly from point-to-point-to-point to get video or stills.

I've been flying at 150' or so to stay over the bigger trees.

 

[IslandTractor]

With the Phantom 3 you can now set waypoints, then direct the drone to fly from point-to-point-to-point to get video or stills. I've been flying at 150' or so to stay over the bigger trees.

Are the waypoints 2D or 3D?

 

[IslandTractor]

From AP:

The Federal Aviation Administration says it has developed a smartphone app to show drone operators where it's OK to fly and what areas are off limits.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta also announced at a news conference at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas that by early Wednesday, 181,061 operators had registered their drones as new rules require.
The FAA launched online registration Dec. 21. Officials say they hope registration will help them trace drones caught flying too close to manned aircraft or over crowds, and create a "culture of accountability."
The smartphone app, B4UFLY, uses maps that identify the operator's current location and restricted areas in a radius around the operator. It's available now for Apple devices from the App Store and for Android devices from the Google Play Store.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't even own a smart phone, but too bad there wasn't an app that would warn you that a drone was near, or in your (pretend) airspace, using GPS of course. Maybe even who owns it. Would that be so hard or so bad?

 

[ovrszd]

I don't even own a smart phone, but too bad there wasn't an app that would warn you that a drone was near, or in your (pretend) airspace, using GPS of course. Maybe even who owns it. Would that be so hard or so bad?

I believe that's where we are headed. Drones will be required to carry a pinger, similar to what larger aircraft carry, which would allow them to be immediately identified. It'll drive the price up considerably but will become necessary.

This is already available to track large aircraft. Kinda fun to play with. See link below.

https://www.flightradar24.com/40.49,-94.01/7

 

[4570Man]

How many of you guys have seen the footage from a drone? It really isn't that useful for "spying" on people. I could do a far better job from the ground. Flying my drone over my property I can see a lake over 3 miles away. I can see hundreds of houses, but the images aren't good enough to be of any use for "spying" on people. The only houses close enough to "spy" on I could do a better job from the ground.

 

[IslandTractor]

How many of you guys have seen the footage from a drone? It really isn't that useful for "spying" on people. I could do a far better job from the ground. Flying my drone over my property I can see a lake over 3 miles away. I can see hundreds of houses, but the images aren't good enough to be of any use for "spying" on people. The only houses close enough to "spy" on I could do a better job from the ground.

Understand your point however we don't know what the future holds with regard to camera technology (after all the military can get remarkable detail from outer space much less 500ft) and it is also just the principle that you don't want someone watching. Would you be happy with someone perched on a ladder at the property line observing your kids/family etc? I am pretty sure that some smart drug addict (assuming that is not a contradiction) will learn to fly drones over neighborhoods to locate easily stolen valuables etc.

I suspect that legitimate recreational drone owners are simply going to need to talk to their neighbors to avoid misunderstandings. That or simply use special areas the way model airplane users do today.

 

[IslandTractor]

I believe that's where we are headed. Drones will be required to carry a pinger, similar to what larger aircraft carry, which would allow them to be immediately identified. It'll drive the price up considerably but will become necessary.

This is already available to track large aircraft. Kinda fun to play with. See link below.

https://www.flightradar24.com/40.49,-94.01/7

I'm no expert but I think the technology is such that for simple identification the drone could carry a passive device that would simply reveal a code when polled. Similar to IFF in military aircraft. If so then the drone device wouldn't be very expensive. It would however be costly to own the receiver device that allows you to check a drone flying overhead.

Maybe even simpler would be a cell phone like transponder that was tracked by cell towers plus GPS.

 

[4570Man]

A drug addict could never come up with enough money to buy a drone. Unless I am using my equipment a drone won't see it. If I am outside working it would be pretty easy to see what I have. Regardless, I pay for insurance. I use a Go Pro hero 3. It is pretty decent camera, but not anywhere close to good enough for spying. There has been an unsuccessful attempt to steal my tractor, truck, and trailer. There was no drone involved. I believe the motel "security" was at fault.

 

[Garandman]

Spoke with someone from MassPort. They are as unhappy with the new regulations as anyone else. They're concerned about drones in direct path of aircraft but don't want to be the ones granting permission and have no mechanism for enforcement. What they want is for drones to stay out of the flight path of aircraft so they can land them.

As one example, the regulation calls for notifying them if flying within five miles of the airport. But airports are big, so five miles from where?

 

[IslandTractor]

Spoke with someone from MassPort. They are as unhappy with the new regulations as anyone else. They're concerned about drones in direct path of aircraft but don't want to be the ones granting permission and have no mechanism for enforcement. What they want is for drones to stay out of the flight path of aircraft so they can land them. As one example, the regulation calls for notifying them if flying within five miles of the airport. But airports are big, so five miles from where?

I agree. Sounds like something that is both a major hassle for law abiding citizens and a nightmare for traffic controllers/FAA. Problem is that what the FAA is trying to address is a real problem and there isn't an obvious better alternative (yet).

 

[dragoneggs]

No tractors in this POV but I thought some of you might enjoy this 6 minute video. Maybe a glimpse of where we are headed with the sport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOFgryDibo

 

[MossRoad]

How many of you guys have seen the footage from a drone? It really isn't that useful for "spying" on people. I could do a far better job from the ground. Flying my drone over my property I can see a lake over 3 miles away. I can see hundreds of houses, but the images aren't good enough to be of any use for "spying" on people. The only houses close enough to "spy" on I could do a better job from the ground.

Let's put it in whisper mode and get real close.....

 

[Garandman]

How many of you guys have seen the footage from a drone? It really isn't that useful for "spying" on people. I could do a far better job from the ground. Flying my drone over my property I can see a lake over 3 miles away. I can see hundreds of houses, but the images aren't good enough to be of any use for "spying" on people. The only houses close enough to "spy" on I could do a better job from the ground.

Don't let reality intrude on paranoid fantasies.....

 

[ovrszd]

Don't let reality intrude on paranoid fantasies.....

Yeah.

And don't let lack of knowledge concerning camera capabilities intrude on reality.