DJI Mavic pilots - Australia

Cobo · Apr 17, 2017

@ foxpuppet - I haven't encountered any angry people thus far, but I can understand people getting upset if they feel their privacy has been breached - both on their private property and also in public. No-one likes to feel they are being filmed and I think that's understandable. I only fly in remote areas to avoid such potential confrontation as I don't think drones (and their pilots) have a good reputation in the community generally, probably on account of those few inconsiderate pilots who give drones a bad wrap.

stratos · Apr 17, 2017

foxpuppet said:
Sooo let's talk about drone rage.

This afternoon I was visiting with the family at my inlaws place. I knew we would be there around sunset so took my Mavic along. They live on a skinny ridge with valley views over the water below. Once you move past the houses it's mostly all bushland

Took off ascended to 120m elevation facing west flew forward about 200m and held position for around 8 minutes shooting video and taking stills.
Adjusted course another 300m west over the valley and started a left slow panning shot facing the horizon. Mid pan I heard a small engine plane to my right and Immediately spun the Mavic to try and spot it and simultaneously started to descend. I dropped to about 60m which put me 20m above the tree line below. As soon as the plane passed I spun again to track it then ascended to 120m panned back to the right and continued filming the horizon.

Continued flying doing a few pans and still shots, making adjustments to settings etc as the sun went down then manually returned back to the takeoff point.

I was flying for about 20 minutes all up

While this was underway and not long after the small plane had passed I noticed 2 guys chatting down the street about 70m away but thought nothing of it, a few dog walkers had passed by while I was inflight, said hello and continued on.

As soon as I touched down on the ground I see one of the 2 guys jogging towards me with a beer in hand. As I know a few people in that street I thought it might have been someone I knew but when he got close the face was angry and unfamiliar.

He comes right up to my face almost stepping on my mav and yells

"What the F do to think your doing?"

Sorry what do you mean?

AM (angry man) "you were over my house while my kids were in the pool"

Huh

AM Repeats same line and adds "when I came out and stuck my finger up at it you flew away so what were you doing flying over my pool?"

I proceeded to explain what I was doing and show him the footage from my cache and explain I wouldn't have been over his house.

It seems like when I dived down for the plane he thought I was coming in to look at his kids. I explained that I'm required to descend straight away when another aircraft is present and after showing the footage from that exact bit of the flight he calmed down considerably.

I get being protective, but he was pretty much twice my size and primed to punch on without warning.

Anyone else had any similar incidents?

Here's a few shots from the shoot

Yeah that is pretty sad, there are a lot of ignorant people out there. An idiot jumped out at me yelling telling **** tons of stuff, that what I was doing was illegal , that I needed a license to fly that I cannot fly above any lake or body or water . I try calming him down showing him the rules from CASA. I was flying above a lake far from everyone he told me that he saw me when I was landing wtf. He was late 50s , early 60s. Anyway, made me feel bad and abused to be honest. Was not doing anything wrong and I always follow the rules.

DTND · Apr 17, 2017

Hello All,

just got my first drone!!! crashed into house column first flight.. it was at dusk & I should have known better

All good, damage to props only.

I'm in Southeast Melbourne if anyone needs a flying partner..?

Kevtherev · Apr 19, 2017

stratos said:
Yeah that is pretty sad, there are a lot of ignorant people out there. An idiot jumped out at me yelling telling **** tons of stuff, that what I was doing was illegal , that I needed a license to fly that I cannot fly above any lake or body or water . I try calming him down showing him the rules from CASA. I was flying above a lake far from everyone he told me that he saw me when I was landing wtf. He was late 50s , early 60s. Anyway, made me feel bad and abused to be honest. Was not doing anything wrong and I always follow the rules.

stratos, don't stress over it, been in the rc game for nearly 10years and was on the verge of giving it away for a while but the Mavic has re sparked my interest in the hobby. Don't think it's his fault the media puts out a lot of cr@p about "drones" which just feeds this paranoia! Find somewhere else to fly and enjoy this great hobby!

stratos · Apr 19, 2017

Kevtherev said:
stratos, don't stress over it, been in the rc game for nearly 10years and was on the verge of giving it away for a while but the Mavic has re sparked my interest in the hobby. Don't think it's his fault the media puts out a lot of cr@p about "drones" which just feeds this paranoia! Find somewhere else to fly and enjoy this great hobby!

