Drone Pilot

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Thanks Joe. I already have two drones a quad and a hexcopter. I can put cameras on them but only to take pics, no real-time video. The dock can not be seen from the house (lots of trees in the way) so once over the trees control would be strictly by real-time video feed. From what I've read that is not as easy as it would seem. My second problem is distance from the house. Most simple drones are in the 300 - 500ft range and of course flight time is also important. Put it all together and I'm in the $800 - $1100 range making an expensive crash
 
Yea, that seems like a bit high risk - if you're operating under the parameters that I posted you cannot lose visual contact with the unit.

When I get mine, my plan is just to operate it more as a trainer, building hours and keeping everything low risk. If I ever land a gig operating a drone, I'll let someone else take the risks!
 
I'VE Looked closely at the Phantom and it appears to be a very high quality unit with owners giving it 4.8 stars out of 5. All say that it is very easy to fly. One or two said they had initial problems setting it up but then it was all down hill. Most used the Ipad to receive the video feed.
Everything here is forest with very few clear areas except the lake and the drone doesn't float so....pontoons?
 
Landing an RC floatplane is about as hard as it gets. not sure about how a drone would go, but I would shy away as a learner from anything amphibian.

I don't think that word of caution is applicable to a qualified pilot, but to us other mere mortals , start with the baby steps
 
While water's adhesive & cohesive forces present severe problems (and benefits) to small objects (insects) the adhesive effects on large powered objects are really inconsequential. Small insects can't even "enter" water, i.e. Break through the surface tension, and if they are forced under can't get out.
I have a helo like the one in the film and they are difficult to fly and very subject to even light breezes. Most Drones, such as the Phantom, are quad-copters having 4 powerful motors driving 4 props which give a stable and strong lifting force. Copter drones also tend to be more wind resistant, e.g. the Phantom states up to 15mph winds.
My main concern would be coming down straight and even on a smooth surface (no waves)
 


I don't do DJI myself but I believe the Phantom has both autoland and auto return and land (both manual and with signal loss). As far as FPV goes, 2.4 GHz is typically used for aircraft control because it isn't too demanding of line-of-sight for connection but the 5.8 GHz typically used for FPV is going to struggle a bit if not line-of-sight so 900MHz might be what you want instead, but it needs big antennas and the picture often ain't so great and, overall, you may end up with a requirement for an FCC Ham Radio license (pretty easy to get but who's gonna know anyway ...).
 
Yea the problems mount. Initially it sounded good but the problems and expense continue to mount. Over $1000 and the possibility of a crash. I have no line-of-sight. If I did I'd just get a big telescope and be done with it. We have a "road" to the dock but it's on Corps land so any kind/type of maintenance is forbidden. Pretty soon its going to take a tank to get up and down it.
 
Hi Guys - updating this a bit.

I've been flying a DJI Phantom 3 Standard for about a month now, as a matter of fact I have two and a third one coming. I am planning to try to do a part-time side business with them that involves instruction and rental, but I'm still a few months away from officially kicking it off. Here are my rigs - the one with the landing gear extension is my current workhorse, the stock one is going to be a rental/ trainer along with the third one which is inbound. I am looking down the road to get a Typhoon H. Anyway, more to come!


 
Well my paying hobby has grown. I've expanded my fleet to 4 aircraft - 3 Phantom 3 Standards and one Phantom 3 Pro. I just got the pro, bought it second hand with under 10 flights on it. I'm slowing getting paid gigs but this whole industry is under continual scrutiny and suspicion. It doesn't help when some idiot flies a drone into a baseball game!

Pilot could face fine for drone crashes at Padres game

Anyway, here's my "fleet."

 
Very impressive FBJ. One question if you don't mind, why so many? I can understand the upgrade as having more capability and a reserve in case of an accident but you can only fly one at at time.
I most sincerely hope things continue to go your way
 
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