The Mavic Mini - The Rules You Need to Know

So maybe you just got yourself a brand new Mavic Mini or you're looking at getting one real soon and you're researching it as much as you can. If you're anything like me this is probably the 21st video that you've watched about it. But for this video I'd like to do something a little bit different than I normally do. Normally I would do like a test or a comparison or review of the drone in some way. Today I'm not going to do that. What I'm going to do is talk about one of the most important things when it comes to owning a drone and that's the rules that apply. And so what I'd like to talk about with this video are seven of the most important rules that you need to understand as you learn how to fly your brand new Mavic Mini. So let's get into it. Welcome back to the channel everyone. Nice to have you here again if this happens to be your first time here. My name is Russ and this is 51 Drones. On this channel you'll find a variety of content mostly about drones as well as product reviews tutorials and other related stuff. So browse around a little bit and subscribe if you find anything of value or of interest. So one of the things that you'll find on this channel is some content that's related to the rules concerning drones. Rules for both recreational pilots like most of you watching this and also for commercial certified pilots like myself. Now I'd like to think that many people are here in this community because they found value in my ability to take the boring and arduous process of understanding the rules and presenting them in a concise and easy to understand manner. So here I am dancing like the monkey many of you expect me to be. Now with the Mavic Mini one of the greatest attractions about it of course is the small size and the weight. And I just had a discussion about this with a fellow YouTube creator Billy Kyle. Now Billy's been in the world of drones much longer than I have and he's had some great insight. But we talked about the good and the bad when it comes to a drone this small. Now there's a link to that video down in the description and then also a link it right up here. So go ahead and click on that and watch that after this one. When the rumors first started to get out about the Mavic Mini everyone was so excited that we finally had a drone that we didn't have to register with the FAA. And the reason that has such great appeal is because the concept of Big Brother always watching us is a pretty widespread concern. Privacy is a major issue and DJI made something that in some small way protected our privacy. At least from Big Brother. And not having to register meant that we had more freedom to do with this little drone as we pleased. Well that's not actually true. Other than not having to register it with the FAA, for Americans at least, it really doesn't change anything when it comes to the rules of flying. Now if you live in other countries yes absolutely that sub 250 gram weight is a big deal. Canada for instance you can fly the Mavic Mini without getting a drone pilot certificate and that's pretty significant. But in the United States all current drone regulations apply. When it comes to drone rules for recreational pilots in the United States they are actually pretty simple. At least for now. Changes are coming and I'll talk about that in just a little bit. So if the Mavic Mini is your first drone or if this is the first drone rules video that you're watching, here are the rules for recreational drone pilots as of December 2019. Now two very important things that I want to first of all before I go through these. First I am simply stating the rules as they are written. You will not find any opinions in this video only facts. You can share all your opinions and discuss down below in the comments. In fact I encourage that. Secondly the FAA has been pretty quiet about the rules since last May and that's because some big changes are coming here in the next year. In 2020 they're going to have some new rules and they're currently being developed. And I've read that they are about 95% completed. So they're going to be coming real soon. One of the things that I know for sure is that there will be a drone pilot knowledge test for recreational drone pilots. So keep watching this channel because I'll keep you updated on those changes. Okay so first of all you cannot fly above 400 feet above ground level. So where you launch from is ground level. Now this one can be kind of a tricky one but I get this question once in a while on my channel and people ask me what if you launch from say like the edge of a canyon or something like that. You can only fly 400 feet above you but as soon as you fly over that canyon and you get to an elevation that's much higher than 400 feet above ground level as the rule is written you are actually breaking the rules. You have to remain 400 feet above ground level not 400 feet above where you launch from. So technically if you fly over that canyon you're supposed to lower the elevation of the drone so you're 400 feet above the ground level of the canyon. Now how do you tell? Honestly there's really no way to tell and you're going to be able to continue to fly your drone because the app the DJI fly app or the DJI go 4 app if you're using a different drone is still going to allow you to go 400 feet above where you launched from. So you might be 1100 feet above ground level of the canyon. The app's not going to know that it's just going to show a negative altitude but technically you are breaking the law because you're higher than 400 feet above ground level. The chances of being called on that are pretty low. There's really no way to exactly tell how far above ground level you are if you're flying