During a two-person operation the visual observer loses sight of the aircraft behind a tree line while the remote pilot is focused on the camera feed. What should happen next?

The moment neither crew member can see the aircraft, the operation is outside the visual line of sight requirement and the pilot has lost the primary means of knowing where the aircraft is relative to obstacles and traffic. The correct response is immediate and has two parts: the observer says so at once, without waiting to see whether the aircraft reappears, and the pilot acts to restore visual contact — repositioning the crew, bringing the aircraft back along its inbound path, or climbing clear of the obstruction if that is what restores sight. The two failure modes worth naming are both present in this scenario. The observer who hesitates, hoping the aircraft will emerge, spends the seconds that mattered. And the pilot absorbed in the camera feed has substituted a narrow forward view for situational awareness — the feed shows what is in front of the camera, not what is beside or above the aircraft, and it is not a substitute for the regulatory requirement. Neither low altitude nor a good feed cures the loss.

Loss of visual contact must be called immediately and the pilot must act to restore it, since neither crew member can see the aircraft and the operation is outside the visual line of sight requirement.

Part 107 requires the remote pilot or visual observer to maintain unaided visual line of sight with the aircraft throughout the operation. First-person view or camera imagery does not satisfy the requirement.

Say It the Second You Lose It. Waiting to see whether it reappears spends the seconds that mattered.

The camera feed never satisfies visual line of sight. Options offering it as sufficient awareness are testing exactly that.

• •Waiting to see whether the aircraft reappears before calling it
• •Substituting the camera feed for visual contact
• •Assuming low altitude relaxes the requirement