This is a subject of perpetual debate with no black & white definition so I thought I would throw in a point of view (not saying right or wrong) of how I see it.
The law says we must maintain a direct visual line of sight with our own eyes to our drone at all times.
The rationale is that we must be able to see the full scope of all potential risk situations in the proximity of the drone. Of course that immediately walks us into very grey areas:
- One person (probably a youngster ) can see their Mini2 drone 500 meters away, another old git like me canāt see it beyond 200m.
- Doing the best I can, I temporarily lose sight because I looked at my controller, woops Iāve broken he law
So how does the law in practice determine if I was VLOS at a point I was challenged?
Answer: I think, because I know of one UK case where someone was found guilty and applied an arbitrary 500m as the distance. Again though, this is very grey.
Now; it is a fact proven many times in law, in all kinds of circumstances, that innovation and technology run way ahead of law and legislation. Take the Motor Car when it arrived on the scene. It was capable of 20mph but it was deemed so dangerous that someone with a red flag had to walk in front of it and it was limited to 5mph. That law stood for approx 10 years!
So what do I think of the position with drones?
I can see that tiny little black speck 500m away so Iām within the law but I canāt see its orientation, whatās above or below it, I canāt judge itās speed, anything in its proximity or anything else!
Where do I get that all important safety information from?
Well I look at my DJI Fly app of course where technology has provided me with everything I need to see
- I can see a 4K camera view of where I am;
- I can see all of the telemetry info for altitude, speed, orientation
- I can use that clear view of everything important to just let go of the controls and stop on a sixpence if something doesnāt look right
- If a risk situation arises I can rapidly descend and land
I canāt do any of that watching my tiny little black speck 500m away and I canāt possibly safely switch my eyes in the sky to my eyes on the information on my screen.
Drone law needs to catch up with the technology we have which has been designed by world leading experts to control drones safely, simple as.