New Guy

[tlswift58]

I went and did it. After a couple of years of vacillating on it I jumped right in and bought a Mavic 2 zoom. Never flown before but I am looking forward to it. Spent many hour on youtube watching videos. How to, flights and what ever else I could find. I am presently familiarizing myself with all aspects of being a good drone pilot. I find that locating an area to fly is the first concern I have. I live in Milwaukie Oregon and am happy to be able to find this forum. Oh and my name is Tony.

Get apps like UAVForecast and KittyHawk to make sure you "don't" fly in unauthorized places. It's not a cover-all for sure. States like Georgia have laws on the books that "all" drone are prohibited from state parks / buildings - which is quite extreme to me. Yet, many cities and states have such laws that you need to be aware of - Google search can help there.

DJI does have a simulator you can download and use to help build your flying skills without actually flying the drone - far better than watching YouTube videos.

Find wide open spaces and practice, practice, and more practice before trying to fly in confined locations. Go out on kind of windy days (below 20 mph) and practice and see how the drone reacts at lower altitudes so you learn what to do when that time comes and it will. It's a learning curve, but those whom are good at video games (not me) tend to be better at flying as they already have the feel of a controller in their hands.

Good luck and post your video's / pics too. Oregon has some great sights to see.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

 

[anotherlab]

Welcome aboard Tonyzak and greetings from Albany, NY!?

 

[Steel63]

Greetings from ? Florida

 

[Tonyzak]

Get apps like UAVForecast and KittyHawk to make sure you "don't" fly in unauthorized places. It's not a cover-all for sure. States like Georgia have laws on the books that "all" drone are prohibited from state parks / buildings - which is quite extreme to me. Yet, many cities and states have such laws that you need to be aware of - Google search can help there.

DJI does have a simulator you can download and use to help build your flying skills without actually flying the drone - far better than watching YouTube videos.

Find wide open spaces and practice, practice, and more practice before trying to fly in confined locations. Go out on kind of windy days (below 20 mph) and practice and see how the drone reacts at lower altitudes so you learn what to do when that time comes and it will. It's a learning curve, but those whom are good at video games (not me) tend to be better at flying as they already have the feel of a controller in their hands.

Good luck and post your video's / pics too. Oregon has some great sights to see.

Simulators require some kind of hardware like a joy stick don't they ?

 

[Tonyzak]

I think for my first flight I will go to my brothers farm. He's got 60 acres that is pretty much open land on in North Plains. I also have access to a large piece of Coastal Mountain property where I hunt but it is mostly forest with a lot of clear cuts. II is all behind locked gates. When I get a good handle on flying I will spend some time down there. And yes I know better than to use the drone for hunting. Not necessary anyhow. There is probably Ten thousand acres back there to fly in.

 

[Droniac]

I went and did it. After a couple of years of vacillating on it I jumped right in and bought a Mavic 2 zoom. Never flown before but I am looking forward to it. Spent many hour on youtube watching videos. How to, flights and what ever else I could find. I am presently familiarizing myself with all aspects of being a good drone pilot. I find that locating an area to fly is the first concern I have. I live in Milwaukie Oregon and am happy to be able to find this forum. Oh and my name is Tony.

 

[Droniac]

Welcome aboard Tonyzak and greetings from Albany, NY!?

2 of my sons graduated AlbanyU. Welcome from a new guy too. Great forum.

 

[SpitFire]

Hi Tony, welcome to the forum from Chicago the Windy City.
Here is some info for you about how not to have a flyaway, which means "I lost my drone and don't understand why'
You can do a search function, upper right Hand corner, example Type in flyway, its a great way to find answers to future questions you may have. Fly Safe and have fun.

 

[anotherlab]

2 of my sons graduated AlbanyU. Welcome from a new guy too. Great forum.

I went there and I have a daughter there now. Good school.

 

[Tonyzak]

Ok I read the manual.. two questions. What is EV. I printed the acronym list and it's not on there.

Manual says you won't be able to fly in an area where there is no cell phone coverage. My brothers farm does not get cell phone coverage everywhere on his property. Does that mean I can't fly there ? Or is there a way around that ?

Thank you. I am ready to do my first flight. Wish me luck.

 

[slup]

Ok I read the manual.. two questions. What is EV. I printed the acronym list and it's not on there.

Manual says you won't be able to fly in an area where there is no cell phone coverage. My brothers farm does not get cell phone coverage everywhere on his property. Does that mean I can't fly there ? Or is there a way around that ?

Thank you. I am ready to do my first flight. Wish me luck.

EV means Exposure Value & is a number that represents a combination of a camera's shutter speed, f-number & ISO value, such that all combinations that yield the same exposure have the same EV.

And no, you don't need to have cell phone coverage to fly.

 

[Tonyzak]

EV means Exposure Value & is a number that represents a combination of a camera's shutter speed, f-number & ISO value, such that all combinations that yield the same exposure have the same EV.

And no, you don't need to have cell phone coverage to fly.

Thank you, I am ready to fly now.

 

[Hauptmann]

Welcome to the Forum, from Hauptmann, in the friendly skies of North Texas!

