Taking off in Salem Massachusetts

[New England Droning]

Hello neighbor. And welcome. I am just down the road from you. SWANSEA.....

You are so close to Providence, can you get in the air in your area? or do you have to travel? Well Met!!!

 

[New England Droning]

Welcome to the sky, Jeff! Enjoy your new perspective. Your ground work is great and I’m sure you’ll do as well flying. As for selling or making money in anyway, you’re going to need the part 107. I had prepared for mine before the virus hit, and will get it someday soon. Lots of free study and practice tests on the net. As for now just enjoying flying and post your work on Facebook as I’m doing. We should connect soon.

I know a few who are selling their work without the part 107 but my aim is to get good with what I have and maybe bring in a lot more eyes this next fall... The mini 2 is good but I'm not sure it's good enough to make a sellable image... But if I do get interest in what I have, I will be looking at the 107. I was a career flyer in the AF so I know enough to be dangerous...

 

[New England Droning]

Have fun with your drone!There are some great places to fly on the north shore.The mansions on the water in Beverly and Manchester are incredible and most can't be seen from the road.The sandbars at low tide in Essex Bay are beautiful.

Thanks, I'm a little nervous over the water but want to circle some lighthouses...

 

[offtheback]

Thanks, I'm a little nervous over the water but want to circle some lighthouses...

Took me a while to get comfortable over water but once you know your drone the desire for photos outweighs the fear.

 

[roaddawg]

Greetings from Sunny Arizona!

 

[New England Droning]

Took me a while to get comfortable over water but once you know your drone the desire for photos outweighs the fear.

It's kind of thrilling but I want to make sure I don't push down on the collective instead of up... really afraid of making that mistake and going submersible

 

[Thomas B]

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

 

[New England Droning]

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

Are all the National parks out your way also no-fly zones for drones? Are the slot canyons no-fly as well? Just curious?

 

[Thomas B]

Are all the National parks out your way also no-fly zones for drones? Are the slot canyons no-fly as well? Just curious?

National Parks are OK to fly, but illegal for TO and landing. National wilderness are essentially no fly zones as min altitude is 2000’ AGL. There are canyons to fly.... special clearance can be obtained but takes a very long time.
Check out my videos from Sedona and the Superstitions. Just search my name and then either Sedona or Superstitions. Get NFS maps from their website. There are often fingers of area where it’s OK to fly.

 

[New England Droning]

Thanks, I'm a little nervous over the water but want to circle some lighthouses...

I see much of these areas are under Beverly's flight control. Not sure which drone you are using but I went into the B4UFLY app and it said it is controlled airspace and you had to go and get LAANC. I assume doing that would involve registering with the FAA which due to my baby drone I haven't done.
At what point do I have to put my big boy pants on and register with the FAA (outside of upgrading to a larger drone). When does the Mini 2 need to be registered to fly? As a hobbyist, this is the reason I got the mini 2. But I also don't want to run afoul of FAA rules or worse, be "ONE OF THOSE" drone pilots that cause issues.
I think the DJI fly app will let me fly in this area (I will find out this afternoon) As I want to circle a lighthouse or two...

 

[Thomas B]

You can register it for $5.00. Easy... put the FAA number on the drone and carry a copy of the registration. Then you’re good to go.
Don’t fly in NFZs even if software allows it, please... for you and all of us.

there are often NFS signs/maps posted at trailheads that are excellent guides

 

[New England Droning]

National Parks are OK to fly, but illegal for TO and landing. National wilderness are essentially no fly zones as min altitude is 2000’ AGL. There are canyons to fly.... special clearance can be obtained but takes a very long time.
Check out my videos from Sedona and the Superstitions. Just search my name and then either Sedona or Superstitions. Get NFS maps from their website. There are often fingers of area where it’s OK to fly.

Is there written guidance that says no TO/Landing but flyovers are ok? I live in Salem MA and I was an NP Ranger there. We had people try to take off. But now I'm not a Ranger anymore. We have a lighthouse out at the end of Derby Wharf and I would like to fly around the lighthouse...

 

[Thomas B]

Is there written guidance that says no TO/Landing but flyovers are ok? I live in Salem MA and I was an NP Ranger there. We had people try to take off. But now I'm not a Ranger anymore. We have a lighthouse out at the end of Derby Wharf and I would like to fly around the lighthouse...
View attachment 118081

It’s on the NFS website... and others. Check the maps for more info.

 

[New England Droning]

It’s on the NFS website... and others. Check the maps for more info.

maps?

 

[Thomas B]

maps?

AirMap, etc, plus any posted at the site. They should show you NFZs...

 

[MA2 317]

Is there written guidance that says no TO/Landing but flyovers are ok? I live in Salem MA and I was an NP Ranger there. We had people try to take off. But now I'm not a Ranger anymore. We have a lighthouse out at the end of Derby Wharf and I would like to fly around the lighthouse...
View attachment 118081

I took a glance at AIRMAP, and it looks like you are on the edge of controlled airspace. At least on the side of the photo taken.

You may be able to go a little south or across the bay and fly to the lighthouse.

 

[Thomas B]

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I took a glance at AIRMAP, and it looks like you are on the edge of controlled airspace. At least on the side of the photo taken.

You may be able to go a little south or across the bay and fly to the lighthouse.

View attachment 118085

Excellent post... you beat me to it.

 

[New England Droning]

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I took a glance at AIRMAP, and it looks like you are on the edge of controlled airspace. At least on the side of the photo taken.

You may be able to go a little south or across the bay and fly to the lighthouse.

View attachment 118085

I went out to Winter Island and did my first LAANC request. I wasn't sure if I would be able to take off without clearance and while it doesn't seem to stop you, I don't think the nag window would go away so I did tackle my first clearance.
I also did DL Kittyhawk and they did my clearance but when I went back to the DJI fly app to do the actual flight and it made me do it over again.
That makes it confusing. Considering I did both of these and it was chilly so I didn't really explore the Kittyhawk functions, maybe I was supposed to do my flight through their app but I didn't see anything intuitive.
So I went back to DJI fly and had to do it over again but it was painless and I flew my mission around Fort Pickering Lighthouse.
Winds were 10MPH/G14 and the mini2 was rock steady. I did get a scare as a flock of geese flew past my drone and while they cleared it by 30' (lateral separation) it was close enough to make me sweat...
For Derby Lighthouse
I would go to Shetland Park. You can drive between buildings and be right next to the lighthouse so keeping LOS is pretty simple. I will just have to watch to make sure I don't overly people walking out to the lighthouse.

Any other thoughts?

 

[New England Droning]

Excellent post... you beat me to it.

Since you are a Mod, I wanted to ask if there was a discussion about using Kittyhawk? Best practices (BP) and people could help each other get through their firs LAANC request and what does KH do for you afterwards, do you stay in it or go back to DJI fly? Things like this would be a good resource. Or do you feel if I go back to KH it will have the BPs there? I may have missed something here because I have NOT read all areas here on Mavic, but a conversation/s on first time flying lessons learned. IE. what preflight to people do? (why or why not).
The YouTuber "51 drone" says "document your preflight to stay out of trouble with the FAA" Should I get a small Notebook and start doing this?

These are the first of a thousand questions that I have and maybe here and you are not the person to ask... thoughts?

 

[JMMath]

Greetings from ? Florida

30° in my part of Fla this morning (Brrrrr)?