Today I traveled to Red Rock Hwy to fly my Mavic drone. The site I wanted to photograph is about 80 miles away and travel is through a winding mountain road for the last 15 miles. This is located on a Navajo Reservation. In this picture you can see my car on the side of the road near the bottom. I was sitting in the car controlling the drone since it was too bright to see my screen outside even with a hood over the phone. The original is a 48 Mpx DNG file.
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Awesome shot!!!
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Cool perspective and capture …
Fabulous capture, love the perspective and colors.
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Were there any issues running a drone over Indian airspace?
National parks, monuments, airport flight paths and federal protected wilderness are restricted. There might be some local restrictions. The reservation doesn’t have any restrictions that I know of and I didn’t have any problem. Only a few cars passing by. I think there are really too many restrictions, drones are small and once they are up you can’t even see them.
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I’m always curious b/c drone shots can be so cool. Several of my photo buddies got drones but then didn’t use them with the various regulations & registrations required. My town just passed an ordinance saying no drones in town. It’s quasi-rural here (I call it SubRural - for, suburban rural blend… open spaces & horses but also big houses) so people were using drones in the preserves. But I think the neighbors felt their privacy was being compromised.
Legally a drone can be flown over any property as airspace doesn’t belong to businesses or home owners but I guess a town can pass an ordinance. Most drone operators may only fly high over houses to get an aerial view but this doesn’t invade privacy. Beside, satellite views do the same.
There is a lot to do even to fly recreationally. For example register with the FAA and use apps to see restricted areas. If a drone picture or video is used for pay (such as posting on Youtube) you must have a type 107 license (couple hundred dollars) and pass a test. Just a lot of stupid stuff to kill the hobby. To earn a drone license, a drone pilot must satisfy a few qualifications, be vetted by the TSA, and pass a 60-item Part 107 knowledge test. This imposes a minimum level of proficiency for all commercial drone pilots.
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Well, all that explains why my buddies put their drones in their closets after getting the bigger pricier ones (& had been looking forward to using them) … I think all those rules you mention were rolled out soon after their purchases when drone photography was taking off (so to speak…).
