The Aviation Thread [Contains Lots of Awesome Pictures]

I am now officially a Commercial Licensed UAS (i.e. drone) Pilot. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. :lol: The way it's set up by the FAA is that any current Private Pilot License holder can simply take a quick online course then have the application submitted by a flight instructor. After that you're allowed to get paid to fly a UAV up to 55lbs total weight. The whole process took less than two hours and I still have never even touched a UAV. I really have no intention of using my new certification but it's nice to be able to put it on a resume or maybe a job will present itself and I can make some extra cash on the side.

That being said I highly recommend any current pilots take advantage of this opportunity. Who knows when the rules will change making this a lot harder to get. As of now it's the easiest and cheapest rating you'll ever get. It's listed under Part 107 here: https://www.faasafety.gov/
 
Fascinating to see this from your point of view.

I am, for all intents and purposes, a commercial UAV pilot - or at least used to be, I actually did commercial aerial photography with UAVs for a while. In Germany, I never needed a certification - just an insurance policy that allows commercial flying, and a "general permit" for commercial flights, which costs ~200? and is issued for a single Bundesland (federal state) for one or two years. Several flights also needed extra per-flight permits because of additional conditions not covered by the general permit, such as flying after sundown. As for actual flying skills and experience, I've been flying multirotor and fixed-wing UAVs for over 4 years now, both line-of-sight and via FPV. Didn't actually log my hours, but they'd be far into three digits by now, possibly four.

Now there is talk of actually implementing a certification system for UAV pilots here as well, and that is supposed to be similar to what you have - basically any "real" pilot can get a UAV certification easily, and non-pilots need to do a large-ish course and go through a certification process that costs quite a lot of money. Many oppose this, of course. And to be honest, I kinda don't see how a "proper" pilots license translates to a UAV certification: I've flown both, and the skills required are completely different (though of course there is a common underlying subset). As you say yourself, you've never touched a UAV - and yet you can easily get a commercial UAS operator license allowing you to fly heavyweight drones, with no prior experience? I think you'll agree that something isn't quite right here :)
 
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And to be honest, I kinda don't see how a "proper" pilots license translates to a UAV certification: I've flown both, and the skills required are completely different

i don't think that's the point, you don't get the certificate to show you know how to fly a UAV (no one cares if you crash your own drone), but to show you know the regulations: where and when you're allowed to fly, how high you can go, ...
=basic knowledge for an airplane pilot
 
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True, and I agree that's necessary knowledge and should be part of the certification. But that seems to be only half of what's actually needed to fly a drone commercially. As you say, nobody cares if you crash your private drone, but if you're going to do commercial photography or other jobs with one chances are it might be in a sensitive area, and/or fitted with expensive equipment - you definitely need the basic piloting skills. I guess I don't really understand why the certificate is required that ensures one half but not the other.

One reason why I'm bringing this up is the abundance of amateur pilots in the drone scene, who simply buy the things off-the-shelf and go flying without any instruction or understanding how any of it actually works. They can be OK as long as everything works perfectly - but if the ready-to-fly DJI Phantom suddenly loses GPS in the vicinity of some trees or buildings all of a sudden, and the pilot has never flown it in Manual, chances are, it won't stay airborne for very long. And nowadays a 1,2kg Phantom is the least of one's worries - there are AP rigs like the M600 available, that are essentially just as easy to get airborne and fly in assisted modes as the Phantom, but weigh on the order of 15-20 kilos, and can cause serious damage and injury if not handled correctly in a non-standard situation. The problem with this is that there will be people who will be able to obtain the UAS rating and see it as a confirmation of their ability to fly one, and it will end badly for them.

Also, just to state explicitly - this is in no way directed against KaJuN, I don't believe he belongs to the group of people I refer to above :)
 
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This is what Russians invent when they have an unlimited supply of vodka, but a shortage on money.
 

https://www.facebook.com/HotStuffAirRacing/ said:
On September 18, 2016, during the Gold final start we experienced an accident involving our F1 racer, ?Hot Stuff? and a fellow competitor?s airplane.

