Any drone pilots here?

[nermal]

I just picked up a new Mavic Mini for general shenanigans. So far, I have downloaded the B4-U-FLY app and searched all of the places where flying isn't permitted. I don't know what any of the warnings mean, but plan to just avoid all of the areas where the app says not to fly. Also, since it's < 250g it appears as though I don't need a license or registration.

Technically my house is in restricted airspace, but I'm still gonna try flying around inside just to get used to the controls before taking it outside. Hopefully the Drone Police don't come arrest me....

Any tips or tricks or other advice that anyone has? They don't look that difficult, but do appear a bit fragile.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

I've had the spark since it first came out, their software is pretty darn crash-resistant, especially compared to their older drones or something heavier. The main things to watch out for is stopping speed and stick confusion when you reverse direction (the sticks will reverse).

If you look at the app, pretty much everywhere is a no fly zone but as long as you aren't doing anything stupid and keeping the altitudes low you wont have any problems

Also, if you want usable video, go into "tripod" mode. The other modes are too fast for good video.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@nermal oh also, make sure you go into the app and customize it, some of the default settings are gross, like mass logging and reporting as well as capturing video to the main device. If you can, use a wire from the remote to your phone, makes the connection WAY better.

[trivet]

@nermal said in Any drone pilots here?:

Here's a drone pilot

[Chariotoflove]

@nermal

I only fly the cheap little ones and usually in the house. I actually prefer the ones made to be helicopters.

[ibRAD]

@nermal said in Any drone pilots here?:

Any tips or tricks or other advice that anyone has? They don't look that difficult, but do appear a bit fragile.

My kid had one of the cheap ones briefly. My advice is to get a ladder and some sort of long poking stick to knock it down from trees.

[BicycleBuck]

@nermal

I have a an older DJI Phantom II, a couple of small helicopters and a couple of planes. One thing to keep in mind is that when flying indoors, the GPS doesn't work and it will be subject to drifting, especially if there is air movement from the a/c or fans.

Go read the rules before you fly. Small ones aren't subject to some of the registration requirements, but you still have to obey the airspace rules. It really comes down to a few things: don't fly high, don't fly far away, and always keep it in sight.

[phenotyp]

@nermal Like HHFP, I got a Spark a couple years ago. Unlike him, I catastrophically crashed mine when it lost signal, but thanks to a $30 OEM chassis and two days of disassembly and reassembly, it’s still going strong. (Did a post on Oppo about it...) Now my daughter (7 yrs old) also gets to fly it, and loves it.
One thing I found with the no-go zones— lots of places give you all sorts of ignorable warnings, but I actually found one spot where it literally would not cross a line. Like it flew into a wall. That was pretty fascinating.
In all, I don’t use it for pro videography, just farting around, but it’s really fun.

[Skyfire77]

@ibrad Avoid the kite- drone-eating tree.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@phenotyp Geofencing is rad. Doesn't keep you from doing questionable things, but keeps you from doing really dumb things.

[phenotyp]

@hammerheadfistpunch Yeah, totally caught me by surprise. I live pretty close to AIBA, and I'm used to the warning messages, but the full-on fencing was a new one to me.

[nermal]

@bicyclebuck Currently waiting on the batteries to charge to fire it up for the first time. I checked the rules, if it's < 250g weight it doesn't need register'd. So good there.

My plans are to use it far away from civilization, more for sweet scenery shots than anything else. Shouldn't be a problem with that, as long as I don't wander near any secret government facilities.... It's odd that you can use them in national forests but not national parks though. Also I want to see if it can track me on a mountain bike, or while Jeeping. TBD how well that will work out.

[nermal]

@phenotyp Is it advanced enough to give you a warning if you try to fly in a restricted zone? I'd imagine that there are various degrees of restriction. It makes sense if it won't even let you fly near a place like Area 51.

[phenotyp]

@nermal Yep. I live close to AIBA, so I get all sorts of warnings every time I fly, but finding where they actually geofence was a new one on me.