Long story short is I'm a part 107 pilot for my company. Currently I fly a Yuneec Typhoon H, and its served me very well for what the current mission is - going out and documenting construction progress whenever and wherever. Its great when I've got to get out on a day with super high winds (I've had it sit through 25 mph winds to film a crane lift) but I do see its shortcomings - its big (gotta fedex it when I travel), the camera isn't the best, and it doesn't support aftermarket applications with its integrated tablet system. And that last point is the big one bringing me here.
I've been told there is now a push to looking into getting a proper aerial surveying setup. Being able to generate our own aerial photography for use in design would be useful. We've already done that to an extent with some aerial photos, but being able to make an orthomosaic and have it georeferenced would be a big step up (along with the possibilities of the point clouds and 3D models). Which led me to Pix4D which seems to be the industry leader. Which then led me here, as DJI seems to be the core consumer for it. And after looking into it a bit, I've got some questions on the platform before I hand my boss a proposal on what this would require and what it could do.
1) As far as being sized for carry on baggage, the mavic is my best bet, right? I basically only fly southwest, and would need to meet their size of 10x24x16. It would also have to be a SKB or pelican type case. From looking through the case offerings, it seems that the mavic would be able to do this this with ease, but the phantom would not. If I've got to fly to a job site I'd greatly prefer something I can take with me instead of coordinating fedex shipping times and all that.
2) Controller rates: On the yuneec, I really like that I'm able to completely customize the rates on each stick, and also that I have a dial to set the gain on them all, so I can go to full control and quickly zip across a site, and then dial it back to get a nice smooth pan in video. From what I've seen on youtube videos, there is expo control of the sticks so that I can dial that in. But am I able to limit the gain of each channel? I like having my yaw set to 60%, and then my gain dial goes from 60% to 100% of each channel.
3) One of my most used tools on the yuneec is this: CCC editor for typhoon H - by Eric EMMANUEL where I can manually set up a waypoint route (I think that's the DJI name for them?) to fly on a job. I can set them up on the controller too (which I believe DJI does as well), but for a good number of jobs, I know what's in the area, I know of any potential obstacles, I'm aware of the risks of setting up it via this method. Is there a similar solution for the mavic?
4) Wind: Like I said, I've had my yuneec up in 25 mph winds before, and it's comfortable sitting in 15 mph winds with no corrective input. What sort of windspeed limits does the mavic see as far as holding its own in the wind and holding its own with corrective inputs?
5) As far as the device to use for Pix4D/DJIGo, it looks like Apple is the way to go? I've heard of issues with the android apps crashing. Am I best to just go with an iPad mini 4 from the start? What works best>?
6) Any other things to consider with the switch? I'm sure there's something I've glossed over.
I've been told there is now a push to looking into getting a proper aerial surveying setup. Being able to generate our own aerial photography for use in design would be useful. We've already done that to an extent with some aerial photos, but being able to make an orthomosaic and have it georeferenced would be a big step up (along with the possibilities of the point clouds and 3D models). Which led me to Pix4D which seems to be the industry leader. Which then led me here, as DJI seems to be the core consumer for it. And after looking into it a bit, I've got some questions on the platform before I hand my boss a proposal on what this would require and what it could do.
1) As far as being sized for carry on baggage, the mavic is my best bet, right? I basically only fly southwest, and would need to meet their size of 10x24x16. It would also have to be a SKB or pelican type case. From looking through the case offerings, it seems that the mavic would be able to do this this with ease, but the phantom would not. If I've got to fly to a job site I'd greatly prefer something I can take with me instead of coordinating fedex shipping times and all that.
2) Controller rates: On the yuneec, I really like that I'm able to completely customize the rates on each stick, and also that I have a dial to set the gain on them all, so I can go to full control and quickly zip across a site, and then dial it back to get a nice smooth pan in video. From what I've seen on youtube videos, there is expo control of the sticks so that I can dial that in. But am I able to limit the gain of each channel? I like having my yaw set to 60%, and then my gain dial goes from 60% to 100% of each channel.
3) One of my most used tools on the yuneec is this: CCC editor for typhoon H - by Eric EMMANUEL where I can manually set up a waypoint route (I think that's the DJI name for them?) to fly on a job. I can set them up on the controller too (which I believe DJI does as well), but for a good number of jobs, I know what's in the area, I know of any potential obstacles, I'm aware of the risks of setting up it via this method. Is there a similar solution for the mavic?
4) Wind: Like I said, I've had my yuneec up in 25 mph winds before, and it's comfortable sitting in 15 mph winds with no corrective input. What sort of windspeed limits does the mavic see as far as holding its own in the wind and holding its own with corrective inputs?
5) As far as the device to use for Pix4D/DJIGo, it looks like Apple is the way to go? I've heard of issues with the android apps crashing. Am I best to just go with an iPad mini 4 from the start? What works best>?
6) Any other things to consider with the switch? I'm sure there's something I've glossed over.
