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MA: Drone Flyers Chime In

Also in Lowell with my mavic. I'm having problems with exposure so far. Fanatic improvement over the Phantom 2 I had. Waiting for better weather though

Sent from my SM-P905V using MavicPilots mobile app

Starting to warm up. Hoping to meet up with someone to evaluate how it does. Let me know if you're ever around?
Belvidere myself.
 
Still testing out Mavic 'little bird'.
Really really impressive !
In heavy winds 20-25 mph with higher gusts.
Very stable; Video is 'wow' ... so smooth.

 
Still testing out Mavic 'little bird'.
Really really impressive !
In heavy winds 20-25 mph with higher gusts.
Very stable; Video is 'wow' ... so smooth.


Actually flew in cutler park the other day like a 1/4 mile away! Imagine how close we were and didn't even know it. Will have to check out millennium sometime! Nice vid
 
Anyone have experience flying in Boston, Financial district near South Station. Is that just completely off limits or have any of you tried it? I'm going to be there on a business trip soon and am brining my Mavic.
 
Anyone have experience flying in Boston, Financial district near South Station. Is that just completely off limits or have any of you tried it? I'm going to be there on a business trip soon and am brining my Mavic.
Most of Boston is within 5 miles of Logan airport so you would need to contact ATC for recreational flying. It is also very crowded down there so the whole not flying over people thing is really tough. Also there are TFRs whenever there is an event at Fenway.
It can be done but it is a hassle to fly in accordance with the FAA guidelines in Boston.
 
The Boston Financial District is definitely in the Class B Airspace Surface Area due to being so close to Logan International Airport.
South Station is 2 miles from the nearest runway threshold and about 2.5 miles from the center of the airport.
Frequent helicopter traffic overhead as well. So by FAA regulations definitely no.

It's also considered generally not safe flying low in a downtown area because of unreliable GPS reception.
Flying near or around buildings (Below the building tops) can unexpectedly block satellite reception.
This causes the Mavic to switch from GPS mode to ATTI mode and it will drift with the wind.
Boston being near the ocean can be quite windy.
(Think a situation where the Mavic is far away, maybe beyond VLOS and the operator does not correct for the unexpected wind drift, causing it to collide with a building...)
Also launching from concrete with embedded rebar or flying close to metal structures can cause compass errors.
This again could force a switch to ATTI mode and it might drift with the wind.
Even worse it could cause the Mavic to become confused and fly off in an unexpected direction because the initial IMU compass and magnetic compass don't agree.

Okay, so where to fly? Plenty of parks and athletic fields with so many schools nearby.
Referencing the Charles River which basically runs west to east near Boston, to be outside of the Class B Airspace Surface Area
chose a location west of the Boston University Bridge, (BU Bridge).
You'll want to stay 5 miles or more from Logan International Airport and at least a mile from Fenway Park and the Red Sox.
 
Tescalada if they don't answer leave a voicemail and you're covered.

For anyone familiar with Westport Ma here is some quick footage I shot over the weekend. Nothing special, still learning the ins and outs. Also took a lift off at my old school. Haven't been down there in years so it was nice to see nothing's changed.

Keep flying!


Nice - I'm from North Attleboro - I'm going to have to check that area out - looks like a great place to fly.
 
Anyone have experience flying in Boston, Financial district near South Station. Is that just completely off limits or have any of you tried it? I'm going to be there on a business trip soon and am brining my Mavic.

It is way too close to Logan Airport. The planes fly over at drone level around there.
 
I use an app called Drone Deploy. Then I use a software program called Pix4D and import the images. Pix4D is a free program for the basic processing. It creates a 3D model. The whole process is somewhat involved.
Are you up near Squam lake? I'm only about 20 minutes north of there when I'm at my cabin.
Could you show me where Pix4D is free? Every now and then I will go there the only thing "free" is the app download to plan your flights.

And why are you using Pix4D if you have DroneDeploy? DroneDeploy is a subscription service that comes with photogrammetry.
 

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