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View Full Version : Discussion Interested in an amateur UAV fly-in in San Diego before AUVSI?

zlite
May 21, 2008, 09:54 AM
The AUVSI organizers have offered to get us (http://www.diydrones.com/)a flying field in San Diego for an amateur UAV fly-in on Sunday, June 8th, the day before their big annual UAV conference and expo (http://symposium.auvsi.org/) starts. Before I take them up on this, I want to gauge interest: are you in the San Diego area or going there for AUVSI and might want to fly on that Sunday?

(BTW, I'm giving a keynote (http://symposium.auvsi.org/show/schedule.php) at AUVSI, talking about the rise of open source and amatuer UAV development)
CenTexFlyer
May 21, 2008, 04:35 PM
Would this allow fully autonomous flight under a COA or a MOA?
zlite
May 21, 2008, 05:17 PM
Would this allow fully autonomous flight under a COA or a MOA?

This is for amateurs, so we'll be flying under non-commercial rules (http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A28583). No COA required, although this will be arranged by AUVSI and if we end up using a government field you can be sure their local air traffic control will be informed.
CenTexFlyer
May 21, 2008, 07:22 PM
Ummm....... can we fly fully autonomous on a recreational basis legally? Oh.... and where would we be flying?
zlite
May 21, 2008, 08:00 PM
Ummm....... can we fly fully autonomous on a recreational basis legally? Oh.... and where would we be flying?

Sigh. Let's not go through this again. If you don't agree with the interpretation of the regs in the FAQ (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=831627), please comment there. In the meantime, our autonomous flying under those constraints is fine with AUVSI, who should know.

Place TBD depending on response.
CenTexFlyer
May 21, 2008, 10:24 PM
Oh! Please don't get me wrong! I really, REALLY would like to do this! I'm not trying to "go" anywhere with it. This is such a dynamic situation it's just that I'd like to know if AUVSI got some OK for autonomous flight. Everyone knows that flying recreational R/C is OK and if that's what the fly in about, then I'll be there for that too!

Seriously, I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I have flown in the SD area before (not commercially) and our friends have had their say.

Gene
zlite
May 21, 2008, 10:44 PM
Sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion. The guidance we have had is that recreational autonomous flight within the restrictions given in the FAQ (pilot fall-back, line of sight, under 400 ft, away from built-up-areas, etc) do not require any "OK". When your friends (and I assume you don't mean the AMA, who are hopeless on this issue and best avoided) had their say, were you flying within those constraints? If so, what regs did they cite?
TheThomas
May 22, 2008, 01:23 AM
The UCSD AUVSI team might be interested, no promises from us yet.
patrickegan
May 22, 2008, 01:57 AM
A safe assumption would be that he is referring to the Fed’s.
CenTexFlyer
May 22, 2008, 10:28 AM
Well, I'm sure "they" have already read this, we'll see if they weigh in on the subject.
patrickegan
May 22, 2008, 10:40 AM
I believe the concern here is, if this isn’t held in DoD airspace or with a COA or some sort of official authority it could be perceived as shoving it down their throats. If they give the AUVSI another pass it would only reinforce the appearance(s) of capricious and arbitrary policy enforcement.
Capt. Crunch
May 22, 2008, 11:06 AM
Sigh, zlite is just trying to guage interest, please don't get on his case.

That said, I'd go, but am out of town/state that weekend. Best of luck to all, and I hope for reports/pics/comments here afterwards.
CenTexFlyer
May 22, 2008, 11:32 AM
Hey, I'm in! I'm bringing a cased bird that we use autonomously when we can, but is just as easy to switch into "recreational mode" and fly R/C!

Just let me know where to stand and where the freq control board is, Chris.
mikrodon
May 22, 2008, 01:17 PM
I'll be there, and will bring my "beater" test bed. I have "R/C recreational" and full autonomous modes, also.
CenTexFlyer
May 23, 2008, 10:25 PM
Well, there's three of us anyway.... what say you, Chris?
zlite
May 24, 2008, 05:37 PM
Well, there's three of us anyway.... what say you, Chris?

That's a bit less than I was hoping for, considering that I'll have to come down to SD two days early to do it. I'll ping my AUVSI contacts and see if they can shake some more out of the tree.
zlite
Jun 01, 2008, 11:31 PM
I'm afraid three attendees is not enough to justify coming down two days early. So no fly-in in San Diego this year.

I'll still be speaking at the conference, and would love to meet up with anyone here who will be there. (PM me)

Meanwhile, our next fly-in will be in the SF Bay area this summer. Date TBA.