1. Where to fly. I live in the Philadelphia suburbs and can think of a few areas around be I could fly (my back yard, my parents back yard, some other remote places). But overall I am worried I wont be able to find enough cool places to go and may end up not using it.
2. Annoying people. I have read a lot of negative opinions about drones online and I have to say I do get it, if you are chilling on the beach and a bunch of people are flying drones I can see how that can get annoying. How do you guys handle that and have you had any run ins with people getting pissed off or annoyed with you while you are flying?
I've been flying this drone after 5-6 years of flying other aircraft, from Phantoms to Radio Controlled aircraft and helicopters. I find great comfort in the safety features and technlogy that the Mini series (and all DJIs) provide. Like you mentioned, there are a few considerations, and fair questions to ask before plunging into the purchase of one of these.
To answer your questions directly:
1- You can fly in a lot of places, especially when coupled with Apps like AirMap, and other tools that will let you know the restrictions for the location you find yourself at. The main focus here is not "Where can I fly?" but rather "preparing to fly", and finding a suitable location. This means within line of sight, keep your drone away from groups of people, etc. It is a bit of learning -tons of data in youtube- and knowing what NOT to do will open a lot of possibilities for your flights.
2- When I fly -say at a local park if I am practicing, or such- I file a flight-plan with Airmap, keep the PDF of the flight permission available on my phone just in case, and then I keep the rules (altitude, safety, etc). I recently did a really nice fly over around my neighborhood, and I flew over the street, early in the morning (lighting was best suited) and no traffic, and I remained on public property. If someone were to approach me, I'd politely advise of my plan and permissions granted, and furthermore always offer to share my footage with that person (say for instance if they're a neighbor) so that they can see what the drone sees, and what the purpose of the flight was. I've never had an actual incident.
Truth is crazy people can approach you in the street at any time for any reason (it's happened to me without flying a drone than with a drone in the air) and those aren't different than all the crazy people out there. If nothing else, be a good example, be polite, and fly another day.
In short:
- Learn the rules
- Plan your flights
- File a flight-plan
- BE OVERT ABOUT YOUR ACTIVITY (Most flyers get in trouble by trying to push the rules, and then pretend they're not there flying, that they're trying to sneak footage away. After a decade and more of Press photography, I can tell you, make yourself known, and be overt. Visible. Mark your landing area. If you're being safe, 99% of the time you'll get people asking you the good questions and not giving you grief).
- Enjoy!
Best,
Mario