Seniors; What aides have you come up with to help you enjoy flying more?

[bluntnose]

A director style folding chair and an understanding wife to place and retrieve the drone (I'm using a knee scooter to get around).

Does dji have any more of those understanding wives in stock? Maybe one that will hold my aviator stick for me?

 

[twoheadlines]

My understanding is the latest model of DJI Wife sold out in minutes. As it was initially thought there wouldn't be a big demand for this type of accessory an initial production was limited to one style. DJI directors do not have immediate plans for a software upgrade, but further production will be considered should demand - and price - be acceptable!

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Younger pilots should be aware that results of upgrading from DJI Girlfriend 1.0 beta to DJI Wife 2.0 final release can vary greatly from case to case

 

[twoheadlines]

EDIT: A note of warning to all pilots thinking about obtaining either the DJI Girlfriend (still in beta) and DJI Wife v2.0. Initial pricing, while so far appearing generally reasonable, can be somewhat overshadowed by potential daily costs. Such expense can more often be higher with the girlfriend model, but for both, costs can add up over time, and be ongoing regardless of whether they can be utilised for augmented flying. Neither model should be absolutely relied upon to "hold a flying stick" in the way one interested senior pilot inquired. There is probably more work to be done in the area of AI I suspect.
Happy flying.!

Younger pilots should be aware that results of upgrading from DJI Girlfriend 1.0 beta to DJI Wife 2.0 final release can vary greatly from case to case

I understand DJI Wife v2. 0 has better AI focused software - meaning attributes such as empathy being much better than DJI Girlfriend beta, which probably focused a bit more towards superficial attributes, having the younger more gung-ho pilots in mind.

 

[LivinLarge]

Be aware that before you upgrade to Wife 2.0, you must completely uninstall Girlfriend. You cannot keep both and you can never go back.

 

[old man mavic]

Be aware that before you upgrade to Wife 2.0, you must completely uninstall Girlfriend. You cannot keep both and you can never go back.

i am afraid if i had either of those i would say flying what flying i have better things to do with them

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

i am afraid if i had either of those i would say flying what flying i have better things to do with them

I believe the term "Dirty old man" is now non P.C. so shall we settle for "sexy senior citizen"?

After 35 years of marriage I never miss the opportunity to get warm and cozy and snuggle up with my Phantom and an operators manual. (Go on, tell me wife I said that. I'll come back and haunt you see if I don't!)

Regards
Ari

 

[twoheadlines]

I'm afraid that forty odd years of marriage now belongs in the realm of fond, loving, and many great memories.
While the idea of assisted, augmented flying is intriguing, I'm not sure settings on the DJI Girlfriend model has provision for high maturity levels. All night partying options don't do it for me either. And, as far as I'm aware there isn't a widow setting.
I guess the best I can do is get up close and personal to the battery charging bank. Plug in the batteries from the M2P and my pacemaker at the same time.
You never know, instead of the earth moving for this sexy senior, a tickle up from shared voltage via a DJI charger might be as good as it gets!

 

[old man mavic]

its a good job we have our boys toys to replace things to do when we retire still got the memories but thats about all , and i was speaking from memory in my post

 

[bliksem]

A younger wife...

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Well, I'm not quite in the league of some of you more senior gentlemen but I'm not expected to reach it either so I feel I can relate. What else is there to say?

Growing older is mandatory ...growing UP however? Strictly optional I say

Regards
Ari

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

A younger wife...

Would kill me

but it would take teams of morticians working shifts 24 hours a day for six months to get the smile off my face

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

i was speaking from memory in my post

You don't know HOW hard it was not to remark on what a fine memory you have

Dymuniadau gorau
Ari

 

[twoheadlines]

Would kill me

but it would take teams of morticians working shifts 24 hours a day for six months to get the smile off my face

Plastic surgery probably wouldn't do either. They say a death mask remains - forever!

 

[Willie14228]

How did it work out for you?

My dad just had his done due to shingles attacking his left eye leaving him completely blind in one eye and very limited in right. Now he sees better than when he was a 15 year old.
Said it wasn't comfortable at all but not painful just bright light and pressure.
They couldn't do anything about the nerve damage around his eyelid or side of face but he can see and loves it.
I honestly can't put myself in the senior bracket yet even though as hard as I've treated my body it does pay me back in the mornings and in cold weather. I've migrated to more expensive shoes (Sketcher) because of the years my heels have been beat up with a 60 pound clutch and vibrations off the floor and always wear long sleeves because of thin skin on left side from sun exposure.
I have two pairs of glasses one script for everyday and one for flying/ shooting
I talked to my eye doc and explained my need and so he adjusted the lower section of my bifocals to fit both.

 

[Willie14228]

A nice 26 year gorgeous female to help me look for it in the woods. ...Ohh wait, I just remembered, I didn't even fly it today. In case my wife is reading, I was just kidding sweetie.

