Too cautious ..help

[Fly Addie Fly]

The FAA establishes blanket regulations (1) for the greatest degree of air safety and (2) in order to clearly determine who is at fault in the event of an accident. They also make it clear that the PIC is responsible for his/her own actions and decisions that are made during any flight operation. Establishing a set of rules often requires turning a blind eye to reality in order to cast the widest safety net for society. I would bet the farm that every Part 107 pilot often takes his eye off the sky and looks at their screen to some degree when recording video or snapping photos for their commercial work. (If I'm wrong, then why does one even have a screen?) There are also times when the drone may periodically leave one's line of sight behind a tree or structure during the course of the work, and it doesn't help that the FAA does not allow a PIC to daisy chain VOs with hand-held radios. (Idiotic that they don't, IMO.) In my experience, reality always wins out over rules that are idealistic, and I just try to be as safe as possible when I run into that type of conflict. Why? Because I will be the one responsible if something goes terribly wrong.

As I continue to get better with maneuvering the drone and keeping an eye on the spec in the sky, I grow more confident! By the way, it's exactly what I need to do a great job for clients...Safety first fueled with lots of confidence. I am learning that a VO is necessary to stay in-line with the FAA regulations. It is impossible to fly 400' up in the air while taking awesome pics and videos and keep your eyes on the drone...so VO it is and lot and lots of more practice! BY the way, I just booked my first client...

 

[BigAl07]

As I continue to get better with maneuvering the drone and keeping an eye on the spec in the sky, I grow more confident! By the way, it's exactly what I need to do a great job for clients...Safety first fueled with lots of confidence. I am learning that a VO is necessary to stay in-line with the FAA regulations. It is impossible to fly 400' up in the air while taking awesome pics and videos and keep your eyes on the drone...so VO it is and lot and lots of more practice! BY the way, I just booked my first client...

As a side note.... I can't tell you the last time I needed to fly 400' up during a shoot. For Real Estate and Construction we usually never bust 200' up.

While a VO is not required, a good VO is a VERY valuable resource and can go a LONG way to enhancing your Situational Awareness. Our company flies a RPIC/VO team on 99% of all jobs. On some complex ones (Night Ops for example) we will have multiple VO.