Nich

, Australia

Posted on
2020-02-22 1:48:42
“I’m in Australia, but what the US does will have a huge impact on world-wide regulations. I’ve had camera drones for years, and these were fun, but the existing australian regulations (30m away from people, buildings, or vehicles) meant that I only had the chance to fly maybe twice a year. I took some great photos visiting relatives in regional areas every christmas, but mainly my drone sat there gathering dust. I recently purchased a tiny indoor FPV racing drone. Finally, something I can fly inside and indoors, where CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Australia’s FAA) regulations were unenforceable and/or not applicable (inside my apartment is not government controlled airspace). I’ve had a heap of fun with it, and the highly technical aspect of FPV drones has already made me a better electrical engineer (my day job). I never opened my camera drones, but I’ve already fully disassembled and reassembled this drone twice in just a few months. With some more flight practice, I’m looking forward to going out and joining a local club, maybe doing some races. I’ll also be purchasing a slightly larger drone with an HD camera, so that I can make some nice videos to show my friends and family. ##### Flying is fun, it sharpens my engineering skills, and I intend to keep flying. Given my skillset, there’s a reasonably chance I may end up developing my own products for the hobby. I am amazed that this incredibly technically challenging hobby attracts so many young people, and I couldn’t imagine a better engineering training course. The technology for model aircraft is new, and that scares people, but it’s incredibly exciting. Don’t regulate this hobby to death.”