Penned by Joshua McGowan
Freelance writer and self-appointed philosopher www.blackeireman.wordpress.com blackeireman@gmail.com
I will preface the following by invoking the time tested adage that true hallmark of skill is
making any genuinely difficult look easy and fluid. Not long ago I came upon this website droneabove.com, and quickly found myself marveling at the amazing aerial videography of the site’s owner, Justin Edwards. So much so that I was inspired enough to drop Justin a note and express my admiration of his work and his website. In turn, Justin read the following tale of woe that I had published under my own blog blackeireman.wordpress.com – and asked if I wouldn’t mind having it published on droneabove.com I was flattered to contribute. I hope everyone will enjoy an anecdotal read of trials and travails of drone ownership, or to put it another way, for those of you who have loved and lost (said drone of your choosing), so hopefully this is worth a ponder. By the end, the tears that you’ll find streaming down your cheeks will have been evoked by one of two things: laughing your ass off at what an uncoordinated doofus I am… or tears of sympathy and the company of misery. Enjoy.
I would love to tell you about the lead up to the decision to spend my last 5 grand on a
high end Drone (aka UAV / UAS) – but since this editorial is geared more towards being a tutorial, I’m going to stick to the facts, Ma’am. Under the calm guidance of my friend, Robert Luscumb of Desert Sky Photography, I made the lofty (so to speak) decision to purchase the latest and spankiest drone on the market with the most sophisticated and state-of- the-art 4D lens which invariably has to be of German sounding origin such as Zeiss, Leica, and AGFA. Only this smashing new lens is called: Zenmuse X5. Sounds precision enough to me; the flying Porsche of new lenses. Oh, incidentally, when I say smashing new lens, that little double entendre will follow shortly as part of my cautionary parable for new drone owners. Several months ago, I took the plunge and purchased the DJI Inspire 1 Pro with the Zenmuse X5 Lens. I have to admit, I haven’t felt this giddy about something so shiny and new since my five speed banana chopper from when I was ten years old.
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Penned by Joshua McGowan
Freelance writer and self-appointed philosopher www.blackeireman.wordpress.com blackeireman@gmail.com
My drone got far enough up and away that even that ‘Angry Birds’ propeller sound
simply diminished with distance. I shot my drone back over my head towards the north and took more captures facing the Catalina Mountain range. Finally satisfied with my first real, unfettered freedom flight replete with pics and videos, I decided to try out what is ostensibly a very useful feature: The Home Button! The Home Button or feature is designed to bring the Drone back down to the point of takeoff without assistance. The Home Button is triggered one of two ways: The drone operator can either request it, or the other way is that it’s activated when the drone understands that its battery is too close to being drained and is compelled to take over control of itself and attempts to set down on the operator’s behalf. It’s a very handy feature, particularly if you lose visual contact with it. The last thing you want is for your new Starship Enterprise to drop out of the sky and plummet towards earth simply because you weren’t paying attention to the power reserve. It’s important to note that the operator can override the Home Button feature by simply pushing the toggle forward and wresting control from the independent minded DJI Inspire 1 Pro. I wish I had known that before what I’m about to share with you. So, done with my drone in flight, I tap the Home Button feature to see what happens. My drone turns around in the sky and begins to make its descent back to its point of origin. The following few details are important to remember. If you recall, I said I was 20 to 25 ft. feet from the chain-link fence, and I launched my drone into open space from that spot. Yet, when I summoned my drone from the reverse angle using the Home Button feature, it was aiming in from the opposite side with trees and… that’s right, the chain link fence. Had I been 50 or 100 ft. deeper into the ball field when I lofted it, I wouldn’t be sharing this story. Learning To Fly A Quadcopter
Aerial photography drones have gotten much easier to fly over the past few years but you still need to know how to fly one manually for a number of different reasons. Landings and Take offs in difficult terrain often involve flying around and avoiding objects and you need solid remote control skills to do this.
Becoming a good pilot requires a cheap quadcopter drone like the Hubsan X4 and about a week of practice flying a few battery packs a day. Of course, the more you practice the better you will get. I wrote a short guide to flying that has the following 10 drills in them but all the best information will just be in the following 3 posts and youtube videos so you do not need to purchase it.
When you can complete a drill 3 times you are probably ready to move on to the next one. If you have played video games or have flown other remote control aircraft you will probably progress through the first 3 drills quickly but go ahead and stick to the plan because things get much more difficult when you change the orientation of the drone! Side and nose in hovering are particularly tricky but important to keeping you from crashing your nice new shiny drone later on!
Drill #1
Take off smoothly and raise your drone to eye level, holding it there for a count of 5. Use tiny adjustments on the right stick to keep it in the same spot. You want it go up smoothly and hang directly in front of your face; then smoothly cut the throttle to land back in the same spot you took off from. As you become more skilled, you can add a small amount of throttle just as you are touching down to "flare" and have a smoother landing.
Drill #2
Take off smoothly and bring your drone to eye level again. This time, fly the drone 5 feet to the left by pressing the right stick left. Fly back to a place directly in front of you and stop. Next, fly 5 feet to the right and stop before returning to a place directly in front of you. You will need to make minor adjustments in every direction with both the right and the left stick in order to keep the drone at the same altitude and orientation. Don't worry about getting it perfect, the goal of this drill is to control where there drone is going and to get it back to where you started.
Drill #3
Take off smoothly and bring the drone to a steady hover in front of you. Next, fly it away from you by pushing the stick forward and have it stop 5 feet away. Hover, and return your drone to its original position. Now would be a good time to start paying attention to how the drone looks as it flies away from you and towards you, because this will become much more important as you start flying further away.
The End of Part 1
These 3 drills are great for learning how to fly but they are also great for getting warmed up or getting the feel for a new drone. Part 2 will cover some more advanced drills!
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