Why In The World Did You Get A Drone?

[Carl36]

Why - I was the "Weinner" at an online auction. I never really saw a drone up close until last year. Then I got an email informing me I won an auction. I remember bidding to see what the final price was (you have to bid to see what happens) but I wasn't' even sure what I was bidding on. Since then I have sold a lot and swapped a lot of stuff and gave a lot of toys away to the neighborhood kids. It is nice to be able to crash one or two & have a bunch of replacements. I passed the 107 test week ago. I'm flying just for fun.
State/County: Ga.
How long Flying: 12 months?
107: Yes
Here is a PDF- if it will load:

A big WOW!! looks like a great bargain, well done.

 

[Beachboy]

Reason:
After spending 22 years in the USAF as an Air Traffic Controller and then working for NASA at the Cape, anything that fly's interests me. I have always enjoyed photography especially wildlife so a drone with the high res cameras it was a no brainer to get into them. I've had play drones for years but got serious last year and got my first MA, now I have a fleet MP2 and Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. got my Part 107 last year, I fly daily weather permitting. Now I'm getting Realtors to ask me to video for them and I have a real interest in mapping and construction.

Location: Tarpon Springs Fl
Aircraft: Mavic Air, Mavic 2 zoom with Smart Controller, Phantom 4 Pro V2.0
How long Flying: 2 years
107: 1 year

 

[W2EJ]

State/Country: New York/Nassau
Drone Type(s): Mavic 2 Pro
How long Flying: 18 months
107? : YES
Why???: It's just so cool! The technology is amazing, it really blew me away. I have always been very much into photography, so it was a natural extension of that. I still have not learned to edit video, but I will. I would like to be able to create videos like some of the ones posted on this forum. The people here are incredibly talented.

 

[Beachboy]

Tampa Florida
Mavic Air
0 Flight time
Testing tomorrow. Wish me luck.
I'm a real estate photographer and need to add this to the services I offer and I want to do it legally. The Mavic Air seems perfect for the task.

Good luck you'll do fine!

 

[Beachboy]

State/Country: New York
Drone Type(s): Mavic 2 Pro
How long Flying: 18 months
107? : YES
Why???: It's just so cool! The technology is amazing, it really blew me away. I have always been very much into photography, so it was a natural extension of that. I still have not learned to edit video, but I will. I would like to be able to create videos like some of the ones posted on this forum. The people here are incredibly talented.

I to have the editing issues can't get it together, but practice will help I hope !

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

State: Utah, USA
Drone: Mavic 2 Pro
How long flying: about 4 and a half years
107: Nope, recreational flyer

Reason: I got into photography in high school back in the film days and I grew up spending time in the mountains and deserts near my home in Salt Lake City. The Mavic allows me to shoot stills and videos of all of the great scenery I visit from unique and beautiful perspectives.

 

[PhoenixBird]

Great question and fun reading the responses. Me, I was a television news helicopter videographer back in the 80’s - now I’m shooting with an Mavic Air and a Pro. I was hand-held with a 3/4 inch videotape camera back then. It weighed about 15 pounds and we’d take the door off to get better shots. Now I can shoot 4K with a stabilized gimbal - what a difference! And, that news chopper cost about 250K and $200/hour to operate - in 1980’s dollars! Love the capability of the drones; I can get better shots and fly in more confined spaces.

 

[offtheback]

Hello all, Its just a question right? Lets have a little get to know session. Form your reply as follow please:

State/Country: Florida
Drone Type(s): Mavic 2 Pro
How long Flying: 4 months
107? : YES
Why???: I like hobbies and a guy at work had one he brought in and showed off. I Had RC cars, boats, and planes growing up. I have an hobbyist Photography company. I also started to research the uses for new drone Tech in the workplace. I saw the writing on the wall and decided to jump in feet first. I studied for the 107 for 3 weeks and took the test. Once I received my Card I purchased my M2P and accessories. I presented my work with my intent to bring in a drone program and gave them the top 5 reasons we would benefit from the use. I have 2 drones budgeted for ordering October, A Mavic Enterprise and a M210. I have started training others in my workplace, they are all VO now and will have 107 certs by Christmas. I like helping others and finding solutions to problems this venture allows me to do that in a whole new way.

