What Can I Do With My Model Aircraft?

Hobby/Recreational Flying

Having fun means flying safely! Hobby or recreational flying doesn't require FAA approval but you must follow safety guidelines. Any other use requires FAA authorization.

Avoid doing anything hazardous to other airplanes or people and property on the ground.

"Dos"

• Do fly a model aircraft/UAS at the local model aircraft club
• Do take lessons and learn to fly safely
• Do contact the airport or control tower when flying within 5 miles of the airport
• Do fly a model aircraft for personal enjoyment

"Don'ts"

• Don't fly near manned aircraft
• Don't fly beyond line of sight of the operator
• Don't fly an aircraft weighing more than 55 lbs unless it's certified by an aeromodeling community-based organization
• Don't fly contrary to your aeromodeling community-based safety guidelines
• Don't fly model aircraft for payment or commercial purposes

Model Aircraft Operations Limits

According to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 as (1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use; (2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization; (3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization; (4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; (5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower…with prior notice of the operation; and (6) the aircraft is flown within visual line sight of the operator.

• More information about safety and training guidelines

The FAA welcomes comments from the public on its Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft, which may help further inform its interpretation of the statutory language in Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 regarding Model Aircraft operations. Please visit theFederal Rulemaking Portal and follow the instructions for sending your comments electronically.

Source:http://www.faa.gov/uas/publications/model_aircraft_operators

UAV REGULATIONS IN INDIA – A PRE - REQUISITE

As air traffic growth in India puts pressure on available airspace, the country’s unmanned aerial vehicle industry is calling for a centralized body to draft regulations and set standards for UAV systems. The need for central planning is increasingly being felt. In 2007 the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) has recommended that in future, all unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) should be cleared for their airworthiness. The recommendation is under consideration by the defence ministry. Potential failures need to be anticipated, deviations in design and manufacture assessed, operational demands simulated and evaluated, and designs certified. If CEMILAC's insistence on airworthiness certification for UAVs is accepted, norms and procedures would have to be laid down. In addition, certification protocols and procedures must be worked out, so that they can be applied for the unmanned craft.

But an effective counter-issue is the collateral damage a UAV can cause if it spins out of control and crashes on human settlements. UAVs may be designed primarily for military use, but 90 per cent of Indian airspace is civilian, and restricting UAVs to military airspace could be impractical.

Aeronautical Development Establishment organized its first international conference on autonomous unmanned vehicles in 2009 (ICAUV), and again in 2011. This has been the only government organized event in India till date exclusively on unmanned systems. Unmanned Systems Association of India (USAI) has been recently formed and is completely dedicated towards all the activities and regulations pertaining to the unmanned systems industry in India.

Presently all UAV flying is done with permission from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Defence (MoD). This has been done since all the official UAV flying has been by the military and government agencies. Integrating the UAVs into civilian air space is a challenging job. Suggestions are invited to create a regulated policy for unmanned aviation and unmanned systems in India. Please contact us or become a member of USAI and join us in lobbying for regulated UAV operations in India.

SIMPLE FPV SYSTEM - 

      Hi now I gonna tell you about the simple fpv set up for your multi-rotor. Boscam 5.8 ghz fpv is the most simplest one to set up when compared to other fpv systems, it has less interference with other signals. But the problem is we can't go to high range with the stock antennas provided by the manufacture, the solution for this problem is replacing those stock antennas with circular polarised antennas to increase your fpv range. 

Caution -

Don't switch on your transmitter or receiver with out installing antennas. 

HOME MADE BIND PLUG :

              Today i going to tell you how to make a bind plug using servo wire . For that you require a servo wire, scissor and a screw driver. Cut the servo wire for a required length. Separate the middle wire from the surrounding two wires  and then remove that wire using screw driver. After that strap the remaining two wires using screw driver and connect them. Thats it you made your bind plug.

 

Here the link for the video-   Home made bind plug 

Hi  today  is friday  and  let  us  talk about  flight  controllers.  It  is  the brain  of  the  drone  and  it  controlls  all  the  motions  of  the  drone  such  as  yawing,pitching,rolling.  Some  of  the  flight  controllers  are  kk2.1,multwii,cc3d,aurdupilot, pixhawk , dji  naza  and  there  are  many  flight  controllers  out  there.  I  made  my  quadcopter  with  naza  m  lite  flight  controller  because  it  is  easy to  set  up  and  fly.  
              If  u  want  to  build  your  own  flightcontroller  you  can  do  that  using  aurdino.  I  made  one  flight controller  let  me  expalin ,  in  that  FC  I  used  aurdino uno ,  gy  521 mpu  6050  module  which  acts  as  accelerometer and  gyroscope  and I  uploaded multiwii  code  into  it  and  it  flies  well.
              Thats  the  basic  description  about  FC  s  and  its your  choice  which  flight controller  you  use  for  your  quadcopter  or  hexa  whatever  may be.

In  this  post  let  us talk  about  weight  of  the  quadcopter  and  the  selection  of  motors  with  respect  to  the  weight

         First  thing we should  take  into  consideration  is  the thrust  produced  by all  the  four  motors  should be  greater  than  the  weight  of the  quadcopter.  Generally  brushless  dc  motors  are  used  in  these  rc  models  because  of their  high  effecieny.  Lesser the  kv  means  higher  the  thrust,  motors  which  I  used  was  935  kv  motor and  each  motor  gives thrust  of 850  gms  if  use  decrease  the  kv  you  can  increase  the thrust.  Generally  the  octocopters which  are  used  for  aerial  filming  uses  300  kv  motors  which  produces  high  thrust.

        The  speed  of  these  motors  are  controlled  by  the  electronic  speed  controllers.  When  coming to the  selection  of  esc  we should  take  the  current  drawn  by  the  motors  into  consideration.   For  example if  your  motor  draws  18  amps  of current  then  you  should  select  esc greater  than  18  amps  may  be  20  or  25  amp  are  suitable.
       
        In  next  topic  I  will  tell  about  different  types  of  flight  cotrollers used.

Before I started my project I set the budget for Rs.30000. Let us start with the basics. Quadcopter is a Uav which has four rotors in which two rotors rotate in clockwise and other two in anti-clockwise direction. It has four electronic speed controllers (esc) to control the speed of each motors and a battery depending upon your flight time you have to select your battery. First lipo I used was zippy compact 2200 mah battery, it gives me a flight time of 10 minutes.
 
                Among all the parts frame is the most important. A high strength frame gives low vibrations and protects the electronics that's all about basics . In next  topic let us discuss about flight controller and selection of electronics depending upon your requirement for which you use your quadcopter

From the beginning I had an interest of flying drones so I decided to build a quadcopter in my 2nd year of b tech. So I started the work in the very beginning of 2nd year first semester, as I am a newbie I have only less knowledge of quadcopters. At this stage I took the help of many rc communities and youtube videos.
       Team black sheep ( rc daredevils) this group is my inspiration
       In the next let us discuss about electronics I used to build my first quadcopter 

Hi  myself  Avinash  an undergraduate student  from  a  college  in Hyderabad.  This  blog  is  about  my rc  models flying  hobby. In  2012  I  joined  in  a  engineering  college  in  hyderabad, as  I  have interest  in  aeronautics  branch  I  took  it  as  my  core  subject.  That is all  about  my  introduction.
            In  next  post  I  will  let u  know  how  I get  into  this  flying  hobby