ki-gas
Senior Heliman
Location: All over Europe, mainly England
My Posts This: Topic Forum | As I said 'Video' is a totally different ball game so lets stick to the stills which I believe was more what the original question was about and also what you were originally talking about.
A good machine with the correct gyro/tail servo should not be a fight to fly in wind and if it is that windy were it is a fight then you should not be flying for safety reasons, particularly in populated areas. The pilot should not find it hard work positioning the helicopter either.
In the UK it is legal to do AP commercially but we are bound to CAA regulations. By the sounds of it you may be flying in areas that would be illegal here!
If you are operating that close to neighbours it would be professional to have already liaised with them and explained fully what you are going to do. In the UK you should be flying from land of which you have the owners permission so kids should not be getting in your landing zone, if the land is public land then again professionalism would suggest that you have additional personnel to control the public, all this would be apparent after doing your location safety report prior to the flight.
I've been operating A/P for 6 years, there is an awful lot of paperwork and yes the regs. make a lot of urban jobs not possible but the point I was making is that one person can do the majority of stills work alone. I have only once had to go to a height where I was just on the edge of my comfort zone, if all your work were like this then a simple Helicommand would suffice.
The paperwork is a bind but the flying is a walk in the park. No video goggles, no stabilisation. As for forced autos, it all happens so quickly you don't have time to think, that why we practice a lot and pre plan your emergancy DZ prior to each flight, like 'nose in hovering' it should be second nature, there's no time to think, if you do you'll get in wrong.
If you are feeling like the man in the ‘One Man Band’ picture when you are doing AP then you are getting something wrong. |
