Big Drones

Tom-D

Taxi to Parking
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Feb 23, 2005
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Tom-D
Here's the pretense :
you have a drone that will lift you, you use it to commute, just fly over the traffic. use the streets for nav, that way you know the way to work.

what regulations apply?
would it be a part 103 op?
what if, you stay below 400', and use your own nav/gps or ?

Subject is up on a different site, and I simply don't have a clue.

Right now I'm thinking it is legal. dumb/ dangerous, but legal.
 
It wouldn't fit under Part 107 or 101 (drone regs). Must be 55 lbs or less.
 
No drone can pick up my sorry fat arse

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If it carries a person, it's not a drone, it's a helicopter, subject to the normal aircraft operating regulations (part 91 or 103, as appropriate).
 
If you fly in it, it isn't a drone. It would fall under 103 as an ultralight if it fell within the weight and other limits of 103.
 
If it carries a person, it's not a drone, it's a helicopter, subject to the normal aircraft operating regulations (part 91 or 103, as appropriate).
got a better reference ?

part 103 usage rules will be the problem.
 
got a better reference ?

part 103 usage rules will be the problem.

What is a "drone"? As far as I know the term isn't in any FAR. The term has come to be applied to small remotely controlled multicopters using independent electronic control of rotor speed for pitch and roll instead of cyclic pitch, but traditionally it applied to autonomous unmanned aerial targets and such. Part 101 (model airplanes) and 107 (small unmanned aircraft systems) don't apply to man carrying aircraft.

From FAR part 1 (definitions):
Helicopter means a rotorcraft that, for its horizontal motion, depends principally on its engine-driven rotors.
Rotorcraft means a heavier-than-air aircraft that depends principally for its support in flight on the lift generated by one or more rotors.
Aircraft means a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.

From the above, a man carrying multicopter is clearly a helicopter (I suppose if you built a multicopter with a separate engine for forward thrust it wouldn't fit any current category, but that's beside the point). That may well change in the future with the continued development of autonomous man carrying multicopters needing a new set of rules, but today it's a helicopter. As such, it operates under Part 91 or 103, and as you say, the 103 rules would limit its usefulness.
 
From the above, a man carrying multicopter is clearly a helicopter

I believe that is your interpretation, Is it the FAA's? time will tell.
next question is, can a helo be an ultralight?
 
Do those really meet the 254 pound limit?
That really might be fun to do.

But how far can one go on 5 gallons of fuel?
how does one measure the capacity of a LiOn battery?.....it sure ain't in gallons. :eek:
 
Do those really meet the 254 pound limit?
That really might be fun to do.

But how far can one go on 5 gallons of fuel?
Looking at the posted link: AIR model....5 gallon capacity, 5 gallon/hour fuel burn, cruise speed 60 miles per hour. I'll let you do the math :)
 
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how does one measure the capacity of a LiOn battery?.....it sure ain't in gallons. :eek:
Of the helos mentioned above, come with engines. one with a turbine. Specs on them place the empty weight over the 254 weight limit of the part 103 limit.
 
I currently use a big drone to fly to work. Works very well. Don’t have to worry about traffic and just talk to Phoenix Approach, “Drone Man N35WW request Radar advisories to 59th Avenue”. I stay below 2000 ft MSL.
 
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