Anyone use a drone?

[Okefenokee_D]

Been debating about getting a Drone. I figure it would be nice to have to look around the property and also video/photograph things.

Anyone got one? What do you use yours for? Is it worth getting?

[sprucebunny]

Check for airports and prisons near where you want to fly it. Those have a 4-5 mile exclusion zone.

[Okefenokee_D]

I am good there. Drone I am looking at doesn't have Geofencing like DJI does, but still need to obey.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have a Autel Robotics X-star Premium that I play with from time to time. Can be handy for scouting hay and crops in the field. Also can use it to check on cows. Fun toy to play around with.

Worth the cost? Probably not.

[btulloh]

My cousin's son has several and he comes over here to fly them sometimes.  His big drone is a quadcopter with quite a bit of lifting capacity and flight time and it carries both a real-time camera and a GoPro (or 2) for recorded video.  It can fly pre-programmed or self guided.  It's really pretty capable.  So without having to buy one or learn all the ins and outs I've gotten sort of free look into the situation.

Going up and looking around is pretty neat, especially the first few times.  The recorded video from the GoPro's is really good.  Even at 300 or 400 feet altitude, you get a good perspective on the world.  If you're a weather watcher it's kind of interesting to watch fronts and storms in the distance.

All that being said,  I think the novelty wears off pretty quick - for me anyway.  I'd say that's going to vary from person to person, and also depends on how many other irons you've got in the fire.  There are times I hear something in the distance and I'd like to "release the drones" and take a quick look.  I'd have to keep one on ready standy-by to really do that, but it could be done.

My bottom line is this though:  I got a good dose of drone without any investment of time or money and after the shine wore off I don't feel compelled to own one.  That's just me though, everyone's going to have a different outlook on that.

[florida]

I have one but would say it's an expensive toy. It's fun but like the boat I never use. If I was younger and could see better I'd probably be more inclined to use it but every time I fly it I worry about losing it. 

[beav]

I got bitten by the drone bug.
I used to build and fly (crash) rc gliders. You had to pay attention until landed. You had to fly it.
The drones I fly are gps satellite guided. If you need a break just let go of the sticks and it will hover in place.
I also enjoy photography and the aerial perspective is fun and different.
I got my drones like most junk I have - broken on Craigslist.
The movies and pictures are of surprisingly good quality.
My goal this winter is to get killer videos and pix of the skate and ski sailors on the lake here

[Tom the Sawyer]

I bought a DJI Mavic Air last summer.  Haven't had a lot of time to use it but it takes great video and presents a different perspective on our place.  I programmed it to fly our property lines (only 10 acres) but it is very handy over the woods, creek, etc.  

May use it for some of my mill videos, but I'm the one running the mill.  Nathan Elliott (123MaxBars) incorporates it very well in his YouTube videos.

[Resonator]

A lot of the You Tube channels I watch use them to record construction and earthmoving. They show the overall lay of the land, and before and after shots of the job. One of the quarry companies I hauled rock out of would fly over their stockpiles, and use it to calculate how many tons of material they had on the ground.

[charles mann]

FYI for drone operation

https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/

[Raider Bill]

I've had one for a year, sort of.. Neighbor got it for Christmas last year and got it stuck in the oak tree in front of my house Christmas day. Far as I know it's still there.
Guess it wasn't worth the price of a bucket truck to retrieve it.

[Old Greenhorn]

I've had one for a year, sort of.. Neighbor got it for Christmas last year and got it stuck in the oak tree in front of my house Christmas day. Far as I know it's still there.
Guess it wasn't worth the price of a bucket truck to retrieve it.

NoW That's funny right there!!!! :D :D Sounds like it stays up forever on a single charge.

[Ron Wenrich]

I always thought they would be good for locating possible timber and to check up on logging operations.  You can cover a much larger area than you can on foot.  It probably would be pretty good for sale layout.  If you use it as a tool instead of a toy, you can figure out more uses.

[Okefenokee_D]

I just ordered the Autel EVO for $1000 😳. My goals is to use it to watch over my property especially trespassers (all these Palmetto berry thefts). I figured too, that if I was burning my woods I could put it in the air to check the lines for any spot fires. Pictures and videos of nature would be nice too. I guess I will try it out...I would have 30 days to return it under Amazon.

I plan to use it at work though we are suppose to get one, but it won't stay here with me.

[btulloh]

 

Looking forward to a full report and some video.

[Wudman]

Couple of things of note to keep the government off your back here in the states.  First off, flight has to be line of sight.  You have to be looking at your unit at all times.  That pretty much limits its use until that regulation is changed.  Secondly, for commercial use, one must have a pilot's license.  I can fly around my house and take pictures of my yard for personal use, but if it is used for any business purpose, one needs a pilot's license to operate.  I'm supposed to be getting trained and take my test.......but for forestry use, there is not a lot of application due to the line of sight restriction.

