Tolga Balci

Hi, I'm Tolga. I wanted to introduce myself here. Looks like a vibrant community. Good to be able to join. I started the hobby when I found a deal for a $20 drone back in 2017 and bought a few to give away as small gifts and kept one to play around for myself. I got a few extra batteries for it and it looked fun. On about the 4th time I flew it, it went too far and got out of radio range (for this toy drone, that was like 500 feet horizontal) and even though I tried to get it to come back to me, it kept going forward. Not sure how far it went, but I never found it! My attention got back into this field when I saw DJI will be releasing a FPV drone. FPV flight has really interested me for a long time, but I really didn't want to get into building one myself. The cost of the DJI FPV drone is likely going to be two orders of magnitude higher than my last $20 drone, but I can't wait to get into it. During Christmas, since I couldn't yet buy the DJI FPV Drone, I decided to study and get my FAA Part 107 Certification. Passed the test with a 93 and got my temporary certification yesterday! Now if I only had a drone to fly.

Under current regulations the 400FT AGL cap is absolute for recreational operators. However under 14 CFR part 107 you can fly above and within a 400-foot radius of a "structure". See section 5.10 of https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac_107-2.pdf The vague part of this definition is around the meaning of the word "structure". FAA does not define the word "structure" anywhere that I could find, but does in many places refer to structures and trees separately, hence the assumed definition of a "structure" does not include trees which would mean even under part 107 you cannot fly 400 feet above trees.