Those CREE Strobes are Sooo Bright!

Not the first - not the last.
:rofl:

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Fair doā€™s ā€¦ impressive kit.

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But surely, if you have your A2 CofC you can fly a UAS up to 500g in A1

Also the Mini 2 is about 239g.

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Yes. Correct, I can under the transitional provisions which will probably expire before before Lockdown finishes (I jest ā€¦ I hope :flushed:). But I still would prefer to keep it <250g regardless.

I weighed mine, it came to 241 grams with battery and props on the jeweller scales.

Update: but from what I understand, even with the A2 CofC (in A1), if it goes over 250 grams, you get stung with extra clause ā€¦ ā€œNo intentional flight over uninvolved personsā€ and you donā€™t get to remain in the A1 subcategory after 31/12/22.

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This thread is taking a bit of a twistā€¦ it seems to me that @clinkadink might be a bit of a modder.

Nothing wrong with that of course, but it has made me thinkā€¦ just how much weight could be shaved off an RTF drone?

When I was a kid, and into my cycling, I drilled holes in my chainset to reduce the weight of my bike.

I could have skipped lunch for a couple of days and achieved the same weight loss without compromising the integrity of my bike, but hey hoā€¦

Iā€™m wondering, what might the lowest achievable weight of a consumer drone be, with the skilful removal of surplus material, whilst still maintaining structural integrity and flight performance characteristics.

For example, could an M2P/M2Z be modified to weigh less than 900g?

I say 900g, as that would give M2P and M2Z owners additional options under CAP 2012.

Off the top of my head, I think youā€™d need to shave off no more than 8g from either model.

Thoughts?

Ned

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Iā€™m claiming copyright on this! :grinning:

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Apparently, when I was 4 years old, I was found taking the plug of the TV in the lounge :sweat_smile:

I thought this was just for C1 classified drones, not the legacy ones. Or have I misunderstood the new rules? Intrigued :thinking:

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Youā€™re right mate. I need to learn to read properlyā€¦

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I purchased the Cree strobes in Blue , which donā€™t get me wrong they are bright.
So decided to buy some extras as attached Preety impressed seeing how cheap they areā€¦

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You know you have to keep the drone in line of sight. No binoculars and people to be used as spotters. So if you have strobes on your drone in daylight. Does that mean you can now go further as the drones more visible?

I donā€™t think it works that way. I think they are classed as visual aids.
But Iā€™m sure if I am wrong someone on here will correct me.

VLOS is about having your drone in line of sight, plus visibility of the airspace around it, so that you can take evasive action if required.

Strobes improve the visibility of your drone to you, and you onlyā€¦ donā€™t expect the emergency or military services to ā€˜dog legā€™ around you.

Ned

When I was 4 yrs old I was caught pushing a screwdriver into a 2 bar electric fire. I can remember, it went with a right old band and a flash. I tend not to do that anymore. Lol.
I was always taking stuff to bits and tinkering with this and that. Seeing how stuff works. When I got my first car. I completely stripped it and rebuilt the whole thing. It was in a time when you could fix stuff with and old bent nail and piece of bailer band.
Once did a hand break turn onto the drive way, unfortunately I didnā€™t realise the hand break was on the front wheels. Oooopppsss. Here comes the gate post, these is the gate post. Oh dear my car is destroyed. As it happens. My Dad ā€œfixedā€ the gate posts when we were all younger. We kept swinging on the gate and kept breaking the gates post off. So he bricked them up. He ā€œplantedā€ a 10 foot scaffolding bar in the middle of each of them then filled the void with concrete. Hmmmm my poor Alfa.

That was when I taught myself to weld and spray paint. It was actually the same time as my Alfa caught fire. I was busy welding away and my mate said to me ā€œShould there be smoke coming out of the windows?ā€ I was welding the subframe. Stood in the pit so couldnā€™t see. Ermmm no.
Apparently, when those old Alfaā€™s were made, the Italianā€™s in there wisdom, pumped the internals of the chassis with polystyrene for strength and sound deadening.

We just pushed it out of the garage and watched it burn. When it was ā€œreally on fireā€ we called the fire brigade.

That took some explaining to the insurance company.

Hey ho everyday is a school day.

Nice story, but what has it got to do with Cree Strobes?

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I thought we were taking it in turns to hijack the thread lol

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Is 500ft the max your drone us supposed to be away from you? Talking of mini 2. But donā€™t think thereā€™s any difference no matter what drone ur flying.
Ta

From Cap722: The CAA will normally accept that the VLOS requirement is met when the UA is flown out
to a distance of 500 metres horizontally from the remote pilot, but only if the aircraft can
still be seen at this distance.

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Ha!

This is the subject of endless debate.

As far as Iā€™m concerned, if you can see your drone, and youā€™re confident that you can take evasive manoeuvres, then thatā€™s your VLOSā€¦ whatever that figure is.

CAA kinda alude to 500m.

If things ever went tits up, and you were flying way beyond that notional 500m, you might be in trouble trying to prove that you can see your drone from 3 miles away.

Some people lose VLOS at 200m.

Itā€™s all about safety at the end of the day.

Ned

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Yeah 500 metres is quite generous :+1:

I definitely agree with @Ned on this. It is about safety at the end of the day. In my recent post where I had a close call with a couple of RAF typhoons (under slightly different conditions admittedly) I decided to start flying with strobes in daylight. Yes, I can see the drone about a km. away (it was a very clear day) and yes I can see the airspace around but was I comfortable or feel safe flying at this distance? Not really. For me, after the close call I had, the strobes are there to make my drone as visible as possible to me and anyone around. I wouldnā€™t expect a multi million pound fighter jet to take evasive action to avoid a drone (strobes or not, I donā€™t think they would see it anyway at the speed these guys fly at) but its about reducing the risk wherever possible.

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