Downtown Dallas as viewed by a drone

[LibraryLady]

I suggest mute the sound........

http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/dallas-texas-aerial-video/?%3Fsrc=fb

[FlashM]

It's so choppy, it doesn't feel like footage of a drone actually flying through downtown D. There's no fly-through footage. It's all one and two second zooms and pull-backs that could have been shot from buildings or even from high resolution stills.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't real drone camera video.

I don't know why it wouldn't be. Jus' sayin'.

[planosteve]

Downtown Dallas looks a whole lot better when flying over it than it does when you drive thought it like I had to do today.

[BigTex]

It looked like the opening of a TV news broadcast.

[Bob Of Burleson]

I don't find any really good drone videos of downtown Dallas. Probably takes quite a bit of finagling to get permission for flights.

[BigTex]

We have a thing about airplanes and tall buildings. Even RC airplanes.

[Jami]

I enjoyed it, the music wasn't bad either.

Then I came back and read the comments here. It reminds me of something else. There is a FB game that I really enjoy playing but when I go visit the forum for that game and every one's bitching about it. Makes me wonder....I'm I supposed to enjoying this game?

[Bob Of Burleson]

Bob Snyder, a former P-51 Mustang mechanic, prepares a model airplane for flight at the Greater Southwest Aero Modelers annual 4th of July picnic Saturday July 5, 2014 in Fort Worth.
(Star-Telegram Photo by Ron Jenkins)

FAA rule-making scares modelers

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 prohibits the FAA from imposing any rule or regulation on model aircraft if the following requirements are met:

• The aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use.

• The aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization.

• The aircraft is not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through design, construction, inspection for flight test by a community-based organization.

• The aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with manned aircraft.

• When flown within five miles of an airport, the operator must provide the airport operator and the airport air traffic contol tower to get prior consent.

Source: Federal Aviation Administration

By Max B. Baker
mbaker@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — Darrell Abby carefully wipes down the fuselage of his Curtiss P-40 Warhawk for its first flight of the day.

He checks the flaps, wiggles the rudder, pumps in gas and monitors the air pressure for the landing gear. Then he pulls on a grey heavy work glove before spinning the propeller to start the engine.

While Abby’s warbird has a wingspan of 86 inches — the real deal is 37 feet — the pre-flight checks he performs mimic those taken by a pilot before crawling into a cockpit.

“We’re very big on safety,” said Abby, a 66-year-old retired Delta Air Lines pilot at a “fly-in” of model aircraft buffs in Fort Worth on Saturday. “In my opinion, these things are like a real airplane.”

So it should come as no surprise that Abby and other hobbyists are in a four-foot hover over the FAA’s recent efforts to clarify its rules for flying model aircraft in the wake of some recent incidents involving small remote-controlled aircraft, commonly referred to as drones.

Published in the Federal Register late last month, the FAA proposal restates some of the agency’s established rules for model aircraft and tries to shed new light on others with the stated purpose of protecting the public both in the air and on the ground.

“We want people who fly model aircraft for recreation to enjoy their hobby — but to enjoy it safely,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said last month.

But opponents to the FAA’s recent attempt at rule-making say that what the agency is doing flies in the face of a law Congress passed in 2012 to protect the model plane community from “overreaching and onerous regulation” by the federal government.

Comparing it to the ongoing debate over gun control laws, Abby and others say a few bad actors are causing trouble for the vast majority of model aircraft owners who operate their miniature bombers, fighters, helicopters and blimps responsibly and safely.

“The FAA is trying to take part or all of our hobby away on a knee-jerk reaction to a specific problem that they will never be able to control,” said Ed Couch, who has been involved in aeromodelling for 62 years. “It’s the individual, not the vehicle, that is causing the problem.”

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/07/08 ... rylink=cpy