Almost There said:
I don't fly one but from what I understand, the common rule of thumb is that you should keep the drone within sight of you at all times so sending it 2 or 3 miles down a road scouting for you really isn't a good idea.
The other thing that might lead you into serious trouble is that from the air it's impossible to test the quality of the sand for depth and ability to withstand the weight of a vehicle. Nothing beats walking for a good indication of whether you should and could drive on a specific surface.
Also, anything administered by the National Park Service is strictly off-limits for drones as well as a lot of BLM land.
IMHO nothing beats feet on the ground.
absolutely, you'd definitely want to do your research prior to lifting off to make sure it's not prohibited...and i do agree, the best set of eyes for making the absolute determining factor are the ones in your own head.
but: assuming that you have made 100% sure you are allowed to fly at the location, a drone could at least help you to find things that are easy to spot as problems for your rig that you can't really see on google maps all that easily, including things like, are there even any empty spaces available in the current time (which google maps won't show you). then once you have "pre-scouted" with the drone and determined that there are no glaring problems ruling out the area, only then do you actually take the time to get out and walk/ride it out if there is still any question about your ability or willingness to go there. at the very least, the drone can help you to see if there are any areas to turn around if you can't get back far enough for your liking.
it's not so much to be used as a
complete replacement for walking/riding to scout, but to save you time & energy in the event that there is some problem that could easily be spotted in a few minutes via remote control, which would otherwise take you much longer on foot/bike. it would suck to have to walk for 30 - 60 mins or bike for 10 - 20 mins, when a drone can cover the distance far quicker, leaving you more time to find another location if there is something you don't like about the area you're at.
i have 4wd, so i'm not all too concerned about sand quality as much as most people, but pulling a travel trailer would make it very difficult to get back out if there are no places to turn around, or i've gone down some long road, only to find that i can't fit in the space, and/or all the spaces are already taken.
as for keeping the drone in sight, that's less of an issue if you have a drone with video relay capabilities...you can view what the camera is picking up in real time, so you can avoid obstacles pretty easily as long as you are going forward. then once you've done enough "pre-scouting" with the drone, you press the "return home" button, and the drone follows the same path out as it took going in, and lands itself within a few inches of where it took off from.
if they truly mandated that you always keep the drone within sight, the manufacturers would not be able to make them with video relays that work over more than 4 miles away, or allow you to "pre-program" the flight path to cover more than twice that range. i've seen drones with the ability to pre-program paths well over 8 miles away.
