You may ask “Why do I need to keep visual line of sight (VLOS) on my sUAS when I have a monitor or goggles?” The answer is because you can’t always see possible obstacles in your vicinity or flight path.
Line of Sight
Your field of view is very limited when using goggles or only your screen if you have one. The obstacles range from radio antenna guy wires, power lines, buildings, or other manned or unmanned aircraft.
Once your sUAS gets a few hundred feet away from the pilot’s location it becomes very difficult to see, especially the smaller ones. I have a DJI Inspire 1 Pro and at 2,000 ft away it is very easy to lose sight of it. If you fly out far enough and lose sight of your sUAS either have it return to home or as quickly as possible figure out where it is on your monitor and return to VLOS.
Case in Point
You may be tempted to fly your sUAS out as far as possible just to see how far it will go, especially over a large body of water like the ocean because there are fewer obstacles. Here is a good reason not to, on September 21, 2017 a hobbyist was flying his DJI Phantom 4 Pro over water back in New Jersey. He wasn’t following basic FAA rules, his sUAS was over 2.5 miles away from his home point when it struck the main rotor on an Army Black Hawk helicopter. The helicopter pilot safely made an emergency landing at a nearby airport. The sUAS was destroyed from the impact of the rotor and the fuselage of the helicopter. The sUAS pilot not having VLOS was unaware of the crash. After realizing he had lost contact with the drone, he assumed it had malfunctioned and crashed in the water.
As of this post it’s uncertain if the sUAS pilot will face FAA penalties, including fines, from the crash.
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