Flying at Night Tips for Shooting Fireworks

[Cyclonedrone]

Hey everyone! I have a Mavic Air and I have never flown it at night before. I have LED light up propellers to ensure the drone stays within line of sight throughout the entire flight. With firework season approaching, I was really hoping to get some footage of fireworks (of course from a safe distance and not near people), I was wondering if you guys have any tips or know before you go advice for flying a drone at night.

Thank you in advance and happy flying

 

[msinger]

Check out these search results.

 

[Thomas B]

Has flying a drone after dark (30+minutes after sunset) without obtaining a waiver under part 107 been approved?

 

[johnmeyer]

The legality of flying after dark is very questionable (I'm pretty sure it is not allowed), but there is a more fundamental reason not to do it: you're going to capture really lousy-looking video or stills.

I've been in a small airplane at relatively low altitude several times on the 4th of July I can tell you that the least spectacular view of fireworks is from above. The fireworks get lost against any light on the ground whereas when looking up, you have nothing but a uniform, dark sky.

About the only way to get video or stills that would be more interesting than watching from the ground would be to fly your drone right into the middle of the explosions, like this:

I'm not sure this filming was sanctioned, but since it was over water and since the only real hazard was to the drone itself (high probability of being blown out of the sky), I guess it was OK.

So if you have an old drone that you don't mind possibly being blown up, go for it.

 

[PoonDog]

The legality of flying after dark is very questionable (I'm pretty sure it is not allowed), but there is a more fundamental reason not to do it: you're going to capture really lousy-looking video or stills.

I've been in a small airplane at relatively low altitude several times on the 4th of July I can tell you that the least spectacular view of fireworks is from above. The fireworks get lost against any light on the ground whereas when looking up, you have nothing but a uniform, dark sky.

About the only way to get video or stills would be to fly your drone right into the middle of the explosions, like this:

I'm not sure this filming was sanctioned, but since it was over water and since the only real hazard was to the drone itself (high probability of being blown out of the sky), I guess it was OK.

So if you have an old drone that you don't mind possibly being blown up, go for it.

That's alot of flack dude. Cutting it pretty close. Great vid, but not something im going to do.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

About the only way to get video or stills that would be more interesting than watching from the ground would be to fly your drone right into the middle of the explosions, like this:

A Phantom too, nice big fat target ?