Might have parked feet away. 
Wonder how long to we have a drone with built in rangefinder
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I have wondered why this isnt available - like being able to better gauge distance from buildings and structures
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My underwater ROV has 2 red lasers (cheap laser diodes) spaced at exactly 100mm apart and it gives a good indication of how far you are from something by the spacing. I don’t know how easy it would be to see. I can see the red spot of my laser tape measure from quite a distance. I might try and rig something up to test the idea.
The other way, of course, would be the Dambusters idea of crossed lights, but done with lasers.
People have pretty accurate speedometers in their cars, but ….
Does anyone really care about knowing these distances to the mm?
I know I don’t!
Like car speed … there are roads that are 60mph I’d never try staying at that speed on the bends, and then there’s miles of dead straight motorway with nothing on it at 3am where you don’t suddenly implode at 71mph ( …. and, back in the day … well. 
)
I like this wording … from someone that has just received their PfCO.
So, I stand corrected. 
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Still need a long tape measure 
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I wrote to CAA last year and got this response, I will try an share the wording but in essence I said “up to 400 ft horizontally away from the vertical cliff face, and over 400ft above sea level”
|### UAVEnquiries <UAVEnquiries@caa.co.uk>|Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 11:42 AM||![]to xxx@gmail.com
Dear xxxxxxx,
Thank you for your email.
Yes you are correct in your thinking about remaining 400ft from the surface. A surface is a natural surface and not a manmade surface as you would not be permitted to count a tall building as a surface.
When undertaking these types of operation it is important to remain in VLOS.
If you wish to discuss this further please call us Monday – Friday 09:30 – 15:00 on 0330 022 1908
Kind Regards,
Thomas Guest
UAV Services
Civil Aviation Authority
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Not sure how relevant their response is in todays climate though?
Yes indeed, worth looking at all the latest ANOs and then asking again.
Doesn’t this fall under what the New Zealand CAA equivalent call ‘shielded operation’? I know its not been implemented in the UK, but its makes a lot of sense. https://www.caa.govt.nz/unmanned-aircraft/intro-to-part-101/