 

[Tonyzak]

Did my first flight today. Is it me or is the user manual poorly written ?
Observations: I put the control in the training mode. The first thing I tried to do was calibrate the compass.
I spent considerable time do this and unless I am wrong about this, Calibration isn't necessary in the Training mode. Or at least when I found the icon the calibrate was not highlighter. The manual did not address this. I would like to see a lot more illustration's in the manual and maybe a menu flowchart. Just my opinion. I will just have to keep watching those youtube videos.

My Samsung G7 is too small to enjoy the flight. A tablet is in my future.
I spent most of my time watching the drone and not very much time on the screen.
Just the same it was fun and I can't wait to go out and do it again and maybe switch to the Tripod or normal mode.
Something I didn't try was to turn up the screen lighting on my phone before I started flying. Perhaps this would help.
I felt insecure about the flight without keeping my eye on the drone. Probably takes time to trust the cell phone.

Any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[anotherlab]

Did my first flight today. Is it me or is the user manual poorly written ?
Observations: I put the control in the training mode. The first thing I tried to do was calibrate the compass.
I spent considerable time do this and unless I am wrong about this, Calibration isn't necessary in the Training mode. Or at least when I found the icon the calibrate was not highlighter. The manual did not address this. I would like to see a lot more illustration's in the manual and maybe a menu flowchart. Just my opinion. I will just have to keep watching those youtube videos.

My Samsung G7 is too small to enjoy the flight. A tablet is in my future.
I spent most of my time watching the drone and not very much time on the screen.
Just the same it was fun and I can't wait to go out and do it again and maybe switch to the Tripod or normal mode.
Something I didn't try was to turn up the screen lighting on my phone before I started flying. Perhaps this would help.
I felt insecure about the flight without keeping my eye on the drone. Probably takes time to trust the cell phone.

Any thoughts or suggestions.

I would keep watching the videos. A good video can make the setup a lot easier to follow. But you do need to calibrate the compass in training mode. Training mode is still flying, just with a limit to how far the drone can go.

Once you reach the age of needing reading glasses, a larger screen to run the DJI app will make your eyes happier. Get something with a nice bright screen and a tablet holder to make it easier to attach to your remote.

It's better to keep your eyes on the drone, just keep doing what you are doing. It gets easier.

 

[LA 2020]

I went and did it. After a couple of years of vacillating on it I jumped right in and bought a Mavic 2 zoom. Never flown before but I am looking forward to it. Spent many hour on youtube watching videos. How to, flights and what ever else I could find. I am presently familiarizing myself with all aspects of being a good drone pilot. I find that locating an area to fly is the first concern I have. I live in Milwaukie Oregon and am happy to be able to find this forum. Oh and my name is Tony.

Nice drone but you might regret not getting the Pro for the Hasselblad 1" sensor camera. You can zoom in post but videos with the Pro are incredible. You might look into getting an FAA license or at least take a course to study for it as it explains a lot about section charts which will tell you exactly where you can/cannot fly. If you are 5 miles from an airport you will need to unlock your drone through DJI's unlocking portal. Just have your controller's serial # ready. Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI. You should also call the airport's tower to get any instructions. Their tower numbers are on their websites

 

[Tonyzak]

Nice drone but you might regret not getting the Pro for the Hasselblad 1" sensor camera. You can zoom in post but videos with the Pro are incredible. You might look into getting an FAA license or at least take a course to study for it as it explains a lot about section charts which will tell you exactly where you can/cannot fly. If you are 5 miles from an airport you will need to unlock your drone through DJI's unlocking portal. Just have your controller's serial # ready. Self Unlocking - Fly Safe - DJI. You should also call the airport's tower to get any instructions. Their tower numbers are on their websites

You are correct about my choice of buying the zoom. I realized to today that there is no aperture control. Bummer. I have the $5:00 license and I did register the drone.
Yesterday I took a long ride around the state of Washington and Oregon. About 250 miles of open road. I intended to fly an area in Washington state called Catherine creek. About 10k acres of open land where wildflower are abundant. I have taken lots of photo's there over the years and thought I would add to them with aerials shots. You can imagine the way I felt when I read the " No Drones" notice. I drove the backroads and read all the no trespassing signs. Eventually I got to some Wheat field's above the Dalles and got a chance to fly a bit. I passed up a chance to fly over a waterfall and eventually ended up in an area near pine grove I flew my 2nd battery there and got a chance to feel the sticks and take a few shots only to find out later the area is closed. I am rapidly getting frustrated with all this. Not to mention that LOS is not very far so yesterday I ordered strobe lights. School of hardknocks for sure. The picture is look west Towards Mt. Hood at a place near Dufur Oregon. You can see hood way in the background. The second picture is at White River game reserve, You can see the White River canyon back in the distance. I am having mixed feeling about continuing this hobby.

 

[MF MA2]

I went and did it. After a couple of years of vacillating on it I jumped right in and bought a Mavic 2 zoom. Never flown before but I am looking forward to it. Spent many hour on youtube watching videos. How to, flights and what ever else I could find. I am presently familiarizing myself with all aspects of being a good drone pilot. I find that locating an area to fly is the first concern I have. I live in Milwaukie Oregon and am happy to be able to find this forum. Oh and my name is Tony.

Welcome Tonyzak, I'm also new to the forum and the people here have shared some good advice on what to do as a newbie. In your search for a good location, I suggest familiarizing yourself with the air space classification you live in since being able to fly right outside your home will be the quickest way to get more air time.
Happy flying, be safe.

 

[Flying eye]

Welcome from Maryville, Tennessee