Flying over SpaceX Falcon 9 in Port Canaveral - Evo II Pro

[JerryPikePhoto]

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

hey i gotta say; that's pretty cool!

 

[mike9591]

Sweet video!! I'm working over by the CC Port often as well. Love seeing those boosters come back. It's so routine these days. Only one warning... stay out of the actual Port area. Port Auth, and Brevard Deputies have fined users, and confiscated a bunch of their drones. Some from passengers on cruise ships staying at the hotels. Those boosters come back, and there must be 10 drones flying around the Port which is really bad for that low flying Sight Seeing chopper there every day. He has flown over a few drones, and put them in the Port basin many times. The last boat race event Thunder on Cocoa Beach had 15 drones confiscated until fines were paid. A bunch of Mini drones, Fimi, and Parrot. Not certain if NLD software works on Mini's but there are quite a few that fly around the Port each week. Probably 25 or so when the Disney Wish ship came in.

 

[JerryPikePhoto]

Sweet video!! I'm working over by the CC Port often as well. Love seeing those boosters come back. It's so routine these days. Only one warning... stay out of the actual Port area. Port Auth, and Brevard Deputies have fined users, and confiscated a bunch of their drones. Some from passengers on cruise ships staying at the hotels. Those boosters come back, and there must be 10 drones flying around the Port which is really bad for that low flying Sight Seeing chopper there every day. He has flown over a few drones, and put them in the Port basin many times. The last boat race event Thunder on Cocoa Beach had 15 drones confiscated until fines were paid. A bunch of Mini drones, Fimi, and Parrot. Not certain if NLD software works on Mini's but there are quite a few that fly around the Port each week. Probably 25 or so when the Disney Wish ship came in.

Thanks! For context I am Part 107 and am very familiar with the drone regulations around Port Canaveral, and I definitely keep my eyes and ears peeled for that tourist copter. You mention the Disney Wish, and from what I saw, there was me and two other drones flying when the Disney Wish came into port for the first time, the other two mainly flying later on in the back of the port, and were operated by the Port and possibly Disney. I am curious where and why those 15 confiscated drones were taken around thunder, presumably down near Cocoa, as I couldn't find any official rules from Cocoa Beach about drones. I haven't had any troubles while flying near Canaveral, (grumpy old ladies don't count), and I have talked with a few officers who shared my same understanding and affirmed that I was doing everything properly.

 

[Inspirephil]

That’s a really great video!!

 

[mike9591]

Thanks! For context I am Part 107 and am very familiar with the drone regulations around Port Canaveral, and I definitely keep my eyes and ears peeled for that tourist copter. You mention the Disney Wish, and from what I saw, there was me and two other drones flying when the Disney Wish came into port for the first time, the other two mainly flying later on in the back of the port, and were operated by the Port and possibly Disney. I am curious where and why those 15 confiscated drones were taken around thunder, presumably down near Cocoa, as I couldn't find any official rules from Cocoa Beach about drones. I haven't had any troubles while flying near Canaveral, (grumpy old ladies don't count), and I have talked with a few officers who shared my same understanding and affirmed that I was doing everything properly.

Pretty sure it was tourists flying drones around the staging area of the Port during the Thunder on Cocoa Beach event. There were 2 or 3 people with bigger drones like the Phantom and Mavics that were flying during the event back by the beachline and over crowds. CC Sheriff Dept took those drones. That was dangerous given the event choppers fly very very low during the races. People are not smart about drone use, and we all get to have new rules for it. There were 2 drone users caught during the CB Air Show a couple years ago. Total NFZ during, but they must have had NLD software on those DJI drones.

Flying over the Port is against Port Auth rules. Flying anywhere on the other side of the Port near the Jetty is really going to give someone a problem with CCSFB, and USN. During the F9 booster landings, a couple drone users flew towards the other side of the Jetty but right over the big hill there so they could record the landing better I assume since that big hill blocks the view. Not only were those drones in the TFR area, but they were over the base property. My neighbor works the Port with Brevard Sheriff Dept. We talk often, and they tell me all their drone bust stories all the time. They asked me what was best way to find these operators. I said batteries don't last long. Just watch them return. That's their idea of RID for now.


Kind of cooled down since F9 boosters seem to come and go like cruise ships these days given the cadence.
I remember when that Sight Seeing Chopper was the dude that halted the launch when he just entered the zone at T-8 seconds. He was in for about 22 seconds, and the launch was scrubbed. I think that was the Polar launch too from the Cape which is rare to do since the flight basically skirts the coast all the way down to Miami. That's a hassle for all air traffic on the E coast even thought it only lasts a few minutes.

