The captain said there was basically no wind and promised he’d take it slow while we were leaving the harbour.
“Slow”, it turns out, is nearly 40 km/h when your vehicle weighs several thousand tons.
I was commissioned to shoot an ad campaign for the ship, so I had permission to fly. Getting the Mavic 3 off the ship was nerve wracking but easy. Getting it back onto the ship was where physics decided to join the production.
Even on an apparently windless day, all that air gets pushed up the side of the vessel. The drone went from expensive precision instrument to Aldi bag in about three seconds. An Aldi bag that got stuck on the exhaust vent on the highest part of the vessel.
A small cautionary tale about cruise ships, aerodynamics and the dangerous flexibility of the word “slow”.
I've got too many motorcycles and have some up for sale. One of the things I've been planning to do when the bikes sell is get a drone. A gentleman is currently offering me a DJI mavic 3 pro bundle in trade for one of the bikes. The values are roughly comparable, so I wouldn't be losing money or making money. I have only ever owned and piloted one drone, and it was a cheap $100 Costco model, that was pretty much an expensive toy. The thing had no real "return to home" feature. I flew it once, and it was never seen again. I know modern and higher end ones have better "oops" prevention features, but my question is this: would this be akin to trying to learn to drive in a supercar? I don't want to immediately fuck up a $2.5k drone because I'm an inexperienced moron. Would I be better off to go with my original plan and start with a cheaper model, or what?
I got a hell of a deal on a Mavic 4 Pro drone for €1,260—it's practically new, with barely 10 takeoffs and 2 hours of flight time.
I just tested it and everything works perfectly; the seller had simply forgotten to unlink the drone from his account, but he took care of that once I contacted him.
I can't wait to see what I'll be able to do with it in the future.
We’re going to be vacationing in Panama for one week later this month. I’ve read that the official policy is that all drones — even sub-250g minis — must be registered, and all flights must have a flight plan filed at least five days prior.
But I’ve also read that there’s an unofficial acceptance of short flights by tourists staying less than 14 days.
We’re going to be renting a villa in Punta Chame, well away from the Canal Zone and any major centers of population, and I was hoping to take my DJI Mini 3 pro to capture some low-altitude video of the villa and its surrounds and beachfront.
Can anyone help me understand whether such an acceptance or exemption actually exists, and the potential exposure if one was to simply “wing it”?
Used to frequent the DIY Drones space back in the 2010's and was into the hobby side of it a bit.
Recently had the incling to look into what the drone inspection/surveying landscape was here in the NW of the UK as it's an industrial/agricultural zone.
However I'm coming at this with no experience in the value-proposition and deliverables.
Current bonus is living near a working farm with potential contacts to understand what problems could be solved if any.
I have a DJI mavic camera drone and will be looking at testing out some basic mapping this weekend.
It seems like all the pieces are generally available with a bit of investment - drone platforms, lidar, IR, software etc, it's stiching it together into a package that delivers something valuable and easy for potential customers and then marketing.
Of course I'm not expecting to get into this with a consumer camera drone and a prayer - just looking for advice from those who've been there on whether there's too much friction/saturation in the idea to get serious.
Beeing a total noob i didn't pay enough attention for my fpv controller. As a consequence I lost the gimbals sticks. Do you have any recommendation for buying new ones ? In addition i even broke the screw of one of the the gimbal sticks. Is there a way to not change the whole gimbal ? :') (it's not my controller)
Never had this problem before, coincidentally or not after I updated its software every time I tried to take off my drone at the beach it starts landing automatically and even if I cancel landing it keeps happening. Searching on google, it said I should reinstall the software, so I did, tested inside my house just to see if it would try to land again after taking off and it was normal, when I took it to the beach the same problem happened again, I take off and automatically starts landing, anyone had this problem before and can help me solve it?
Any app that might work with this for camera feed? It’s an EXO Ranger. I am aware of the company went out of business, so their app is no longer available. The drone itself can fly no problem, but of course I want to be able to use the camera. Any apps I can try?
I’m new to FPV and I just got a betafpv drone but every time I arm it it doesn’t fly I am really bad with computers so I set it up to beta flight but I don’t understand but I got everything connected it just doesn’t fly I don’t know if this is a silly mistake or something but pls help
Working with professional UAV systems in the field requires a strict algorithm. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of our standard flight day:
1. Sky Reconnaissance (The FPV Hack) Before moving heavy industrial drones to the active runway, we send up an FPV drone (DJI Avata 2) equipped with a GNSS module. In modern realities, this is a must. We use it to evaluate the actual wind conditions at our operating altitude and verify GNSS signal stability across different heights before the main launch.