We were number four on the starting grid, which was the middle inside position with three aircraft on the front row, one to our right and three behind. Upon running the engine up in anticipation of the start, about 20 seconds before the green flag drop, the engine was not running well enough for flight, as you can hear from the audio, never mind racing. I made the decision to shut the engine down to signal the starters to halt the starting process. The flagman on my row put his hands in an ?X? over his head, as our procedures prescribe, and I opened my canopy to make it clear I was out of the race and so everyone could see me. The alternate airplane was signaled to taxi on to the runway to replace my entry. I felt confident the communications had reached the appropriate people and waited for personnel to push me off the runway.

However, much to my surprise, I saw the flagman run out on to the runway waving his hands over his head as if something was wrong. The aircraft to my right started rolling and a few seconds later the number six and eight aircraft flew by me on either side. All I could do at that point was hope the number seven (center) aircraft would clear me on the centerline to my right.

The impact was violent and loud. His left leading edge shaved off the top several inches from my vertical and skimmed the turtle-deck without touching until it impacted my right hand holding up the canopy, at well over sixty miles an hour. The left landing gear hit the top of the gull-wing center-section, blowing a hole in the top skin and impacted the rear face of the front spar so hard that it broke the landing gear clean off his airplane. The propeller sliced three evenly spaced gashes about mid span of my right wing, about a foot apart. The right landing gear sheared the wing off just short of the right wingtip. The impact spun me around nearly 180?, like a teacup ride at warp eight. The other aircraft came to rest several hundred feet in front of me with a folded gear, damaged wing and sheared propeller facing the other way as well. That pilot received no injuries.

Three things immediately came to mind. Make yourself as small as possible to avoid further injury until things stop moving. Once the aircraft came to rest, DON?T MOVE! And since I was not on fire, wait for help to arrive. I knew my hand was busted and was not looking forward to removing my glove. But it was more important to make sure I had not been struck in the head or hurt my neck or back. After assessing my situation I realized I did not have any further injuries and proceeded to shut the switches off and assist with un-strapping myself from the wreckage. Help was there very quickly, including my flagman.

Then I proceeded to ask the condition of the other pilot and how this had happened. The video should speak for itself. My next concern was to let my crew know I was OK. The one thing any spectator looks for in an accident are the correct number of flight suits walking around the wreckage after any crash, I made sure I did. Everything else can be fixed. Reno EMS quickly patched me up with a splint and had me walking back to my pit in no time. They really are good at what they do.
Hot Stuff suffered severe damage. It?ll be several months before we figure out what to do with her. I?m not the slightest bit upset over the accident. I, in fact, consider myself a very lucky man. Another four feet to the left and I would have been minced meat. Literally dodging a bullet. A busted up hand is a small price to pay. I?ll take it. It?ll heal. Though it is difficult to type one-handed.

I?ve said many times before and I?ll say it again, there?s risk in everything we do. But the counterpart to that is reward. I choose to cross the street because the risk of crossing the street is worth the reward of getting to the other side. Same thing with air racing, I?ll be back. Of course there?ll be a review of procedures, how to prevent something like this from happening again and a thorough investigation. I?ve used up another of my nine lives, but why would you have nine unless you plan to use them?? We live, learn and race on.

Fly fast,
Thom Richard
 
Ouch!
 
My former boss (now retired) used to race in the F1 class. He saw too many accidents and too many close calls and decided to call it quits. He ended up buying a Pitts and taking up aerobatics as a safer alternative.
 
For those of you who follow the industrial news , the so call century contract has been signed between India and France for the delivery of 36 rafales after a process started in 2007.

In 2007 , India launch a competition in order to choose a successor to their mig 21 , mig 27 and jaguar, a prospect of 126 new deliveries. After 5 years of testing , the Rafale was choosen ahead of the eurofigther . So all was well, in fact no , the indian government wanted 18 planes built in france and 108 built in India after a transfert of technology.

What followed was endless negociations between the two parties , Dassault seemed not to find subcontractors qualified enough , Indian gvt trying to endlessly bargain the price down , add to that political change in India , and the contract was on the verge of cancellation a multiple time.

In 2015 , the new indian president Narendra Modi effectively cancels this contract and replaces it with 36 planes made in France, with a definitive signature today which comprises also air to air missiles meteor and air to ground missile scalp.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/india-signs-7-8bn-deal-france-buy-36-rafale-jets-1582921
 
To put out a fire dear.
 
Helicopter pilots: the right kind of insane.
 
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