8/20/15 6:34 PM

good use for a drone ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyEGlpG2G9Y&feature=youtu.be

Last edited by Sparky on 8/20/15 11:12 PM; edited 1 time in total

8/20/15 10:08 PM

Reminds me that horses love a good race!

8/20/15 10:22 PM

Cheaper than a helicopter, and it can fly lower and closer to the riders safely. The video is tremendous. I hope it catches on. Should be the wave of the future for big race coverage.

8/20/15 11:06 PM

Correct use of the drone copters if you ask me. That is awesome, I agree.

8/21/15 12:46 AM

How fast can these drones go?

8/21/15 1:31 AM

Have a look at this video - of the tourist version of the Taiwan KOM challenge - which has a fair amount of drone coverage in it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwrbe6C41wI&hd=1

The ride might be only just over 100km long, but it starts at sea level and finishes at almost 3300m (10800ft).

8/21/15 8:04 AM

quote:

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How fast can these drones go?

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8/21/15 8:31 AM

they'd need to rotate several of them in/out.

have a follow-truck with a flat-bed as your mobile drone-carrier to follow the peloton. as each one gets low on juice, launch another and the one rotating out just lands to swap-out batteries.

it would make life in the peloton much nicer, as it is right now the riders cant hear anything above the chopper's rotor...and that contributes significantly to crashes and other mishaps. drones are almost silent in comparison.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/meet-lily-camera-drone-follows-you-automatically-n357811

8/21/15 8:53 AM

Surely, in time. I will miss the chopper background noise though.

8/21/15 10:42 AM

I've often wondered why they don't kill the chopper noise. They have me confused with someone that wants to hear it.

Maybe they will include the more obnoxious noise of the drone motors.

8/21/15 11:11 AM

Isn't the rotor buffeting getting picked up my the mics on the MC feed? A drone HAS to be less DB than a Jet Ranger...

As to cost and multiple units:

Bell 206 Unit cost. approx. US$900,000 to $1.2 million.
Average fuel consumption - lb/hr (kg/hr) 177 (81) 245 (111) [206B3 206L4]

Drones ?$?, but less. ;)

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My question is this. Are we looking at the contents of the memory on the drone after the fact? Juice to broadcast live, and to where? [a helicopter?] for a live feed in the drone might make for some logistics issues..

8/21/15 4:43 PM

will need to be bigger, but the xmitter need not be too big as it only needs to xmit to the follow-truck or maybe an orbiting acff for re-xmitting elsewhere, similar to how we get live feeds from the motos.

8/21/15 7:10 PM

A GoPro will live feed to an iPhone right now but the range is short. It sets up it's own WiFi network, it is not a bluetooth connection so using the juices should not be to hard.

I often set up my GoPro remotely when deer hunting but it I can always see the camera, it is not like I am using as a spy device, it does not have the range for that at all.

8/22/15 5:21 AM

...that a drone must be electric. It doesn't have to be (the choppers certainly aren't). Depending on size and fuel capacity, a drone could potentially stay airborne for hours and perhaps could also generate the electricity needed by the camera(s).

In addition to reducing the noise and rotor wash from choppers, they may be able to replace some of the motorcycles, which seem to be an increasing menace these days, causing some high-profile accidents.

One serious safety concern is what happens if a drone hits a power line or other obstacle above the peloton, or if there is a mid-air collision between multiple drones. Since they can potentially fly much closer to the riders than a chopper can, there is a real possibility of a drone crashing into the peloton. I imagine that each drone will need to have both a pilot and a camera operator, much like choppers do today, the difference being that they'll be on the ground rather than onboard.

8/22/15 11:12 AM

"I imagine that each drone will need to have both a pilot and a camera operator, much like choppers do today, the difference being that they'll be on the ground rather than onboard."


Agree, and I 'was' thinking electric..

8/22/15 11:39 AM

Do you need training and a license to fly a drone like that?

8/22/15 11:41 AM

License? Just think about US/FAA VS what ever governing body in EU where 'some' races are. ;)

8/22/15 2:59 PM

Size is a safety concern. With size comes more speed and altitude. This can lead to safety issues for the airspace much like a manned aircraft. In addition if a fuel powered UAV goes down there is much greater risk to the folks and things on the ground due to fire etc. When a little electric goes down, they just fall and you put them back together. Cheap, safe and easy to do. The last thing we nee is motorcycle sized UAVs buzzing around a bike race in the mountains and smacking people by accident.

I am all for small (under 3 kilos or so) UAVs that are electric powered being used as this video shows.

I should also point out that the situational awareness for the pilot on the ground sucks in any form of remote and crashes will happen much more often that in manned aircraft. Hell, even birds attack the things and knock them down.

8/22/15 3:13 PM

" Hell, even birds attack the things and knock them down."


Can't wait to see a VID of the bird of prey in close pecking at the camera... ;)

8/22/15 3:15 PM

quote:

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One serious safety concern is what happens if a drone hits a power line or other obstacle above the peloton, or if there is a mid-air collision between multiple drones. Since they can potentially fly much closer to the riders than a chopper can, there is a real possibility of a drone crashing into the peloton.

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8/22/15 3:18 PM

CASA said there were clear rules covering the operation of an unmanned aircraft, including the requirement to fly a minimum of 30 metres away from people.

The ABC understands CASA has now fined the operator $1,700 for flying the drone within 30 metres of people.

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And buying a new bike and paying any/all bills incurred presumably ??

8/22/15 4:24 PM

I think it makes sense to have licensing and regulations for different classes of drones. Maybe drones can have license plates too so we can see which ones might be interfering with california fire fighting...

8/22/15 4:28 PM

quote:

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When a little electric goes down, they just fall and you put them back together. Cheap, safe and easy to do.

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8/22/15 5:33 PM

I was starting to think that our firefighters would be given the equipment and the ok to "take out" any errant drone interfering with the water-dropper's flight schedules.

An assassin drone could be programmed to eliminate or possibly impound any observed flying menace.
One might suspect the military already has such equipment they could perhaps loan.

As for the sports drones, perhaps a drone could be GPS pre-programed to avoid all obstacles along a race route, eliminating one operator and with the other left only to advance or retard progress along the course, move and zoom the camera at will and heckle the riders.

8/23/15 8:49 AM

And.....

Down it goes.

http://www.cnet.com/news/this-hawk-has-no-love-for-your-drone/