Latency, senses and personal minimums — transcript

00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.475 What your screen doesn't tell you: latency, senses and personal minimums.

00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:11.560 In a crewed aircraft, the pilot feels acceleration, vibration and attitude change.

00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:16.160 A remote pilot gets almost all of that through screens, telemetry, sound,

00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:17.528 sight and crew calls.

00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:24.876 You can't feel a gust building, or the vibration from a damaged propeller.

00:00:24.876 --> 00:00:28.576 Your picture is only as good as the data reaching the screen.

00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:37.942 Latency is the delay between your input and the drone's response. Transmission,

00:00:37.942 --> 00:00:43.345 video delay and processing all add to it, and so does your own decision time.

00:00:45.400 --> 00:00:51.676 Course notes give an example: Wi-Fi video systems can lag 100 to 200 milliseconds.

00:00:51.676 --> 00:00:55.834 At 10 metres per second, 200 milliseconds is 2 metres,

00:00:55.834 --> 00:00:59.010 travelled before the drone even responds.

00:00:59.400 --> 00:01:03.420 A gust pushes the drone toward the tree. On a weak link,

00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:05.748 the screen still shows it clear.

00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:13.167 Don't fly as if the screen is the aircraft. Look up at the aircraft and the site.

00:01:13.167 --> 00:01:17.643 Treat telemetry as decision support, and widen your margins: bigger buffers,

00:01:17.643 --> 00:01:18.457 lower speeds.

00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.080 Quick check. Your video lags near a tree line. What helps most?

00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.586 Look up, slow down, and widen the buffer.

00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.908 Distance hides risk. It's just a machine,

00:01:34.908 --> 00:01:38.490 so it's easy to accept margins you'd never accept on board.

00:01:38.490 --> 00:01:40.759 Personal minimums guard against that.

00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:48.760 Legal limits are the outer edge. Personal minimums sit inside them:

00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.701 a maximum gust spread, a minimum battery reserve,

00:01:52.701 --> 00:01:56.958 a maximum distance for reliable visual line of sight.

00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:02.563 Write them before the job, not in the hard moment. Make them measurable.

00:02:02.563 --> 00:02:06.595 Tighten them when fatigue, heat, glare or workload rise.

00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.397 Brief the trigger with the action. If I lose sight of it, we hold or land.

00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.383 Afterwards, debrief the decision, not just the flight.

00:02:21.383 --> 00:02:26.234 What was the strongest threat? Which control gave the most margin?

00:02:26.234 --> 00:02:29.782 Where did workload rise? What changes next time?

00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:36.567 Recap: the screen runs behind the aircraft. Look up, widen your margins,

00:02:36.567 --> 00:02:41.845 set minimums before the job, and brief the trigger with the action.

00:02:42.195 --> 00:02:45.218 Final check. The gusts are within the legal limits,

00:02:45.218 --> 00:02:48.125 but beyond your personal minimum. What do you do?

00:02:49.995 --> 00:02:53.600 Stick to your minimum. Delay, change the plan, or don't fly.