[PeteSpencer]

Of course I know that, Graham. My point was that the term "visual line of sight" is a tautology..............

I don’t think it’s necessarily tautologous if you accept that ‘line of sight’ is not to be taken literally .

In my early aeromodelling days before ‘citizens’ band ‘ radio pinched the 27mHz band and rendered my R/C gear useless , my effective true ‘visual line of sight ‘, was probably significantly less than 100 yds.

It was often impossible visually to determine the orientation of my model or tell whether it was coming or going , despite the application of wide fluorescent orange strips to the wing leading edge of my models.........

[Dave W]

It's not a tautology.

Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) means the UAS is controlled using natural eyesight (inc. glasses/contact lenses); binoculars, telescopes etc are not permitted. So the air vehicle must be close enough that the operator can see what it is doing in order to control it.

So the "visual" bit means that even if there is an unobstructed path between operator and UAV, it must be close enough so that the unaided eye can see what it is doing and react accordingly.

Extended Visual Line Of Sight (EVLOS) is a method where one or more external observers keep the UAV in their visual line of sight at all times and communicate with the operator through radio/mobile phone etc.

Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) means flying a UAV without an operator or remote observer keeping a visual line of sight on the UAV at all times. Instead, the PIC operates the UAV using Remote Pilot Station (RPS) instruments. This is a challenge for several reasons, both practical and regulatory, as you might imagine.

[Rob P]

I once tried to stick strips of adhesive tape on a model.

She said she was perfectly capable of doing it herself.

Rob P

[JAFO]

Visual line of sight is a tautology. Just because the phrase has been used for other...

...oh, you know what? I just don't care anymore and I bet no-one else does very much, either.

[Sooty25]

while we seem to be arguing the toss over terminology, we are not looking at the squeezing of the North/South corridor between Stansted and Southend. Apply "Take two" to the 750ft drone corridor, and the 2500ft Southend base, Apply glide clear to overflying Chelmsford and anyone flying East Norfolk to Kent is squeezing through an ever decreasing slot.

No point moaning though, as the press have already made "hero's" out of the project.