It’s been a while, but don’t worry it is warming up and let’s hope the covid numbers keep dropping and adventures are being planned.
We ended the 2021 season with wrapping up the 48 contiguous states and getting a new bike while doing it. I then decided to do a bit of adventuring in a 2021 Defender 110 and for a while thought about adding all that silliness to this website, but in the end, I decided against it.
Sir Richard
However, I will include a few snap shots of the summer adventure in the Defender or as I have nicknamed it “Sir Richard” because so far it has just been tons of giggles and fun.
Website updates
I also did a lot of house cleaning with the website (not that anyone cares) but before I had the domain name and was just redirecting the name to an old website, so was it motolizard.com or was it make-it-so.com? Now it is all motolizard.com and that includes the certificates and the default send as email address, the DNS redirects for make-it-so.com and a few other things that just was a mess to deal with.
Drone Stuff
I currently have three proper drones with around 8-15 hours of flight time on each of them. I got the drones to just fly around and sometimes film stuff next to me. I tend to follow posted rules and did all the right things and had been registered as a recreational flyer. As part of the upcoming trip, I wanted to do more Drove Video and that’s when I realized the FAA had modified the rules. It’s all “intent” based and if your intent is to fly for fun then you’re recreational but if the intent to film something or check your roof as an example you’re doing commercial type work. The main thing to be aware of “commercial” is not defined by the exchange of money. The last thing I wanted to do is get busted for something cavalier and I have lots of other certifications so why not get another certification and keep things legitimate?
However, the process of getting the FAA part 107 certificate is a little more difficult than I anticipated. First off, the SUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft System) has little to do with flying a drone and has a lot to do with weather, airspace, safety, flying over humans, night flights, airport operations and basic operations of flight.
If you’re interested the best place to start is https://pilotinstitute.com/ for the training and the step-by-step process of how to get the licenses. The FAA process is a pain, go to https://iacra.faa.gov/ get a number then go to https://faa.psiexams.com/ and pay for a test, pass the test then go back to IACRA fill out the forms and wait. A month and a half later you get your certificate then you can got get all new numbers for each of your drones at https://faadronezone.faa.gov/. Then just wait 120 more days and then go https://faasafety.gov/ and register with your certificate number to keep your training up to date every 24 months. The best advice I have is if you’re interested follow Greg at Pilot Institute and his training takes you through the entire process. Also, if you get a score about 90%, he will send you a free shirt (well if your one of his students) I got the free shirt.
The testing facility was better than I expected, but you must go to a PSI facility – no ability to take the remote pilot test remotely.
Long story short is I am all legitimate to do video with drones and I’m in the middle of trip planning for this summer and will have a drone all packed up for the upcoming trips with the 1250 GS Ralley.