 

[JerryPikePhoto]

Pretty sure it was tourists flying drones around the staging area of the Port during the Thunder on Cocoa Beach event. There were 2 or 3 people with bigger drones like the Phantom and Mavics that were flying during the event back by the beachline and over crowds. CC Sheriff Dept took those drones. That was dangerous given the event choppers fly very very low during the races. People are not smart about drone use, and we all get to have new rules for it. There were 2 drone users caught during the CB Air Show a couple years ago. Total NFZ during, but they must have had NLD software on those DJI drones.

Flying over the Port is against Port Auth rules. Flying anywhere on the other side of the Port near the Jetty is really going to give someone a problem with CCSFB, and USN. During the F9 booster landings, a couple drone users flew towards the other side of the Jetty but right over the big hill there so they could record the landing better I assume since that big hill blocks the view. Not only were those drones in the TFR area, but they were over the base property. My neighbor works the Port with Brevard Sheriff Dept. We talk often, and they tell me all their drone bust stories all the time. They asked me what was best way to find these operators. I said batteries don't last long. Just watch them return. That's their idea of RID for now.


Kind of cooled down since F9 boosters seem to come and go like cruise ships these days given the cadence.
I remember when that Sight Seeing Chopper was the dude that halted the launch when he just entered the zone at T-8 seconds. He was in for about 22 seconds, and the launch was scrubbed. I think that was the Polar launch too from the Cape which is rare to do since the flight basically skirts the coast all the way down to Miami. That's a hassle for all air traffic on the E coast even thought it only lasts a few minutes.

Makes sense, you definitely can’t operate from Port property, but keep in mind it’s not a federal area so the most they can enforce is launch and landing, not airspace. However, flying over CCSFS property is a great way to get your drone taken away, a friends buddy was flying there once and they took control over his drone remotely and landed it right there. Luckily for launches now, 95% of the launch TFRs don’t encroach south of the preexisting no-no zone for CCSFS. There really isn’t much to see from a drone as the rocket is super tiny, but making streak shots is always nice.

 

[mike9591]

Makes sense, you definitely can’t operate from Port property, but keep in mind it’s not a federal area so the most they can enforce is launch and landing, not airspace. However, flying over CCSFS property is a great way to get your drone taken away, a friends buddy was flying there once and they took control over his drone remotely and landed it right there. Luckily for launches now, 95% of the launch TFRs don’t encroach south of the preexisting no-no zone for CCSFS. There really isn’t much to see from a drone as the rocket is super tiny, but making streak shots is always nice.

Newer drones we have discussed among some vendors may have support for 4x optical zoom. That will make the rockets appear much larger, but I have done some great shots from the Banana River area overlooking the Port during launches. The rocket is tiny, but the 4K crops are a bit better. So glad the TFR zones are not round like they used to be. It used to push far into Titusville by I95 which was kind of stupid being a good 20+ miles from the pad.
F9's look better with trails, but the impressive from pad trails of the Atlas SRB's always look great from the drone video

 

[JerryPikePhoto]

Newer drones we have discussed among some vendors may have support for 4x optical zoom. That will make the rockets much larger, but I have done some great shots from the Banana River area overlooking the Port during launches. The rocket is tiny, but the 4K crops are a bit better. So glad the TFR zones are not round like they used to be. It used to push far into Titusville by I95 which was kind of stupid being a good 20+ miles from the pad.

The NASA crew launch TFRs are still absolutely absurdly large, reaching all the way over MCO in Orlando... Commercial jets are exempt from the massive circle, but drones are not. Realistically if I was flying from 20 miles away in Orlando its not gonna hurt anything, and nobody would be the wiser besides people that read NOTAMS, but its still crazy that its still disallowed. I fully expect one of those type giga TFRs for the Artemis launch, but one can hope not. I personally hope that zoom lenses become more mainstream, IMO it will be contingent on whether people think the Mavic 3 secondary zoom camera is more of a "gimmick" or useful feature. I for one would curious to try and use something like that, although I currently cant justify a Mavic 3 just for that feature when I have the Evo 2 Pro already.

 

[mike9591]

The NASA crew launch TFRs are still absolutely absurdly large, reaching all the way over MCO in Orlando... Commercial jets are exempt from the massive circle, but drones are not. Realistically if I was flying from 20 miles away in Orlando its not gonna hurt anything, and nobody would be the wiser besides people that read NOTAMS, but its still crazy that its still disallowed. I fully expect one of those type giga TFRs for the Artemis launch, but one can hope not. I personally hope that zoom lenses become more mainstream, IMO it will be contingent on whether people think the Mavic 3 secondary zoom camera is more of a "gimmick" or useful feature. I for one would curious to try and use something like that, although I currently cant justify a Mavic 3 just for that feature when I have the Evo 2 Pro already.

We bought a Mav3 and the drone wasn't as good as the E2P drones we have here. It was nice, but the more costly Cinema version one would have to be the one to test. We had the similar priced model. It's camera was not as good as the E2P. Flight wise it was good, but as you are aware NFZ is a hard workaround up and down the FL coast.