Drones...

[Bibs]

Did a roof inspection of Dulwich College today and found a drone!! 

Got some nice shots while I was up in the air too as a bonus for the College!

 

 

[C8RKH]

That looks like my Nan's house.

[Bravo73]

49 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Did a roof inspection of Dulwich College today and found a drone!! 

Now they are just littering up the place...

[Mysterae]

Good spot @Bibs. It looks like a sun-faded Mavic with the battery removed, probably upon impact. Did you call dibs on it? 

[Bibs]

It's been there a while so I told them to pop it in the bin! 

[Kevin Wheeler]

I am curious!

Did you get any business from the Mail on Sunday ad, @Bibs, please?

[Bibs]

Mail on Sunday and now Metro. Zero mate, not a noodle but it's nice to use for my own marketing.

I do have one last part of the campaign which is 300,000 impressions of an ad on their websites coming up, I'm expecting a little more from that hopefully. 

[Kevin Wheeler]

I thought that might be the case. I have seen all those ads and I think that it has probably done more for the MoS than it has for the advertisers.

Nice gesture on their behalf, I suppose. 

[Bibs]

It's not cost me a bean so I can't complain!

 

[Neal H]

I'm thinking of getting a DJI Mavic Mini purely for recreational use for when I'm out and about on my mountain bike. It seems unclear whether I need to register this with the CAA. It officially weighs 249g, so it's below the 250g limit on the CAA website so I would assume not. However, I've also read on the internet that from 1st July 2020 because it has a camera (the whole point of a drone!) it does need to be registered, but I can't find any mention of this on either the CAA or Dronesafe websites.

Can anyone clarify? I could just register it anyway - it's only £9 per year, assuming I can pass the theory test!!

[Bibs]

As of the 1st July, you do need to register due to the camera and MTOM which is in excess of 249g when the prop guards are fitted etc.

The test is very easy to be fair, will keep you on the right side of the law and in fact the OP/Flyer ID on the drone are a good way of getting it back should there be an incident where it gets caught in the wind. 

 

 

[Neal H]

Thanks for clarifying Bibs. I'll get that done.

[Neal H]

I scored 19 out of 20. Bit annoyed to have got one wrong actually, it's not exactly hard!

[Bibs]

Exactly. It's only a test of knowledge which you'll need to fly safely and within the law anyway. 

Have fun with the Mini. Be careful in the wind, UAVForecast app will give you a profile at altitude but they're not very powerful so get blow away easily. Just try to avoid starting your flight downwind, you may not get it back and if it struggles, descend if you can keep line of sight to avoid the stronger gusts at increased heights! 

[Neal H]

Mini should arrive next week and I should pick up the new MTB on Friday, so I'm hoping for calm, sunny weather next weekend so I can play with both

 

[Bibs]

Drone Assist (the official app of NATS) is pretty much an essential to show you where you can fly. 

It's a slippery slope, you'll be buzzing around with an M300 before you know it!

[Neal H]

I think the Mini will do me fine, it's nice and compact for taking with me on the bike.

Thanks for the advise on the apps - The UAVForecast app looks particularly useful.

I downloaded the DJI Fly app to my phone, which also has maps containing fly zones and limits.

[Sparky]

I'm on the verge of a Mini too.

[pete]

16 hours ago, Sparky said:

I'm on the verge of a Mini too.

So tempting but!!!

[Neal H]

I’ve owned my Mavic Mini for about a week now and I have to say I’m very impressed. It’s light but seems well made and it really is small. The camera gives excellent quality video and the photos look good. It records in 2.7k or 1080p and both look fine on my computer screen or TV. Battery is about 30 minutes, but in reality that means 20 - 25 minutes, so spare batteries are a must and not cheap.

For something so small, it’s really stable in flight and will travel at 18-19mph in normal mode and up to 30mph in “sport” mode. One disadvantage of being so small is it can be difficult to keep it in sight when flying, which is a legal requirement. I find about 500 ft away is the limit - it’s a tiny speck in the sky at that point. The highest altitude I’ve taken it to is 300ft and again, It’s a tiny speck in the sky. Regardless of the law, I wouldn’t be confident enough yet to let it out of my sight.

I purchased the “Fly more” combo, which has some handy accessories, including two extra batteries, a multi charger, propeller guards (essential for flying indoors) and extra sets of spare propellers.

Your smart phone acts as your screen, but I found that on a bright day, combined with the small screen the picture is too dark and small to really see what is going on. I bought an adapter so I can attach my iPad to the remote controller, and although I was dubious at first thinking it would be too bulky, it works really well and is easy to use. The larger, brighter screen on the iPad makes a huge difference to the detail you can see in flight and the video feedback from the drone is excellent quality.

The whole kit fits easily into my back pack so I can venture out into the countryside on my mountain bike and get flying. Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase 😊

 

[mik]

I’ve had a Mavic Mini for about 4months now. “Fly more” pack is good money spent imho.  First drone but very impressed. I know others will be more impressive, but the cost goes up very quickly. 
 

This was taken on a v windy day with gusts beyond the theoretical max wind speed for the mini - given this the stability is superb...

https://youtu.be/jnXye7FT3bI

[Neal H]

Nice! That must be helix mode, it seems to work really well 👍

[mik]

Yeah it was. Nice feature.

Rather simpler manual flight, but you can still see how it is correcting for spikey gusts.

 

 

[Bibs]

Lovely sunset last night over my village. Taken with the M2P. 

[Neal H]

A couple of my efforts with the Mavic Mini.

Castle Acre Priory

what’s left of West Acre Priory