[mathogre]

On BVLOS, FAA Advisory Circular 107-2 §5.7 actually covers the allowance for brief moments when a drone is out of VLOS. It's one thing for a drone to be behind a tree for a few seconds, and another when a drone is so far away one cannot possibly see it.

As regards FPV and even the very good remote viewing in the Mavic Mini, regular general aviation regulations essentially nullify either of those capabilities as being inadequate. §14CFR91.113(b) states, "vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft." That means in addition to looking forward, you need to regularly look above, below, left, right, and to the extent practicable behind.

On night time flight over a huge empty field, yup, I get it. The regulations make no sense for this.

I could begin a long discussion over the regulatory process in the US, but I won't. I will say however that it behooves drone operators to be aware of and to become involved in the regulatory process. Whether you like the process and the products of that process or not, it isn't going away. The regulations exist, the FAA appears at some level to actually be interested in educating rather than punishing, but they have the power to do what they think is necessary to maintain order and safety.

[ohmaigad]

Ok, so FAA has exceptions, i am not from US so wasn't sure about that because when FPV got popular my local ancient regulation basically said that pilot must maintain visual contact (VLOS only) and even now the latest unified EU drone regulation is kinda shit because you must have a spotter. Realistically speaking - what kind of other random aircraft are going to be up to 120m/400ft or around trees/obstacles when flying a racing drone? I bet it is zero. I am not disputing the fact that there are situations when all the precaution is needed but the fact that you are breaking the law when you are flying your FPV racing drone alone between/above trees alone in a private forest is a bit unsettling (at least based on the latest unified EU drone regulation).

[mathogre]

Here's a great FPV video from Portugal. Just saw it a month ago on YouTube. (If it doesn't play for you, search for "NAZARÉ x FPV DRONE CINEMATIC" on the channel "RED- FPV".) I was actually more hopeful that Europe was doing better than us! I'm not even sure how the FAA would deal with something like this, other than to require some elaborate waiver that would take all of the creative energy out of a project like this.

https://youtu.be/Vsn7jyJ4xhQ