Yep that's my story and I'm sticking to it

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

OK, thanks for the laughs guys but to address the question,

For background I'm 54 but been retired for some time through no choice of my own. I have no right hand rib cage to speak of, have had a right hand chest reconstruction, am down a right lung various other sundries, liver damage and all the muscles in my right hand front and side torso are paralysed due to nerve damage. A little legacy of zigging when I should have zagged. So far I have outlived 4 TTF's (terminal time frames) and am getting stronger, they recinded the terminal diagnosis last November when I kept making the doctors look bad .

I can stand and walk some distance without aids and still have a fair amount of strength but being 6'4" and around 250lb standing for any period is difficult due to no muscles on the right side putting huge strain on those on the left. I can stand for several hours if needed but at a cost and I refuse to take the opiates. I have the added complication of having had my left hand shattered 4 months back and a full reconstruction, I'm still rehabbing that.

I've tried various aids of greater or lesser scale but funnily enough the best thing I have used in my situation is the full DJI harness. The over both shoulder's figure 8 job. Like a lot of us with older eyes I am using a full sized iPad and the weight when coupled with the P4 controller or the Lifthor holder when flying the mavic 2 makes me tend to fall over side ways from compensating after a few hours.

The harness takes the full weight of either setup and properly adjusted allows me to take hands off the controller when the bird is ont he ground and the controller just stays there, I feel safe that it's not going to hit the ground and it distributes the weight across my back where the muscles are still semi normal. After a few hours it makes a *huge* difference especially with my currently reduced left hand grip. It may seem like a small thing but without it I do not think I would have been successful in the practical section of my accreditation for Remote Pilot's certification.

Regards
Ari

 

[Former Member]

OK, thanks for the laughs guys but to address the question,

For background I'm 54 but been retired for some time through no choice of my own. I have no right hand rib cage to speak of, have had a right hand chest reconstruction, am down a right lung various other sundries, liver damage and all the muscles in my right hand front and side torso are paralysed due to nerve damage. A little legacy of zigging when I should have zagged. So far I have outlived 4 TTF's (terminal time frames) and am getting stronger, they recinded the terminal diagnosis last November when I kept making the doctors look bad .

I can stand and walk some distance without aids and still have a fair amount of strength but being 6'4" and around 250lb standing for any period is difficult due to no muscles on the right side putting huge strain on those on the left. I can stand for several hours if needed but at a cost and I refuse to take the opiates. I have the added complication of having had my left hand shattered 4 months back and a full reconstruction, I'm still rehabbing that.

I've tried various aids of greater or lesser scale but funnily enough the best thing I have used in my situation is the full DJI harness. The over both shoulder's figure 8 job. Like a lot of us with older eyes I am using a full sized iPad and the weight when coupled with the P4 controller or the Lifthor holder when flying the mavic 2 makes me tend to fall over side ways from compensating after a few hours.

The harness takes the full weight of either setup and properly adjusted allows me to take hands off the controller when the bird is ont he ground and the controller just stays there, I feel safe that it's not going to hit the ground and it distributes the weight across my back where the muscles are still semi normal. After a few hours it makes a *huge* difference especially with my currently reduced left hand grip. It may seem like a small thing but without it I do not think I would have been successful in the practical section of my accreditation for Remote Pilot's certification.

Regards
Ari

Sorry to hear about your condition but glad you are able to join us here.

I have survived 3 terminal time frames, and I found that the secret is to keep finding the humor in your life, and find a cause. Reminds me of this old joke, "A doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn't pay his bill, so he gave him another six months."

 

[Rocktopper]

I am 69 and have a major problem with keeping my balance when switching from checking my controller to searching the sky for the drone. Also when I am twisting to see the drone, I can lose my balance. Since I am still spry enough to get up from a low chair (it may not be pretty to watch), I have got me a hunters swivel chair for a duck blind. I can lean back taking the load off my herniated disk, and quickly turn should I fly nearly over my head so I can keep the drone in sight.

I had found a web site called seniors in the know where I found bifocal safety glasses that double for me as sunglasses. They are great. I drilled a hole in the frame to mount the Vufine mini monitor.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Sorry to hear about your condition but glad you are able to join us here.

Thank you for the good wishes, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Like all of us who have spent time in and out of medical care you become acutely aware that there's always someone a lot worse off than you are and I'm glad to be able to join in with the crowd here also.

I have survived 3 terminal time frames, and I found that the secret is to keep finding the humor in your life, and find a cause

Well done and exactly my experience! With 2 natural and two foster children I just set myself an objective I need to reach usually to achieve something useful to them and then set myself the next goal and so on. They now tell me I am 50/50 on for 10 more years. In late 2017 it was a case of "don't tell any long jokes"

From what I have read everyone who has posted in this thread knows the most potent medicine we have at our disposal is attitude.

Regards
Ari