Amazing FPV video - 3km High

Originally posted by Daithi Now explain to me how you can maintain 'direct visual contact' at over 400 feet altitude?

Very easily...and if you can't see an average size model at further than 400 feet (122 meters) then you seriously need to get your eyes checked.

As for the silica gel...I tend not to carry such things on my planes, and if I was carrying the quantity that was ingested by the Vulcan engines then I would be well in excess of the 7Kg limit!!!

You really are making yourself look stupid, dude. Quit whilst you're behind.

Have read the CAA Documents several times and see nothing that says a model under 7KG cannot be flown above 400feet in uncontrolled airspace.

In terms of FPV, there's no distance given...only that you must be able to maintain direct, unaided visual contact. Highly unlikely at 3000m, but certainly well beyond 400 feet.

From my physics days I seem to recall something about a 6 foot object being visible to the human eye from about 10 miles (16km or 52,800 feet) away.

I'm not suggesting that someone could fly and control a plane without any visual aid at that distance, but I can assure you it would be a helluva lot more than 400 feet....and that is the point I am arguing since you seem to think that anything beyond that is a breach of regulations when it is clearly not, and there's no reason why it should be.

The CAA clearly believe that a sub 7kg model is less dangerous or they wouldn't have any weight differentiation in the legislation. You can argue all you want about bags of silica and cloth hats grounding planes (note that these were groundings and not events in the air where the probability of contact is infinitely reduced) but that doesn't change the fact that the CAA say I can fly my 1kg of foam at any height I like...so long as I do so responsibly.

The only reports I recall seeing of a collision between a model plane and a real plane happened at about 20 feet...go figure!!!

In Aust. if flying from a club airfield you can only do it if using a buddy system and only in line of site. Once the model is at the site limit the pilot in charge takes over until safe then they can hand it back to the FPV pilot. The pilot in charge must be of gold wing standard.