Massachusetts/USA,Mavic 2 Pro,11 months,no 107
I've had photography as a hobby 50 years+ and in the last few years went up in a Cessna 172(as a passenger)to do photography.Loved it and at $250 or so per flight saw that a drone would save me piles of cash? I love the perspective and the boatload of new photo ops from the sky.After I got over the view from 300-400 feet I began to find captivating subjects 30-50 feet up.Since I got the drone I easily use it 3-4 times as often as my ground camera.I never flew RC planes and am amazed by the technology in the M2P

 

[pmshop]

State/Country: Texas USA
Drone Type(s): 4X Syma X5C, 2X Syma X8C, 1 500U 6S Quad, 1 550 4S Hex, 2X Spark, 2X Mavic Air,
How long Flying: 4.5 years
107? : NO
Why???
Mainly, because of this:

After I saw that, I thought "maybe I should become a drone pilot"?
I quit smoking in January of 2015 so there was my budget.
Valentines day I got a Syma X5C clone.
Got the rest of the mentioned Syma fleet between that and October where I built my first 450 quad drone.
And by 1 year later, I got this with the home made:

By March 2016 I built the 550 Hex.
December of 2016, I built a Tarot 680pro hex
Around April of 2017, I could finally "see" what i was videoing with FPV.
And played around with a 6S 500 upswept arm quad that summer.
September, I missed a shot because my compass refused to calibrate.
My wife and i talked about it and I got my first DJI Spark flymore package.
Seeing as I had tons of spare parts for my home made drones to elf repair but nothing for the Spark, My wife suggested for me to purchase another Spark for a backup and showed me some good deals on QVC

Same happened with the Mavic Air when I decided to upgrade.

Since my time as a sUAV pilot, I have captured landscapes, sunrise/ sunset scenery, landmarks, historical floods and the Presidential Funeral Train.

Where I go next, no idea...

 

[theDRONEranger]

State/Country: Colorado Springs, CO
Drone Type(s): Mavic Air & Spark
How long Flying: 1 1/2 years drones
107? : YES, so I could force myself to be as knowledgeable as possible (for me)
Why???: Had a remote control helicopter I would fly in the house, at least up to the point the pilot was grounded permanently, by home control, due to numerous crashes into the flowers pots. Retired from military, retired from state . . . he!!, that makes me tired and retired! Great hobby, albeit, it can get expensive. A lot of fun and gets us out of the house more often as well. Daughter is grown, married, and has her military career (Major in US Army), dogs are in the great puppy pound in the sky! Not ready to go belly up and call it quits!

 

[razoraerial]

I have been asking myself that same question for several years. I still can’t say for sure the answer. Definitely hooked. Lol Location Wisconsin, fox cities Drones , a couple mainly MPP or P4A. 107 yep. This has been a. Interesting topic.

 

[SandiSCE]

Why - I was the "Weinner" at an online auction. I never really saw a drone up close until last year. Then I got an email informing me I won an auction. I remember bidding to see what the final price was (you have to bid to see what happens) but I wasn't' even sure what I was bidding on. Since then I have sold a lot and swapped a lot of stuff and gave a lot of toys away to the neighborhood kids. It is nice to be able to crash one or two & have a bunch of replacements. I passed the 107 test week ago. I'm flying just for fun.
State/County: Ga.
How long Flying: 12 months?
107: Yes
Here is a PDF- if it will load:

Dumb question: you got all that as one auction item? What auction: estate, store closing, blind storeroom auction?

 

[passedpawn]

State/Country: Florida, USA
Drone Type(s): Mavic 2 Pro
How long Flying: 1 months
107? : Naw, not really sure what this is, but if it's for commercial drone work then I'm not interested

One of my clients bought me this to incentivize me to work on his project (I'm busy and was pushing him back). It worked! Having a lot of fun with it. Not interested in making money with it. I think when the M3P comes out I need to slow down on his stuff again

 

[PoonDog]

Interesting question.
Let’s see, I’m from Bellingham Washington
Mavic air and a inexpensIve phantom nock off
I have been flying for about a year
I’m 75 years old.
I have been screwing around with cameras for a bunch of years and Had what was a good SLR. Kind of lost interest when I found out that an iPad took better pictures.
I have been a aircraft nut since I took my first flight with my Dad on my first birthday.I still am of the opinion that if it doesn’t have propellers it’s not an airplane.Also an avid off-roader. We have been spending our winters in Baja for the last twelve years. I was still taking a lot of pictures and on one of our trips across Baja I realized that the drone would add another prospective. I don’t do videos and I don’t do high altitude photos. Mostly under 100 feet and I talk to much and can’t spell so I’ll quit.

