Always a pleasure to bring my buddies along! I was surprisingly satisfied with this basic hike, the views and the company were great! The trail was also very well improved and, the day before I had a very intimidating trail blazing climb up a spike laden ridge that satisfied my adventurous side thoroughly. . . I do not use a gimbal, my secret, if I know camera shaking is going to be an issue I shoot in 30 FPS and play/edit in 24 FPS at 80% speed for a smoothing slo mo effect while also being very careful with my movement, The I phone and go pro stabilization is amazing help too. . . Lots of practice, planning and focus. . . never hurts. . .
Ya Terry, I did crash the
Mini 2 filming this adventure and again on the very next trip as well. BOTH times I definitely suffered from "invulnerability" as defined in the
part 107 training. I think this is the biggest threat to experienced pilots with good track records. "Never will happen to me. . . " Both times I was searching for the best angle/subject after I flew by it and foolishly decided I could simply fly backwards relatively near terrain and "it would be OK." I was positive both times the drone was no where near anyone as I was no where near any trafficked area and had an observer, just cliffs and trees. . . Astonishingly, both times it turned out, not disastrous. . . The first time, the mini actually bounced up off rocks and leveled out, I punched full throttle straight up immediately and it flew away, incredible dumb luck and I only dislodged an internal leg mount screw and got a tiny crack in the body, yes, Dumb luck! The second time, I was backing down a heavily forested valley over a stream and the stream had a dog leg, protruding treed ridge, hello pine tree. Tumbles through branches and after 30 minutes of exhausting dashing through the stream and over a bunch of unforgiving terrain while intermittently regaining signal to guide me using find my drone and a compass I found it intact after almost stepping on it. . . OMG What an idiot. . . The SD card had some of the best footage I've ever shot as well, almost lost, you'll see soon. . Two huge lessons I learned, the FAA covered those topics for a reason and I need to heed their advice much better. . . and second.
Both times I KNEW BEFORE the crashes I was making a mistake and even said so to the friend observing for me and warning me. Definitely invulnerability. . . Both times I would have simply turned the drone around to get a closer look through the camera at my clearance BUT, I have my Yaw turned WAY DOWN to shoot smooth footage and that does work well. The solution I have implemented since. . . On sport setting, a setting I rarely fly or film in to save battery, I have turned the yaw up lots so I can easily go to that setting and yaw/look around without taking forever to survey my immediate surroundings. Then switch back to my shooting modes, normal/cine after I know my exact ground clearance in my desired direction of travel. Simply hitting the 90 degree gimbal tilt function button could be helpful too. It is almost impossible to judge depth well when looking at the drone LOS while it is below the horizon. . . despite being able to see it. . . Seeing the drone does not insure you're clear unless your LOS is above the horizon or the drone is very close. . . In that regard, LOS can give you a false sense of security. Clear Air between the drone and the terrain is the only sure way to be sure using LOS alone. Live and learn, I was relatively lucky and I know it. . .