Drones for DS

[giramomma]

Anyone know anything about drones? Amazon prime has some on sale right now.  I have no clue about them at all, other than, they are in my price range.

There's one that has a camera that I think might be cool....

[buystoys]

FAA summary

This is the extent of my knowledge.  DH lost interest once he heard that there would be licensing requirements.

[billisonboard]

[Deleted]

Several folks in my neighborhood thought they would be fun.  Several folks in my neighborhood got busted for trespass and vandalism when their drone crashed in someone's yard, smashing up some landscaping, and they entered the yard to retrieve what was left of the drone.  I will gladly return any drone that lands on my property in a bag sufficiently large to contain all the pieces it will be in.  If I find the drone's owner on my property, another bag will be needed.

Don't know what state you live in, but our HOA atty said drones can't be used to collect evidence of violations because of a homeowner's inherent right to privacy so overflight of residential areas at low levels might be a problem.  We do have a number of commercial drone operators here who shoot video footage for realtors, developers and news media, but they shoot from a sufficiently high altitude to avoid privacy issues.  

[busymom]

I second the info that buystoys mentioned.  You need a license to operate them here.  Too many idiots were playing with them near the airport. 

[Deleted]

We've had a couple.  Both of them pretty inexpensive, the one had a camera and it was pretty cool watching videos it took over the farm, but neither one lasted more than a few months (these were in the $50 or so range drones).  One was hopelessly lost and the other just broke on a crash.

If we ever pay good money for a drone we will get some kind of tracking device put on it.  The biggest problem is flyaways and it's a lot worse for the cheaper ones that don't have all the precautions built in.  You fly it up too high and it gets out of radio range and just takes off and flies wild until it crashes.  We had one take off in the night in January.  There was snow on the ground and the drone was white.  Our best chance was looking in the night when the lights were on, but no luck.  I spent all day the next day roaming around looking for this thing, amazingly a couple neighbor kids found it.  It was about a half mile away with just one arm sticking out of the snow.  DS was so happy they found it, he gave them each $5 for a reward, then a week later it crashed and broke.

[Deleted]

And we never needed to get a license for either of ours, one just needed to be registered with the FAA which was a pretty quick online process.  The other was under the 250 gram weight limit and didn't need anything.

[billisonboard]

Jul 8, 2016 20:04:45 GMT -5 @donethat said:

... I will gladly return any drone that lands on my property in a bag sufficiently large to contain all the pieces it will be in.  If I find the drone's owner on my property, another bag will be needed.
...

My motto: "If inanimate, I destroy. If living, I kill." Your HOA must love you.