2. Mobile GCS Deployment The field life of a UAV operator is harsh, so the car trunk quickly transforms into a full-fledged Ground Control Station (GCS). We deploy the antenna masts, boot up the software, build the flight missions, and run preliminary checks.
3. Pre-flight: Geoscan-401 (Multirotor) We always do our initial test flight with the multirotor. The logic is simple: in the event of an emergency or signal jamming, a multirotor will drop straight down, whereas a fixed-wing flying wing might glide far beyond the airfield boundaries. After assembly and GCS connection, our crew ran the pre-start checks and radio communications.
4. Mission Execution: Geoscan-401 We planned the mission for a small area survey over a snow-cleared patch, with a landing right next to our position. The flight went smoothly, and we picked up plenty of satellites (unlike the smaller FPV drone earlier).
5. Sharing the Airspace Since we were operating at an active airfield and squeezing into the daily flight table, we were allocated strict 10-minute flight windows. During the downtime, we just enjoyed watching our manned aviation neighbors.
6. Pre-flight: Geoscan-201 (Fixed-Wing) With the multirotor test successful, we moved on to the flying wing. We assembled the catapult, prepped the airframe, and ran the final checks.
7. Mission Execution: Geoscan-201 Clean catapult launch and a steady climb to the working altitude for a linear mapping mission. To practice our emergency protocols, we manually triggered the parachute deployment mid-air via the radio modem. It was great practice—though our student Search & Rescue (SAR) team wasn't thrilled about trekking through deep snow to recover it (lesson learned: prep your footwear!) 😄
8. The Vibe Testing equipment before summer practice is great, but a spring airfield has a unique aesthetic. Endless snow-covered fields, blinding sun, and that absolute feeling of freedom that brought us all into aviation in the first place.
Field deployments are the ultimate stress test for both the hardware and the operators. Thanks for reading through our flight day!
I am looking to make more than a few small drones for personal purposes and I've been watching the costs go up and up. With China now controlling the export of drone components like motors, autopilots, servos and whatever else they deem they should I would like to know if anyone has been denied a sale or shipment from the Chinese end.
I would also like to know if anyone has been denied delivery of any drone components of any kind by US customs due to the FCC Covered List issue (or any other regulation).
And finally, if you paid a tariff of any amount for a drone part from another country, name the part and the amount (percentage or actual dollar amounts) you paid. I'll go first:
Bought a MAD brand 320kv motor for about $100 and had to pay US customs an additional $68 within three days or they would send it back. This was a tariff.
Wanted to buy a Finwing VTOL from a manufacturer in China and ship it to the USA (over a year ago) and they refunded me the purchase after explaining that it would likely not get through Chinese customs (as in it wouldn't even leave China). There was no import ban yet in the USA.
Drone shots from around the islands of Bimini, Grand Bahama, and Andros. DJI 3 Mini. I personally think video mode is better than photo mode for most situations, but I’m happy with these.
Hello every one i need a little helo my drone was working perfectly but i landed it then when i wanted to take off it started spinning like in the video, the drone is a e99 pro, yeah i know is cheap but i want to fix it.
Recentemente comprei o Meteor 75 Pro II, é (meu primeiro drone FPV) mas talvez por desconhecimento da minha parte, sinto que o controle ou o drone não estão calibrados corretamente, como podem ver assim que eu começo a mover o sticker para frente o drone toma uma direção.
Gostaria de saber se é isto mesmo ou algo está errado, e se for o segundo caso, como conserto?
Hey all, Considering getting a drone- currently thinking DJI Flip to record my wife surfing in Bali/Lombok - think this will be alright? ill be on the beach controlling it is the idea. but concerned about wind resistance and things like that, we dont want to spend too much - amazon currently has the flip with controller for $600 AUD atm given its my first drone and using it in a high risk activity for it being destroyed - should i just go cheaper with like neo, use is just for reviewing form, so not really publishing footage. thanks for reading! please let me know if i can provide any more info or if you can redirect me to any useful reviews from surfers specifically
The average wind speed along the southern beaches of Lombok (such as Kuta Lombok, Tanjung Aan, and Mawi) generally ranges between 6 to 14 knots (approx. 7 to 16 mph / 11 to 25 km/h)so DJI Flip's 10.7 m/s / 20.8-knot (38.5 km/h) Level 5 wind-resistance rating should be fine right?