Why did the drone cross the road?

[Kristina Fowler]

I'm aware that current 107 regs state (or more correctly, imply) that you cannot fly over MOVING vehicles.

§107.39 Operation over human beings.​

No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft over a human being unless that human being is:​

​

(a) Directly participating in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft; or​

​

(b) Located under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that can provide reasonable protection from a falling small unmanned aircraft.​

I've been asked by a client to shoot 4 images of a construction site (4 cardinal directions). 1 image requires me to re-position the drone across a divided 4-lane city boulevard that has moderate to heavy traffic and seems to always have moving vehicles in at least one lane or the other - 100% of the time. I'm able to maintain LOS contact with the drone but cannot see the road from my position. Tilting/panning the camera to view oncoming traffic and waiting indefinitely for both directions to clear is just not an option.

How would you navigate this scenario and stay in keeping with §107.39 other than landing the drone first and driving/walking across the highway?? Thanks in advance. K.

 

[BigAl07]

That's a tough one. We shot a Architectural shoot this morning that was along a busy road and we needed to shoot from OVER the road (to get power lines etc out of the frame). I had to reposition myself (RPIC) directly beside the road with my VO at the intersection helping me to watch traffic... I had the aircraft hovering "at altitude" but directly over the sidewallk ready..... It took about 5 minutes until traffic was sparse enough to get the shot... I zoomed out over the lane of traffic... grabbed several shots and zoomed back over the sidewalk when there was NO traffic. We had decided if traffic wouldn't cooperate we were going to come back early tomorrow morning when traffic would be much less and try again. Glad we didn't have to because it was a fairly long drive to go back for ONE shot.

You'll have to find some way to make it happen... it could even involve having LEO assist with temp closing single lane (like for 5 minutes) so you can fly without busting the regs.

Honestly you could most likely do this fairly safely flying over the cars quickly but IF there is an incident your goose is cooked and you've logged the evidence against yourself with the aircraft. It's just not worth it IMHO.

Keep us posted on what you do and how it turns out.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Try what Al said, wait for an opening. I’ve had to cross over roadways many times. I’ve never had a situation where it was 100% coverage, always a break at some point, even if just for 10 seconds or so.

If it’s just not gonna happen, like a major urban roadway during rush hour... Seek out the property owner on the other side of the road and gain permission to operate from there. I'd recommend doing that shot first, then quickly relocating for the rest to try and keep the light continuity. It might be a situation where you have 2 shooting locations.

 

[Photoman482]

Try what Al said, wait for an opening. I’ve had to cross over roadways many times. I’ve never had a situation where it was 100% coverage, always a break at some point, even if just for 10 seconds or so.

If it’s just not gonna happen, like a major urban roadway during rush hour... Seek out the property owner on the other side of the road and gain permission to operate from there. I'd recommend doing that shot first, then quickly relocating for the rest to try and keep the light continuity. It might be a situation where you have 2 shooting locations.

I've been shooting aerials for 35 plus years, always from a copter. You can hover over the road anywhere you want. Now that I've started doing the drone work, I've discovered how limited we are where the thing goes. It's such a pain. I work in and around DC, so you can imagine what the traffic is like. Hardly every a break. I'll still use a copter if needed. More expensive but so many more options.

 

[SanCap]

I'm aware that current 107 regs state (or more correctly, imply) that you cannot fly over MOVING vehicles.

§107.39 Operation over human beings.​

No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft over a human being unless that human being is:​

​

(a) Directly participating in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft; or​

​

(b) Located under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that can provide reasonable protection from a falling small unmanned aircraft.​

I've been asked by a client to shoot 4 images of a construction site (4 cardinal directions). 1 image requires me to re-position the drone across a divided 4-lane city boulevard that has moderate to heavy traffic and seems to always have moving vehicles in at least one lane or the other - 100% of the time. I'm able to maintain LOS contact with the drone but cannot see the road from my position. Tilting/panning the camera to view oncoming traffic and waiting indefinitely for both directions to clear is just not an option.

How would you navigate this scenario and stay in keeping with §107.39 other than landing the drone first and driving/walking across the highway?? Thanks in advance. K.

Not knowing what drone/controller your are flying but if possible set one of the C1 or C2 buttons or whatever programmable buttons/sliders you have available to position the camera 90° down. That will allow you to quickly look at what is below you and then to quickly raise the camera to level. It really makes a difference versus slowly moving the camera up and down.