over a valley or a canyon like that. So that's where visual line of sight comes in. You must always keep your drone within visual line of sight. Now this does not mean in a straight unobstructed path. It means you must see the drone with your unaided naked eye. The FAA wording can be very confusing as many people think that that means you just need to have a clear path between yourself and the drone. But actually it means eye contact with the drone at all times. So you may see a few range tests on the Mavic Mini with people testing how far away you can fly it before it loses signal or runs out of battery. Please know at least in the United States those range tests are breaking the rules as they are written. Now that being said the majority of them are done over water or in unpopulated areas so at least they're safer. But the bottom line is you have to see the drone at all times. And with the Mini it's even harder to do that because it's so small and it's so lightly colored. And because it's so small some people think that the visual line of sight rule doesn't apply. But that's actually false. It does apply. You are not allowed to fly over people at any time unless they are directly involved in your flight. So that means if you're flying over a beach or an amusement park or a park or anything like that and the people below your drone are not aware of your flight you cannot fly over them. And those times where you are flying over people that are aware of your flight they need to understand the flight plan. They need to understand the purpose of your flight and they need to be in agreement of everything that you're doing with your drone. So if you're flying in a public place just be sure to stay away from people. Now a little bit related to that is flying over sports events or entertainment events. You are not allowed to fly over any kind of sporting event or entertainment event of any kind. And this is for two reasons. Number one for public safety of course if anything goes wrong with the drone you don't want it to come crashing down into the crowd. And secondly to protect any copyrights that may be going on during the event. They don't want people recording what's going on and then redistributing for profit. Now if you want to fly over an empty stadium like this you certainly can do that but just stay away if there's people there or if there's an event going on. Now I just made a video about this one not long ago and it has to do with flying over emergencies. You absolutely cannot fly over emergencies of any kind. Things like fires or traffic accidents or anything like that because what you may be doing is interfering with emergency personnel as they're trying to help people in that emergency. Maybe they have a helicopter or some other type of aircraft that they're trying to assist with and you don't want to interfere with your drone. So just stay away from emergencies not only for the safety of others but also because it could result in some pretty bad days for you if you do it. Now if you're flying and you hear or see a manned aircraft like a helicopter for example or a smaller airplane you must give way to that aircraft. So either move away or land your drone immediately and this is why the visual line of sight rule is in place. It's imperative if you hear anything land your drone. Now lastly this isn't a rule yet and it's gonna be a rule but as I mentioned earlier you will soon be required to pass an aeronautical knowledge exam. I don't think it's going to be anything too complicated and I don't think it's going to cost a lot of money even if it does cost anything at all. The purpose of this knowledge test is just to educate new pilots on some of the basic things when it comes to the laws and the rules where you can and can't fly and so it's just going to be general information it's not going to get in depth like a part 107 commercial license test. So for more information on this be sure to subscribe and I'll pass on the information as quickly as it becomes public knowledge. Okay one bonus rule or tip I guess that I have to tell you that I forgot about and that's flying at night. As a hobbyist as a recreational drone pilot you can fly at night at the making of this video. Now there's a possibility that that could change in the next year so keep an eye out for that but right now as it stands as the rules are you can fly at night as long as you have appropriate anti-collision lighting on your drone and the best anti-collision light on the market right now the one that I use for all my drones is this one right here from Lume Cube. You cannot beat the quality of this thing so you can fly at night but you have to have something like this light on your drone because who knows there's going to be opportunities for you to get footage that looks like this. I mean is that not amazing right now? That's what reminded me about this tip is that sunset so if you want to fly at night make sure you have anti-collision lighting and keep an eye out I'll post any changes to the night flying rules for hobbyists as they change. So I know you're excited to get that sweet little Mavic Mini up in the air and see our world from a whole new perspective but I wanted you to be informed of the rules because the bottom line is if we all fly safely then this hobby can continue to grow and flourish. So I hope you got something of value out of this video today if you did click on that thumbs up button discuss your opinions of the rules down in the comments subscribe so you don't miss any of my future videos about the Mavic Mini or any other drone for that matter. Check out Billy Kyle's channel I'll put it down in the description. Thank you for watching today have a great day and as always fly safe and fly smart.