Wudman

[charles mann]

Wudman, i posted the regs from the faa site, pretty much touching what you typed. I figured they could read the regs for themselves so they cant say i didnt know. 

We deal with hobby drone operators wanting to looky-loo at the fires, inside and out of the restricted airspace. There have been many near misses and several midair collisions. Even as little as those things are, they can cause 10s-100s of 1000s of $$$ in damage and possibly loss of aircraft and crew. 
Not to long ago a mil h-60 hit a quad-copter, damaging 1 blade beyond repair and pieces of blade and drone were ingested in the engine, fodding it out and causing the already under powered acft to make an emergency landing in a field. 
There was a near miss of a sheriff heli in fl and the pilot had a camera on and it showed the leo heli at a lil over 500' and then a lil black spec entered the screen at the same altitude. Luckily the drone passed just outside the rotor disk and no collision happened. Those low alt incidents are why the regs are in place and a max alt of 400' has been established. 

I highly doubt regs will change for the better for drone operations, hobby or commercial. With the popularity of hobby and comm drone operations, regs will become more strict, not less. 

[Traci]

Don't own a drone but a few years ago felt disrespected and an invasion of privacy when someone took pics of my house, woods and backyard with his drone and then wanted to sell them to me. Wish they would have asked first.

[charles mann]

Don't own a drone but a few years ago felt disrespected and an invasion of privacy when someone took pics of my house, woods and backyard with his drone and then wanted to sell them to me. Wish they would have asked first.

There is a guy in florida that does that as business, using robinson helis. he takes pics of boats and persons on it, then offers to sell them the pics and some people actually hire him for it. His business model is, new pilots have to pay him to fly for him, even though they might have just dropped $60-70k in flt training. 

[Okefenokee_D]

Don't own a drone but a few years ago felt disrespected and an invasion of privacy when someone took pics of my house, woods and backyard with his drone and then wanted to sell them to me. Wish they would have asked first.

That's messed up. But from what I know airspace is  public starting at 500'. Below...supposedly no one knows for sure.

[DFILER2]

Don't own a drone but a few years ago felt disrespected and an invasion of privacy when someone took pics of my house, woods and backyard with his drone and then wanted to sell them to me. Wish they would have asked first.

That's interesting, they have been doing that around here with airplanes for many many years. We have one my FIL bought in the 1940's and we purchased an update in about 1978. Since then someone has stopped in with the offer a few times and now they come with the picture already framed. Just pointing out that that isn't a new thing at all.

[SawyerTed]

I caught a drone!  A drone hovered over my back yard at about 50' and seemed to be imaging my house and outbuildings.  It was no match for my Tica 10' surf rod, 30 pound test on a Penn reel and a Hopkins spoon.  Second cast took it down.   Never have heard from he owner.....

[Old Greenhorn]

Good for you! This is no different than trespassing. several years ago there was a Fire department south of me working a house fire and some idiot decided to fly his drone in and get close shots while these guys were working. He was incensed when the firefighters turned the hose on the drone because it was distracting, too close, and they had no idea where or who the pilot was. When I commented that he had no idea the hazard he was adding to an already hazardous situation he had no clue. He felt he had a 'right' to have his drone there, hovering 40 feet over the back deck of somebodies property. 
As with everything, people need to treat others with respect.

[charles mann]

Good for you! This is no different than trespassing. several years ago there was a Fire department south of me working a house fire and some idiot decided to fly his drone in and get close shots while these guys were working. He was incensed when the firefighters turned the hose on the drone because it was distracting, too close, and they had no idea where or who the pilot was. When I commented that he had no idea the hazard he was adding to an already hazardous situation he had no clue. He felt he had a 'right' to have his drone there, hovering 40 feet over the back deck of somebodies property.
As with everything, people need to treat others with respect.

That fire dept and sawyer ted's incidents are why the feds require registration numbers on the drone and they have to be registered with the faa. If i catch 1 over my property, 00 buck will fix the problem and ill hand it on my windsock pole out by the road. It'll be on display for all to see what happens when they trespass on my property. 

[beav]

Are you going to shoot down all the airplanes and helicopters "trespassing" in the federal airspace above your place?

[Old Greenhorn]

Are you going to shoot down all the airplanes and helicopters "trespassing" in the federal airspace above your place?

Well, if they hover at 50', I think yeah, I just might. But do we really want to go there?

[charles mann]

Are you going to shoot down all the airplanes and helicopters "trespassing" in the federal airspace above your place?

