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Uncontrolled airspace G when populated by other aircrafts

Blue Baron

Well-Known Member
Join
Jul 22, 2017
Messages
160
Age
54
Loc
EU
Hi,

I have a question how everybody handles an obvious problem. In uncontrolled airspace G you can still meet other aircrafts. I have met an assortment of ULV (ultra light), balloon, small planes and most cumbersome, true helicopters. There is a rule in my country for such aircraft to stay above 150m (300m in urban areas). With drones only allowed below 100m (in my country for airspace G) there is no obvious conflict. However, most of the helicopters I spotted flew well below the 150m threshold, I estimate a few as low as 50m.

I know that airspace G allows for rules to clear with a nearby airport. But said helicopters didn't come from any local airport within airspace G.

Copter pilots can get an exemption from the "minimum safe flight altitude" (150/300m) but nobody will inform us, the poor drone pilots.

I know there is a line of sight rule and theoretically, one should be able to clear the airspace if a helicopter emerges out of the blue (they can be pretty fast). Nevertheless, I am still worried. Esp. as everybody seems to fly FPV, most of the time Mavic but Spark too. You won't be able to spot a helicopter coming from the side if flying FPV. Spotters are required for FPV, but only above 250g (in my country) and Spark could be considered to just be within that limit. Is a 250g FPV drone crashing into a copter windshield or rotor really a safe thing?

So, how is everybody handling this?

Personally, I feel that drone pilots need to be informed about incoming air traffic below 1000m AAG in uncontrolled air space G. There needs to be an information service which the piloting app inquiries before or during flight. After all, the nearest airport tower has all necessary information.

Somewhere I read that the M-series DJI drones have such service built-in (into the app, I guess).

But nowhere do I read that new drone regulations suggest better information services to drone pilots. Which would be a requirement to drone makers and not drone pilots.

Is all of this an official thread of discussion in on-going talks to harmonize drone rules across countries?
 
You will usually hear the helicopter before you see it... this happened to me a few months ago over an inhabited Bahamas Cay. I was flying a Mavic at about 50' when I heard a helicopter in the distance. He seemed to be at a safe altitude and woudl pass about 1/2 mile way but then turned and descended forcing me to "duck" down to mangrove top level...

Lesson learned... don't ASSume a chopper will stay on course but the good news is that you can hear them before you see them, unless of course you re flying a Mavic at quite a distance. With ththe spark at 3 to 4000' it shouldn't be an issue
 
you can hear them before you see them, unless of course you re flying a Mavic at quite a distance. With ththe spark at 3 to 4000' it shouldn't be an issue
Well, people fly their drones via waypoints at quite some distance. Guess will be done with the Spark (Autopilot etc.) too. I know it isn't allowed but many don't seem to care.

An obvious addition would be a microphone so one would be able to hear (assuming the drone sound would be somehow cancelled out). That could be helpful.

Actually, I have a "Togather® Smart GPS" tracker for my Spark which is only 15g. I can actually call it via my phone and then hear the sound at the tracker's location (even if ac is too far away for a live feed). Have to test it (maybe suspended from the drone to mask the rotor noise). That my be enough to alert of incoming air traffic if the drone is out of sight.

I really think drone pilots need a safe best practice to deal with traffic in otherwise uncontrolled air space, when the drone is out of sight.
 

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