Just curious – what made you fixed wing guys get into drones?

[Dbez1]

I’m just curious about your motivation for the switch to drones or the addition of drones to your arsenal?

 

[hiflyer201]

Cameras and photo's for me. being able to fly low and slow.

 

[Guitarzan]

Cameras and photo's for me. being able to fly low and slow.

Bingo! Also the ability to place the transmitter on the ground without fear while flying. Try that with fixed wing!

 

[dronerdave]

Unique camera angles for photography is basically why I made a purchase. But I fly fixed wing at least a couple times a week and use my MP far less.

 

[Dbez1]

I’m assuming the fixed wing takes much more skill. Could I add the question “which do you enjoy more“?

 

[THE CYBORG]

I have a friend who fly's fixed wing and says drones are for wimps, says they take no skill.
Must admit he could fly my Mavic but I wouldn't want let lose with his 100+MPH swing wing plane
On the other hand I would love to see him trying his hand at drone racing that could change his vew.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I didn't necessarily drop fixed wing RC for drones. My two favorite pastimes are RC and video, and going back 20 years I was strapping cameras on everything I flew even turbine powered jets but those 540 resolution un-stabilized videos were just not cutting it; when the 3 axis gimbal was married to a tiny camera the multi-rotor was a no brainer for me.

 

[ToTheSummit]

I kinda look at it like fixed-wing flyers are true pilots dedicated to the sport while drones are much more for the hobbyist and photography/cinematography purposes. But drone racing...yeah, thats impressive!

 

[BikerBuster]

Low, slow and photo. If i waz flying fixed wing it would be a biplane with camera atrached.
I only flew hang-gliders for the aerial photo opportunities.

 

[dronerdave]

I’m assuming the fixed wing takes much more skill. Could I add the question “which do you enjoy more“?

For sure. Heck I was flying in close quarters within a few days of unboxing my Mavic. I had to go through beginners steps flying fixed wing and I'm still learning. Being crashing is much more common, you just got to grin and bare it when you lose one of your aircraft. It makes (IMO) for an exhilarating experience flying fixed wing especially when you almost crash. But just landing can be an eye opening event every time you go up. So yeah I have more fun flying fixed wing. I'm lucky to belong to a great club with one of the best runways around and our membership is large enough to get a feel of being at a large airshow most days we fly. I enjoy shooting RC aircraft with my DSLR's and do the club calendar each year. Some of the aircraft are very interesting to watch especially the scale models, pylon racers and turbine aircraft.

I'd be willing to say that besides photography with a drone, there are times where I prefer flying my Mavic over fixed wing. One is if I don't want to be around a crowd. It's nice to fly around using FPV and there are times I like the peacefulness you can get out of the hobby.

 

[sdold]

To me they are two different hobbies, so it wasn't a "switch" as much as taking up an additional hobby.

 

[OldGuy]

Drones fly just like fixed wing but they don’t crash if you take your eyes off them for a moment. Much more relaxing hobby with the added bonus of photography.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

I switched to drones due to low maintenance, RC airplanes weren’t too bad but when I switched to RC Helicopters was constantly fixing them they are extremely high maintenance.

Spent 10 times plus rebuilding them than flying, not all from crashing either those helicopter gears wear or strip out fast.

Sure I miss RC, don’t miss the down time repairing them.

 

[TN Ray]

I progressed as a hobby at first from R/C boats, to cars, to trucks, to planes, to heli's, and enjoyed all of them, but they were much more hassle with the fuel etc., so went electric when ALS started destroying my muscles. Now it's all I can physically do and it's getting pretty difficult with the batteries and small SSD cards, gimble cover, and all. Gotta try to play with something!

 

[Dbez1]

I progressed as a hobby at first from R/C boats, to cars, to trucks, to planes, to heli's, and enjoyed all of them, but they were much more hassle with the fuel etc., so went electric when ALS started destroying my muscles. Now it's all I can physically do and it's getting pretty difficult with the batteries and small SSD cards, gimble cover, and all. Gotta try to play with something!

I pray your health improves and you can keep flying. Best wishes.

 

[MacCool]

It's about the photography and video. I've been a pilot 50 years, R/C "enthusiast" for 35 years. Drones are not challenging to fly and as a standalone hobby, it's pretty much a yawner, but you can get creative photographs and video that there's just no other way to get.

 

[DanMan32]

I would venture it would be a challenge to manage a camera at the same time as managing flight for a fixed wing, unless you had auto pilot. You can't just hover with fixed wing while you frame your shot.

 

[Cw4bray]

I flew professionally as an ENG pilot. Some shots are impossible to get without hovering. Shooting the front door of a bank in between tall buildings during a robbery is just one example. There's a reason TV stations use helicopters instead of airplanes even though helicopters cost more to operate.

 

[mr-guns]

I’m just curious about your motivation for the switch to drones or the addition of drones to your arsenal?

I have to go about 45 minutes away to fly my planes. I can fly drones a lot closer to home. Still prefer planes, but hardly get to fly them.

 

[BigAl07]

MultiRotors was a natural progression for Photography and Videography. We started putting cameras (hard mounted) on our helicopters but with gimbal stabilization and the addition of GPS/Gryo stabilization the MR because an ideal platform for our company.

I still LOVE flying fixed wing (sea planes, trainers, sail planes, stunt planes) and the excitement of actually flying the aircraft as opposed to "pointing and letting the Flight Controller fly the aircraft" are Night & Day different.