 

[ron77584]

State/Country: Houston,tx / USA
Drone Type(s): Mavic Air, Spark
How long Flying: 2 years
107? : no

I started out with a $20.00 drone that caught my eye standing in line in a grocery store a few days before Christmas and within a few weeks went to walmart and got a $70.00 skyviper and next a $100.00 skyviper with gps, then the Spark and 8 months later the mavic air.
I cant think of anything I enjoy more than heading out somewhere to fly and to think it all started because I was out of milk.

 

[bassnbeau]

State/Country: Southern Maryland
Drone Type(s): 2 Mavic Pro's
How long Flying: 2 years
107? : no

Was into photography, still have a bunch of Canon's laying around. My nephew had a P3, flew it and had to have one. Love taking video's, still a big learning curve on the editing part. So much to learn, so little time. Will be headed to Maine this fall for the color changes, can't wait.

 

[TheWolfen]

State/Country: Arizona, USA
Drone Type(s): Mavic Pro, previously Blade Chroma
How long Flying: 4 years +
107? : No
Why???: I've been an amateur photographer for many years and wanted a new perspective. I really enjoy aerial photography although I mostly only get to fly on trips out of town. Some day I'll be able to justify an upgrade to the M2 pro or zoom (or it's future replacement)!

 

[johnmeyer]

State/Country:NY, Bronx County
Drone Type(s): Mavic Pro
How long Flying: 2 year +
107? : Soon
Why???: Love photography. My father built a darkroom in our home when i was nine years of age. I loved seeing how the photo came together. Cinema always fascinated me. Specially the arial shots. Got into the arial shots and video to take it to the next level. Im hooked.

Same here. I was in a darkroom from age 6 (1958) onward. I got the drone to take high-quality, low-altitude photographs and videos.

 

[johnmeyer]

State/Country: New York, USA
Drone Type(s): Mavic Air, Spark, Tello, Parrot Anafi
How long Flying: 1 Year
107? : No
Why???: Originally, it was to autonomously record my wedding procession as there would be no other way to get video of me and my bride walking up the 18th fairway towards our guests awaiting us on the patio of the clubhouse. Then I got the bug ;-) Here is my very first video (audio is all dubbed in). A bit shout out to anyone that can guess the music.:

I've done videos of half a dozen weddings as a gift to the bride. I've thought about using a drone, but felt it would be too obtrusive. Also, I usually have four cameras filming at the same time, and I could not possibly have enough concentration to pilot the drone, even if it were in some tracking mode.

Wasn't the drone a little bit intrusive? I would be worried both about the noise (although bagpipe noise overwhelms any other sound on earth) as well as the visual the audience would get. They might look more at the drone than the two of you.

It is, however, a brilliant video, so congratulations on that.

I do know, firsthand, how distracting it can be to use technology during a wedding. My daughter, who is a professional runner, got married outdoors two years ago. While the wedding party was waking down the aisle, she suddenly bolted the other way. "On no," I thought, "runaway bride." It turned out that she was wearing her Garmin training watch and was going to record the walk down the aisle, just like she records every day's training run, and since we were hiding under a canopy of trees so the congregation couldn't see us, she wasn't getting enough GPS satellites.

She got it working and posted her 0.1 mph run that evening on Strava.

 

[xjjon]

State/Country: Washington
Drone Type(s): Mavic 2 Pro
How long Flying: 1 month
107? : No
Why???: I do a ton of landscape photography as a hobby (couple times a week) and a drone seemed like a good companion to my regular camera setup. Gives a different perspective and who doesn't like new toys?

Here's a few shots from my first flight: