UAV's operating in Ireland

Boring username · 24-01-2012 08:38PM #1

Hey folks,

Does anyone have an information regarding the use of UAV's in Irish airspace? I know the CAA (UK) has a publication regarding their use, but I can't find anything in the IAA manual apart from this small section:

http://www.iaa.ie/index.jsp?p=141&n=179

I am specifically interested in UAV's for commercial use, such as aerial filming and photography. I was planning on getting a small RC heli and attaching a HD video camera with a live feed, so if anybody has any information regarding this, I would be very grateful.

Has anybody here tried something like this?

Also, what kind of winds can a RC helicopter/plane operate in, and what would be your max speed?

Any tips, advice and information welcome...

Bruthal · 24-01-2012 09:27PM

Here is one 2 of us made 2 years ago. A glider and t-rex 600 helicopter combined into one video. Link

At 4:40 there is a clip of the camera mount used. I made it from plywood, and it has 3 axis control, with the second person controlling where its looking, using a live view. All video after 4:40 was filmed with it. And also the high up clip just before 4:40.

The train tracks at the start was from the heli as well. All the rest was a glider.

Boring username · 25-01-2012 01:32PM

robbie7730 wrote: »

Here is one 2 of us made 2 years ago. A glider and t-rex 600 helicopter combined into one video. Link

At 4:40 there is a clip of the camera mount used. I made it from plywood, and it has 2 axis control, with the second person controlling where its looking, using a live view. All video after 4:40 was filmed with it. And also the high up clip just before 4:40.

The train tracks at the start was from the heli as well. All the rest was a glider.

Nice work! May I ask what system you used for the live feed? I am purely in the research phase atm, so I'm wondering what is the best set up there, as well as costs, installation, reliability, etc.

Bruthal · 25-01-2012 01:53PM

For that video it was a 5.8ghz transmitter, and receiver. If your using a 35mhz radio, you can use a 2.4ghz setup. Here is a place you can get them. Link

syl77 · 25-01-2012 05:10PM

You should really contact MACI first, I know of a recent incident (concerning an UAV and an irish airbase) along with so many UAVs now out there (both commercial and non-commercial), all of which has thrown up a little heat from the IAA concerning UAV's.
You will also want to look into your own insurance.
For commerical - have you factored in cost- I have seen RC heli/camera equipment costing 10k - a good GPS &waypoint system can easily cost 5K.

Bruthal · 25-01-2012 09:16PM

Its a lot of hassle, and more dangerous with helis anyway.

Boring username · 26-01-2012 02:56PM

syl77 wrote: »

You should really contact MACI first, I know of a recent incident (concerning an UAV and an irish airbase) along with so many UAVs now out there (both commercial and non-commercial), all of which has thrown up a little heat from the IAA concerning UAV's.
You will also want to look into your own insurance.
For commerical - have you factored in cost- I have seen RC heli/camera equipment costing 10k - a good GPS &waypoint system can easily cost 5K.

Thanks, I've checked out the MACI website.

As for costs, yes the professional units are definitely in the 5 figure range-from what I'm seeing, it would nearly be better to use a RC plane/blimp due to the payloads involved (camera, mount, steadicam, downlink etc.) if you want any decent flight time. The recommended procedure for cameras is to find a cheap and expendable one but with a decent video quality-such as the Go Pro HD series.

Silvera · 27-01-2012 05:26PM

The Irish Army operate several man-portable Israeli-made UAV's.

syl77 · 27-01-2012 06:42PM

The Irish Army operate several man-portable Israeli-made UAV's.

Yes, that true, also heard that when they flew the first one and hit the return to home button, it started to make its way out to sea in the direction of Isreali, not sure how true that story is but iv heard it a number of times from different people.

Bruthal · 27-01-2012 07:00PM

I heard that one myself a few times. Usually when i was pressing the return to home on our radian.

Chelsea1 · 04-05-2012 11:07AM

Hi Robbie,
I cant seem to open the link to your video? Can you repost it again?

Cheers

W

Bruthal · 04-05-2012 08:33PM

Here is a page with the video on it.

Its on the videos page, called Woodlawn Demense.

Chelsea1 · 04-05-2012 09:41PM

Hi Robbie, love the videos and quality! How or where do i get a glider with a live feed camera? and what type of aircraft would you recommend?

Cheers

Bruthal · 04-05-2012 11:07PM

Chelsea1 wrote: »

Hi Robbie, love the videos and quality! How or where do i get a glider with a live feed camera? and what type of aircraft would you recommend?

Cheers

Well some of them flights are just a camera on the glider, and flying it by the normal viewing it directly. It was mostly a parkzone radian glider we used for them.

For the live feed down, there is a fair bit involved in setting that up properly. I have added a video to that page showing a pan tilt unit i made from plywood, and we used for some of the flights. It ensured good video reception. I wired the radian internally, with sockets on its surface to plug in a camera and transmitter if using them, and fitted the eagle tree system under the canopy.

Most flights i do are just the standard flying of the glider by directly viewing it though.

Here is the standard radian, with all the FPV gear on it.

UAV's operating in Ireland

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