Drone Pilots? Who has one? Dicussion

I searched the forums and I'm pretty sure there is a thread floating around out there dedicated to drones but I came up short.

I posted pictures of my newest drone in the +40 thread but thought I would make a separate thread dedicated to the drone hobbiest and those that use theirs commercially.

I'll start off with a little background. When I was a kid I used to fly gliders then kind of got away from the hobby until the first drones came out. I kind of got back into it with the Phantom series from DJI and moved on from there. I've flown them on and off for the last few years. Then at the first of 2015 DJI released the Inspire 1. I was pretty skeptical of the platform at first and waited until the reviews started coming in. Every review I saw was positive and that DJI had done it right with this one. They advertise it as a out of the box "ready to fly" and... To a point it is. I personally believe you have to have a background in how these things work before you can actually fly one safely but I'll get to that a bit later.

I waited until the Version 2.0 came out with the larger motors, better prop mounts, and upgraded gimble before I finally took the plunge and purchased one.

The day it arrived









Intelligent Battery system




Controller with "LightBridge" for live video feed back to the iPad




4k Camera on 3 axis gimble




Airframe




Carbon Fiber retractable landing gear




Upgraded motors and prop system




Ugraded Gimble with the ability to mount the X5 Camera if I decide to upgrade




Back of the Airframe




Full set up minus camera








Test video right above my house at 85-90' of rain moving in. Flight time approx 5 mins in 8-10MPH wind





I'm glad I waited for the upgraded version to come out as I like the improvements that they have made. It's too windy to fly today and it's rained the last few days. I hope to get out on Thursday and get some good footage by the river.

So with all of that said... I'm sure I'm not the only one that enjoys flying these?

 

Also... If you own one... Starting on Dec. 21st you will have to register your drone with the FAA and put a tail number on your craft. You have until Feb. 29th to complete this process. The fee will be waived if completed before then. Very good change in my opinion.

FAA page here

 

@RearViewMirror

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/quadcopters-anyone.297934/

 

I write and review full-time for RCGroups.com and FlyingGiants.com. Model aviation and drones are my life.

 

Thank you very much! Quadcopters is what I should have searched for

 

WebDr, what do you think about the Yuneec Q500 TYPHOON G?
Rear, That Drone you have is BAD ASS. A little to $$$ for what I what to do with it.

 

@Ice Horse get in here

 

I have a DJI Phantom 3 Professional

Here's one of my first flights on the trail. I didn't quite have my settings right mostly because I didn't have a screen sheiks so I couldn't tell and I had an older iPhone that didn't run the FPV very well without lagging. I now have better stuff to use lol

http://youtu.be/_71QODxgKe8

 

I've been into RC since 1990. Full scale and models are my life.... I got my AMA turbine waiver 8 years ago (Contest Director for 5 years). Some pics in gallery

 

Quick flight above my house

 

I can't think of a better way to look in my neighbors windows.

 

Lol... I can think of quieter ways.

Sounds like a swarm of bees lol

 

I can't think of a better way to scare the living shit out of my neighbors.

 

Lol

 

Just ordered 2 extra high capacity batteries for the drone, a multi point charging station that will charge all batteries at the same time,

$16 DJI Inspire 1-P3 Part 57 Remote Controller Monitor Hood for Tablets(Inspire 1, Phantom 3 Pro/Adv, Phantom 4)

sun shield for the iPad,

[MFI Apple Certified] Cambond Lightning cable 1feet / 0.3Meters Element Series 8-pin USB SYNC Cable Charger Cord-Full Silver(1 Feet/0.3 Meters)

1' iPad cable, and a

ABOOM Washable Wide Shoulder Straps for DJI Phantom 4 Pro Inspire 2 Phantom 3 Phantom 2 Vision

new neck strap since I hate the one they sent with it. That should give me almost a hour of flight time to get shots out in the field. Kind of hard to drive 30 miles to where I want to get some really nice footage and only have 18 mins of flight time and then I'm done until a recharge. I will say one thing about the batteries. They fully charge in less than an hour. That in itself is pretty impressive.

 

FAA page is not active at the moment for registering the drone. Figure it will become active sometime today.

 

Drone registered with FAA. Tail numbers on and cards in the case.