Recent content by Richard R

At my airport, there are several aircraft that don't even have radios! Obviously trying to contact them would be fruitless. As always the best instrument for detecting and avoiding other aircraft is the Mark 1 eyeball. Instead of worrying about calling on a radio when flying in the vacinity of...

Skyvector will also show you any active TFRs in your area. If you use Android, Avare is another free app that can be useful. Once you install it and download the appropriate sectional(s), you don't need any wifi connection, just GPS. It will display your location on the sectional making it easy...

Just finished mine. Took about 1/2 hour to review the slides and take the exam. Immediately able to print out the certificate which I keep with a copy of my current endorsement from my "manned" pilot logbook in my phantom logbooks. About as simple and uncomplicated as anything the government...

Great pics, but I'm even more impressed with the mechanics of getting them! Shooting large ocean going vessels at speed would imply that you are out to sea, taking off and landing on a boat and trying to keep up with or even getting ahead of your subject. Sounds like a monster and the fact that...

Military (or possibly NASA) air base. Probably not in your waiver. A tougher nut to crack. And with the DOD, a lot less likely to get approved.

Ok, this comes from relying on faulty memory! Just went back and reviewed some of my maps. I had to fly at 50 ft agl to get .5 in GSD. Overlap isn't going to affect gsdcthatvmuch, I would try going down as low as 50% and evaluate the results.

+1 to what R Martin suggested. Especially if you don't already own a suitable drone! Getting one with all the associated kit could run several $100s. There are enough of us (part 107 pilots) scattered around the country that you should be able to find one in your area. Maybe not what you wanted...

0.5 what? Units?.

Time on the airframe doesn't really matter for these birds. The more important issue would be number of charge cycles on the battery(s). Apart form the visual inspection fly the bird. Does everything cycle on as it should. Do you get good control and video links. Does it fly smoothly, hover...

"Fine detail" is a pretty nebulous term. And you don't say if your boss is seeing what he wants from 300 ft. Even with my P3A I get sub-inch resolution from that altitude. I usually fly 75% overlap, but have gotten reasonable results at 60%.

While Drone Pilot is primarily for DJI aircraft, the MME processing doesn't care which camera you use. It can read the camera info such as focal length, etc. from the exif file or it can be manually entered. I mentioned it in another thread, but I would like to again thank the MME folks. I did...

I've been using Map Pilot by Maps Made Easy. Good oaths and 3d files. I also use the product from MME in QGIS for developing contour maps, profiles, etc.

I'm in the Dayton area, but eastern In wouldn't be too far away.

I've used MME many times on all 3 of my P3As with no problems. Recently even had my stem students plan and fly missions to map the school property. They flew all of their missions flawlessly. BTW, the MME folks had no problem with my students setting up accounts and processing their maps for free.

Don't know about local regs, but according to the airport directory, the tower is attended Mon thru Sun from 0700-2100. So no flying during those hours without a waiver or autorization.