If its a friend or my business partner coming to land at my house in a heli, and is just hovering and looks to be taking pictures, ill approach, make visual contact with the meat servo and give him a visual warning. A drone is NOT a real heli or airplane. If its hovering and turning and i think its casing the place, YES, ill shoot it down. Its no different than fishing for it and bringing it down. 
There is plenty of open grain fields around me, if its an emergency, they wouldnt sit there and hover, they would land. I have no issues with them landing and saying they have a mech failure. If i cant get it going, ill be glad to give them a 10 mile ride to the local airport for parts and or consumables and somewhere to grab some chow. 
Emergencies in a real aircraft take precedence, not some twerp with a radio controlled toy. My property isnt listed on a sectional as an airport, not even a pvt airport, so there is NO reason for a remote controlled toy to be trespassing. 
Plus the regs give a minimum alt for aircraft to be at, stuck wings is 500' in rural and 1000' in residential or populated areas. Rotorwing is at any alt that allows for safe landing in the event of eng failure and may land anywhere as to not cause damage or harm to persons, property or buildings. 
Again, BIG dif between actual aircraft and a toy. 

[beav]

Even a SAR squad drone on a search and rescue mission?

[Traci]

I agree that pics have been taken for a very long time. I remember seeing my grandparents and parents with them but they were taken from planes that don't go near as low as drones do. I was born in 1974 and though that isn't too long ago, very much has changed since then in all aspects of technology and of people in how they think, feel and react. It is, from what I understand, against the law to shoot one down though. I have a friend who has a drone and takes great pics and videos and has made a business for himself but he is also given permission. I think drones would be a wonderful tool for personal use or business, but be respectful of other peoples privacy if you do get one.

[doc henderson]

Fresh out of the military and recently married, my dad was an aerial photographer in the early 60s.  Dr. Pepper tasted so good back then, and i could walk across the dirt road by myself to buy it with a dime at age 3.  i got my first spanking by my mom and it was the tiniest tap with a fly swatter.  i laughed and she got better at it!  the pics my dad was taking were blown up into big B&W photos that they overlapped and glued together, and this was how maps were made.  they flew in a straight line on a grid and snapped a pic every 7 seconds. how things have changed.

[beav]

Traci you are right. It is illegal to shoot them down and the operators need to be respectful of others.
Google earth and Google street would give me a better image of your place than any prosumer drone would.

[Traci]

Oh no, Google earth gets a good shot but def not near as good as the up close drone did. Could see my front door even with a covered porch. There is nothing but trees for google street view. Total invasion of privacy.

[Ianab]

Total invasion of privacy.

"Expectation of privacy " is a legal thing. 

If someone can see you from the street, then you can't claim that as "private". 

If you are sunning yourself in the back yard with a tall fence, then you can reasonably expect that to be "private". If some plane comes over with a camera at 1,000 ft, you can't really do much about that. But if some random drone comes over at 50 ft and hovers there taking video? That's a whole different thing. 

I'd go with "I was just doing some skeet shooting, and it was an unfortunate accident."

[Papa1stuff]

I sold a house a year ago and they used a drone to take some very good pictures of the house ,I believe it helped to sell the house in less than a month!

[Chuck White]

My brother just sold his house and property a few weeks ago, and the realtor used a drone to take pics of everything, including the 100+ acres of woodland (hunting area) and the house and yard!

[SawyerTed]

Drones can be very useful, I don't doubt that.  They can also be used for nefarious ends.  As with any tool responsible operation is key.  Even law enforcement has strict limits on drone use for surveillance of criminal activity. 

The one I caught had no legitimate purpose doing what it was doing. I suspect that's why I never heard from the owner.

[doc henderson]

we got a drone after the sawing forum @customsawyer place (my son and i share).  we watch real time video as we fly, so I guess you could take you time with your shot and see if they turn and run.  In Ks you are able to protect your family and your property.  If you feel they are poss. planning to steal property and or do harm to your family (many robberies go bad and people get hurt),  I think you could take out the drone.  You may have to go to court, but if you sincerely felt threatened with an in your face drone, I think you would do well.  if I knew the owner, I would show up at there house and have a talk with them.  just like using a weapon to defend your life and liberty, it comes with responsibility.

[whatwas]

I "had" a drone several years ago , it was great around the property. I had to fish it out of the trees a few times but the no harm done. When I say "had" it was last seen heading east over the trees and off to where ever drones go to when they (old technology) get out of range. I never told my wife and after a year or so she quit asking "why don't you use that drone thing anymore" I still have the remote etc just in case it ever comes home. 

[Roxie]

 :D

[charles mann]

Even a SAR squad drone on a search and rescue mission?

