I suck at flying

mavic911 · Sep 3, 2018

Winds changed so quickly, 5-10 seconds of battery left. Quite a scare.

Maybe the clouds made the quality crappy. Expected better than this

Fleek · Sep 3, 2018

dumb luck you made it back for good landing.

jeplane · Sep 3, 2018

A flight must be planned, to assure the best outcome and reduce the risk of an accident.

- Alcatraz is far to reach. You are goint to spend a lot of time traveling, with little cinematic value and no still pictures.

- The winds are going to be strong and must be anticipated. Optimally, with a return downwind.

- Alcatraz is a national park and therefore a no fly zone. (Some will say that it is debatable because you didn’t take-off from there.) Anyway once again, little value as you can not get over.

- Use Airmap to find if OK to fly or not, and use UAV forecast for the winds.

- Always have some return “fuel” in mind when you fly. Low battery warning starts at 30%. Adhere by it. Keep it in mind. RTH will be initiated moments later, but by then, your aircraft should be close to you, if you are planning correctly.

BerndM · Sep 3, 2018

What jeplane said is right on the mark.
If you want to make long distance flights and expect to have some loiter time to shoot video AND expect to make it back home, then you are using the wrong equipment.
An electric powered 5-6 foot wingspan glider with a gimbal mounted camera will provide you with magnitudes of greater time aloft since it will actually FLY and can cover good distances with the motor off.
The downside obviously is those usually, but not always, require a landing area.
Takeoffs require no runway. You simply hand launch. If you're proficient, you can even hand catch the glider on the return.
Returning to home DOWNWIND is crucial
Good luck

Talley · Sep 3, 2018

Battery Mod is your friend

BingErr · Sep 3, 2018

I don't think the flight was that bad. Compare to my recent San Fran video you flew WAY farther than me AND your image quality was slightly better than mine because it looks a little more sunny in your video. I had to take 2 runs at Alcatraz to get a good video and fly a little smoother. A LOT has to do with how you edit it down. If you leave it just the RAW video then you'll include all your jerky movements and unsmooth flight lines. Yes, maxing out your battery over water is scary, but the drone came back and you learned something from it. Just learn and apply to your next flight

BingErr · Sep 3, 2018

jeplane said:
A flight must be planned, to assure the best outcome and reduce the risk of an accident.

- Alcatraz is far to reach. You are goint to spend a lot of time traveling, with little cinematic value and no still pictures.

- The winds are going to be strong and must be anticipated. Optimally, with a return downwind.

- Alcatraz is a national park and therefore a no fly zone. (Some will say that it is debatable because you didn’t take-off from there.) Anyway once again, little value as you can not get over.

- Use Airmap to find if OK to fly or not, and use UAV forecast for the winds.

- Always have some return “fuel” in mind when you fly. Low battery warning starts at 30%. Adhere by it. Keep it in mind. RTH will be initiated moments later, but by then, your aircraft should be close to you, if you are planning correctly.

It's legal to fly if he didn't take off or land on Alcatraz. Also, they don't control the airspace, only what you can do while IN the NP.

mavic911 · Sep 5, 2018

Nice video BingErr.

Yeah definitely did not plan out my flight.

TotemLake · Sep 7, 2018

Two other things to think about to get the most out of your battery.

Don't fly at top speed. I gain more distance at around 8 MPH than I do at 20 MPH. Of course, you do have to take your head winds into consideration. Keep track of the movement on your map.

Don't record the entire flight. It takes energy to take and store the video and pictures. Take shorter video shots and transition them in your post editing.