You are right, actually stopped flying for a couple of weekends because of it. I was fuming when I came back home and told my fiance about it. I mean I am not messing with anyone following the rules and that idiot jumping at me come on.

But you are right, this weekend I went to a very nice place and took great footage, but still scared to share it online for all the "cyber drone police"

sfenigma · Apr 20, 2017

Hi guys, based on North Shore Killara, just got the Mavic few weeks back, luckily no angry people but have had a few very interested dogs when taking it up.
Quick question apart from the standard ebay Decal's and Skins has anyone one found a good source that ships for free to Aus? iStyles.com is the best i've found so far but shipping still pretty high.

EJay · Apr 20, 2017

Michael Ainsworth said:
Hi all.
Newbie to all things Drone.
Just retired and the choice was Mens Shed or develop my photography hobby. Live in Wollongong NSW.
New Mavic arrived 5 days ago and I have been devouring all the experience and knowledge on this site. Has made interesting and at times anxiety provoking feelings especially when reading all the disasters that have happened.
As this is new I will be spending a lot of time reading the full manual downloaded and printed and also in the Simulator mode.
Will also be operating the drone in beginner mode until I feel more confident. My aim is not to see how high, far or fast it goes but to get into position for some good quality nature video.
I also do a great deal of Kayaking, Camping, Hiking and Long distance m'bike rides so have a choice of different locations and scenery.
Looking forward to some interesting times and interaction on this forum.
As an aside from what I can gather probably 90%, or more, of all posted problems come from some sort of operator failing rather than the machine, would this be right?

Like you I read lots of stuff and many videos and had anxiety with fear joy and adrenaline! For some reason things felt better after Beginner Mode so have fun progressing.
Now I even use sports mode occasionally which I though would never happen! I learn something every flight.

EJay · Apr 20, 2017

foxpuppet said:
Sooo let's talk about drone rage.

This afternoon I was visiting with the family at my inlaws place. I knew we would be there around sunset so took my Mavic along. They live on a skinny ridge with valley views over the water below. Once you move past the houses it's mostly all bushland

Took off ascended to 120m elevation facing west flew forward about 200m and held position for around 8 minutes shooting video and taking stills.
Adjusted course another 300m west over the valley and started a left slow panning shot facing the horizon. Mid pan I heard a small engine plane to my right and Immediately spun the Mavic to try and spot it and simultaneously started to descend. I dropped to about 60m which put me 20m above the tree line below. As soon as the plane passed I spun again to track it then ascended to 120m panned back to the right and continued filming the horizon.

Continued flying doing a few pans and still shots, making adjustments to settings etc as the sun went down then manually returned back to the takeoff point.

I was flying for about 20 minutes all up

While this was underway and not long after the small plane had passed I noticed 2 guys chatting down the street about 70m away but thought nothing of it, a few dog walkers had passed by while I was inflight, said hello and continued on.

As soon as I touched down on the ground I see one of the 2 guys jogging towards me with a beer in hand. As I know a few people in that street I thought it might have been someone I knew but when he got close the face was angry and unfamiliar.

He comes right up to my face almost stepping on my mav and yells

"What the F do to think your doing?"

Sorry what do you mean?

AM (angry man) "you were over my house while my kids were in the pool"

Huh

AM Repeats same line and adds "when I came out and stuck my finger up at it you flew away so what were you doing flying over my pool?"

I proceeded to explain what I was doing and show him the footage from my cache and explain I wouldn't have been over his house.

It seems like when I dived down for the plane he thought I was coming in to look at his kids. I explained that I'm required to descend straight away when another aircraft is present and after showing the footage from that exact bit of the flight he calmed down considerably.

