Seattle Area Pilots

Dragonflyer · Apr 5, 2017

Rabid Machina said:
Now that the weather is getting nicer we should have a greet & meet or something.

The weather's getting nicer? :/

Rabid Machina · Apr 5, 2017

Dragonflyer said:
The weather's getting nicer? :/

LMFAO!!!

MavicNewb · Apr 6, 2017

Just ran into this forum from google searches and happens to be a pretty decent thread. I'm in the Seattle area as well, to be more specific the ballard area and literally 5mins away from Golden Gardens. I'm planning to pick up the Mavic Pro Fly More Combo as soon as the weather improves at some point

MavicNewb · Apr 9, 2017

just picked up my drone today and weather seems pretty decent in seattle.. anyone want to meet up and fly some drones?

Peel · Apr 9, 2017

Just returned from taking my sUAG part 107 exam. Passed with a 90% score! Took it at Galvin Flight Training center at Boeing Field.

droneworx · Apr 10, 2017

hey guys, I'm in so cali, but going up to Bellevue on Wednesday for a few days and I am bringing my Mavic. I was searching for places to fly it, and it seems most of the cities up there have strict laws against drone flying in the parks. Where do you guys fly at?

MavicNewb · Apr 11, 2017

Decent weather today. Anybody going out to fly this afternoon?

Wingmn · Apr 12, 2017

Peel said:
Just returned from taking my sUAG part 107 exam. Passed with a 90% score! Took it at Galvin Flight Training center at Boeing Field.

Nice job!!

ody360 · Apr 13, 2017

Hi Guys,

New Mavic owner right across the water in Bremerton! Excited to try it out, but our weather has been uncooperative. Hopefully this current sunshine will last through the afternoon.

Peel · Apr 13, 2017

ody360 said:
Hi Guys,

New Mavic owner right across the water in Bremerton! Excited to try it out, but our weather has been uncooperative. Hopefully this current sunshine will last through the afternoon.

Congrats on the new Mavic! Just an FYI, depending on where you are in Bremerton, beware that there's a No Fly Zone in the area of the Navy Yard

ody360 · Apr 13, 2017

Peel said:
Congrats on the new Mavic! Just an FYI, depending on where you are in Bremerton, beware that there's a No Fly Zone in the area of the Navy Yard

View attachment 10581

Thanks, I saw that. I also live on the water near the Naval Hospital which is also marked red. As a beginner, I don't really plan on flying too far away from home.

oldnslo · Apr 14, 2017

Hello, 1st post... 1 week into the Mavic with Navidia tablet. 6 sorties , so far so good! Will be looking for a nice spot to fly on Sunday, can only tool around my house, ( 2 acres) so many times. Sunday is suppose to have some non rain moments!

Dragonflyer · Apr 18, 2017

Got up to the Tulip Festival on Sunday. While we were filming (carefully), we accidentally captured another Mavic flying below us. And when we had brought 'er back and packed up, we saw a Phantom bombing around out there too. They were flying a bit more dangerously, unfortunately.

Mavic Pro | 2017 Tulip Festival in La Conner, WA

oldnslo · Apr 23, 2017

Any local folks having issues with the latest firmware giving them a NFZ message ? I experienced this. It resolves after their are enough satellites to establish an accurate position of the drone. I notified DJI of my concerns, not sure what happens, if in flight GPS signal degrades, will it think I'm in a NFZ and possibly ground itself? They replied but with no real advice other than, send us screen shots. I know there is a lot of chatter on the board about this and I took some of the advice. I down graded to the previous FW and don't have the NFZ message anymore at boot up. I use android (marshmallow) with Navidia Shield and don't link it to phone or internet.
Since this seems to work just fine, I guess I'll never upgrade..

rossmoney · Apr 23, 2017

Peel said:
Just returned from taking my sUAG part 107 exam. Passed with a 90% score! Took it at Galvin Flight Training center at Boeing Field.

nice work! out of curiosity, what do you plan on using it for?
I'm just super overwhelmed with the idea of flying these things professionally with the liability insurance and getting approval from the FAA and Seattle and such. Thanks for your time!

Peel · Apr 24, 2017

rossmoney said:
nice work! out of curiosity, what do you plan on using it for?
I'm just super overwhelmed with the idea of flying these things professionally with the liability insurance and getting approval from the FAA and Seattle and such. Thanks for your time!

I'm a commercial architect, and will be using my remote pilot license in part to take panoramas of future views from hi-rises, do building inspections, construction administration site photos, and some marketing videos of completed projects. I will be using the Verifly online drone insurance when I fly for work - $2.5 million liability coverage from $10/ actual flight hour. This is an easy way to itemize and bill the client.
My projects are spread throughout the state and country, so getting FAA authorization will vary with the project site. That being said, I plan to start off flying commercially only where the building is in Class G airspace, thus not requiring FAA authorization. In the Puget Sound area, you're below the floor for SeaTac's Class B fairly quickly, and there are only 7 Class D airspaces: Boeing Field, Renton, Paine, McCord, Fort Lewis, Tacoma Narrows, and Olympia. There is a single Class E surface airport in Bremerton - everywhere else Class E doesn't begin until 700 feet AGL. Everything else is Class G, so there's actually quite a bit of area to fly without seeking authorization from the FAA.

Once the FAA has streamlined their proceedures (see this video on the future of FAA authorization), I will start to fly at my construction sites located in other airspaces.

fella5 · Apr 25, 2017

Wanted to say hi! I got my Mavic a few weeks ago and I'm up in Redmond. Trying to find some spots that I can fly my drone without getting into trouble

. So far I've just been taking it out by the house.

MavicNewb · Apr 25, 2017

fella5 said:
Wanted to say hi! I got my Mavic a few weeks ago and I'm up in Redmond. Trying to find some spots that I can fly my drone without getting into trouble. So far I've just been taking it out by the house.

The only place I know so far that we can legally fly our mavic's is at the 60 acres park or the rc airplane park in redmond area. I will say im guilty of flying my drone out of my backyard up 200ft for some cool shots in seattle

NDAna · Apr 26, 2017

No Mavic yet but will order soon. Have a P4 and will admit am a novice. Live in the Bothell area. Pretty much fly where I want to but not stupidly. Don't go to high, mess with wild life or people. Just cutting my teeth with this amazing hardware. And am an 'oldtimer' 68 years young. Want the Mavic as it will be MUCH easier to carry on the motorcycle.

Peel · May 5, 2017

If anyone was planning of going up to the San Juan Islands to fly, note that from May 8 - June 5, the entire area shown in purple below is a NFZ from the surface to 200 ft AGL. This is to keep people from pestering the Orcas during this time. Unfortunately, the NFZ doesn't simply apply to flying over open water, but covers all of the islands as well. So no flying inland on San Juan Island or Lopez Island. You can't even launch from Mt Constitution on Orcas, because it's AGL not MSL.