"excuse me mr drone. are here for business or pleasure?" see, you can ask and get an answer from a remote control toy. IF its actual business, then the operator will have complied with the regs, which i linked on page 1 and a person can look up the reg # and see who owns it. you are playing semantics. i believe in personal privacy and believe EVERYONE deserves privacy on their own land, regardless if its .25ac or 25,000ac. my 5 ac i live on is mine, i own a drone, but it has never left my property boundary. i keep to myself and expect to be left alone. if others don't respect that, regardless of their intentions, then so be it, that is what the legal system is for and with all the issues surrounding drone operations in areas they aren't suppose to be in, iv got better than a 80% chance of winning the legal actions. 

[beav]

Thank you for posting faa website pertaining to drone operation. You should read it.
How can you tell the difference between a lost drone and a SAR mission?

[charles mann]

Thank you for posting faa website pertaining to drone operation. You should read it.
How can you tell the difference between a lost drone and a SAR mission?

i did read it. you should re-read it. iv already explained HOW to tell. it lays out specific requirements, and that was only for recreational use, commercial use has more requirements and SAR would fall under commercial use, unless its a private operator out looking for mr. kitty or mrs. ruff-ruff or their lost kid. 
if a person wants access to MY property, then come ask me, depending the circumstance, i might grant it. 

[Old Greenhorn]

When I say "had" it was last seen heading east over the trees and off to where ever drones go to when they (old technology) get out of range. I never told my wife and after a year or so she quit asking "why don't you use that drone thing anymore" I still have the remote etc just in case it ever comes home.

By any chance, when last seen was your drone headed in the direction of @WV Sawmiller 's place?  ;D
 Asking for a friend. :D

[beav]

Mr. Mann: I am familiar with the drone laws and i still maintain it is illegal to shoot one down.
And please explain how I can tell if that noisy dot in the sky is on a search and rescue mission, lost, or being operated by bad characters. The drones are small and the Id #'s are tiny

[Okefenokee_D]

Well, mine should be here Monday. I may send it over the Okefenokee and get some shots Tuesday.

[beav]

Pictures or it didn't happen!
Congrats!  Keep it within line of sight and under 400'!
Register it with the faa. You can do it online for $5. Actually you are registering you.
Reading the preceding thread will suggest a few places to stay away from.

[WV Sawmiller]

When I say "had" it was last seen heading east over the trees and off to where ever drones go to when they (old technology) get out of range. I never told my wife and after a year or so she quit asking "why don't you use that drone thing anymore" I still have the remote etc just in case it ever comes home.

By any chance, when last seen was your drone headed in the direction of @WV Sawmiller 's place?  ;D
Asking for a friend. :D

Hardest critter I ever tried to clean and cook.

[Logger RK]

My brother inlaw happen to be over at my place when my nephew was flying his drone not far from us. He asked if you can shot them down. I said if your good enough of a shot you can. He didnt ask if it was legal.  ;D

[Magicman]

Google the legality of shooting down a drone.  Here is one:  Shooting down a drone

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have no knowledge how or why the deceased drone in question suddenly appeared on my skinning rack. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D

[Okefenokee_D]

Google the legality of shooting down a drone.  Here is one:  Shooting down a drone

Yeah, they post about no drones on every wildfire I go on.

Sucks to need some fire retardant or water, but cant get it due to a drone.

[beav]

If you want you can see some of my drone footage in the thread "well" in sawmills and milling reply #273.
That was all done with a dji spark

[Okefenokee_D]

If you want you can see some of my drone footage in the thread "well" in sawmills and milling reply #273.
That was all done with a dji spark

I'll take a look! Thanks!

[Okefenokee_D]

Video from my Autel Evo drone.

Autel Evo Test Flight 1 - YouTube

Autel Evo Test Flight 2 - YouTube

Select 1080P 60FPS in the video quality

I may keep this thing. Be nice to record some prescribed burning this winter!

Good video with the Spark, Beav!

[beav]

Wow okefenokee_d!!
Cool footage! That was your first flight? How the heck did you fly through those trees so far away? Vr goggles? vlos? The camera did well pointing right into the sun. Nice panning.
I checked it out, the evo is quite a machine. Can you adjust the telephoto lens on the fly or do you have to change them on the ground?
That was fun to watch!

[Okefenokee_D]

Wow okefenokee_d!!
Cool footage! That was your first flight? How the heck did you fly through those trees so far away? Vr goggles? vlos? The camera did well pointing right into the sun. Nice panning.
I checked it out, the evo is quite a machine. Can you adjust the telephoto lens on the fly or do you have to change them on the ground?
That was fun to watch!

Thanks!
Pretty much. Never took it into the woods so I decided to try it. I had obstacle avoidance on so it kind of helped me see how far I was from limbs. I connected my Samsung S10+ up to view it better.
Adjust the lens? Like how? Adding the filters? I know I can adjust the exposure and other things on the go. 
The glare from the sun had the sky white. I need to figure out the right setting to tone down the white in the sky.