I get being protective, but he was pretty much twice my size and primed to punch on without warning.

Anyone else had any similar incidents?

Here's a few shots from the shoot

Hey foxpuppet sounds like you handled AM well.

Love your sunset pics. I need to do more, but mine appear over exposed using auto exposure.
Did you use any special camera settings or focus point?

foxpuppet · Apr 21, 2017

EJay said:
Hey foxpuppet sounds like you handled AM well.

Love your sunset pics. I need to do more, but mine appear over exposed using auto exposure.
Did you use any special camera settings or focus point?

Are you using the over exposure warning? That can be helpful. I tap for focus and exposure then use the exposure wheel to dial in where I want the image. I've also been using the AEB setting to take shots either side of 'correct' exp.

wombat · Apr 21, 2017

where is the AEB setting ?

do you use your 3 shots to output to HDR ?

foxpuppet · Apr 22, 2017

wombat said:
where is the AEB setting ?

do you use your 3 shots to output to HDR ?

EJay · Apr 22, 2017

foxpuppet said:
Are you using the over exposure warning? That can be helpful. I tap for focus and exposure then use the exposure wheel to dial in where I want the image. I've also been using the AEB setting to take shots either side of 'correct' exp.

Thanks for the tips foxpuppet, I will have a go with them next chance and hopefully I can report back with some "proof"

wombat · Apr 22, 2017

Thanks FP, I have seen that but not had the time to try it out, I will be looking at the option of RAW combined with the HDR soon

SeaComms · Apr 22, 2017

Morning all, been hanging around here for a few weeks but only just spotted the Aussie thread. Been flying RC aircraft on and off for 35 odd years and had always thought about drones. Misses convinced me to buy one so thought why not!

Live up the northern end of the QLD Sunshine Coast so once I get familiar enough most footage will be Noise North Shore and Double Island point where we spend a lot of time.

Just trying to get my head around video editing programs, something I never had to worry about before. Anyone got any recommendations for free ones that are good?

Howiedoin · Apr 23, 2017

Hi all, new to the forum but happy to see a dedicated Aussie page!

I took the Mavic out to Burragorang Lookout this morning (southwest Sydney for those of you playing at home). I was keen on some great footage as the weather was beautiful and the lookout gives great views of a huge body of water.
So i unpack and set up the Mavic, turn it on, turn on the remote and load up the DJI Go 4 app, 15 satellites... AWESOME!
Just as i'm about to fire it up and send her up, BANG! disconnected. Lost the video feed and everything and couldn't reconnect, even after a restart.
The remote still said GPS Mode and the app said it was ready to go but theres something very unnerving about trying to fly this thing when you can't see what you're recording. There was however, a signal icon on top of the app that was red..... and red is bad. lol
I thought better of it and packed it away. I didn't want to watch my $1700 drop out of the sky or anything.
Has anyone else experience a similar problem or have any idea of a fix?
Ive even thought as far as National Parks using signal blockers..... but surely not???

Hogbert_1999 · Apr 23, 2017

Still a newbie but thinking it maybe the lead from the screen to the controller could be something simple shame you missed the opportunity though

Howiedoin · Apr 23, 2017

Funnily enough i did check the cable and everything looked sweet. Yeh its frustrating. The weather was perfect.
Oh well.... next time!

Clintsc9 · Apr 23, 2017

You don't mention which phone/pad you are using. Seems Android can be unreliable in certain units. IOS devices seem more reliable. I tried with Samsung S4 - processor couldn't keep up, then a Samsung 8" pad but it lost connection exactly as you describe. I've been an Android user and Apple hater for years but put the money into an iPad Mini4 and have had no problems since.

Howiedoin · Apr 23, 2017

Oh sorry bout that. I'm using an iPhone 6 Plus.
I'll also notice that I've done approx. 5 hours of flying with my Mavic and this is the first time it's really had me questioning whether I should take off or not :-(