Here is an interesting article in Forbes regarding the FAA’s granting a commercial license to a paper airplane pilot, called a Section 333.  As ridiculous as this article is, I agree some kind of regulation is necessary for many operators of flying vehicles of all types, not just drones.

The technology is advancing so fast I can’t help but think that the FAA and any other federal agencies are and will continue to be 1-2 years behind. States are taking matters into their own hands and quite often putting into place laws which are completely outrageous and over-the-top, which will generally be ignored by drone pilots.

I’m looking into getting my own Section 333 license for commercial flying. I do plan to fly for money at some point, though so far I have yet to bill that first client.

I can’t remember where I first saw this trick, but boy is it great for especially the smaller copters.  I mucked around with this small racing quad for a long time trying to figure out how to mount the receiver antennae.

I bought some rigid plastic antenna sticks at a local hobby shop and promptly crashed with them, ripping one antenna off the receiver.  Then it was a case of “hello China” and waiting for parts….

Now that the replacement antenna wire came in I couldn’t wait to try the zip-tie trick.  You can simply attach a zip-tie or cable-tie to your drone in such a way that the excess plastic is sticking up.  Put the antenna wire next to it and run a piece or two of cable shrink (see red parts in photo) and you’re good to go. The cool thing is if the antennae are bumped or the quad in this photo lands on its top (which happens quite often), the ties and wires are flexible and don’t snap off.