I hope there is an activities section to this forum at some point. I would like to see how others are having fun with their Phantom (any model).
This weekend my son, Craig, (just graduated from Georgia Tech with his PhD! Proud parents) and I took the side by side ATV, the Phantom 1, and video camera and headed to the trails. I live in central Tennessee and we have lots of woods and trails. The trails are very hilly with trees and brush everywhere. The trails are pretty wild.
I have had my Phantom for about three weeks. Each day I fly different challenges to get used to the controls and flight characteristics. The trail ride was a huge test. As we moved along the trail, I tried to keep the Phantom about 20 -30 feet in front of the ATV and three feet above the ground. There were trees and brush to dodge. The slope of the trail created its own problems.
We got started with me in the right seat flying the Phantom. Craig drove the ATV. Off we went. Straight and level was no problem. Then the first hill. The Phantom is flying uphill and dodging trees. Life is good. Then it happened. The Phantom crests the hill and there is a downward slope. The ATV is still climbing the hill. Talk about struggling with your senses. You have to quickly begin to lower the Phantom or you will fly into the trees in a flash. The first few hundred yards were crazy. I kept shouting to "slow down!". We were able to fly 12 minutes on one battery and cover about 1.5 miles of trail.
Only once did I run into real problems. I could not see over the crest of a hill and a tree's branches were lower than I expected. I had to react quickly and ...... I pushed forward on the stick to go down. OOPs. I shaved a few leaves but we kept going. I have struggled with the push forward to go up and pull back to go down. I finally realized why. I am a pilot and I have flown aircraft with sticks and normal controls. You push the stick (or controls) forward to go down and pull back to go up. I haven't done it but I will definitely be trying to change the control stick to match a real aircraft. (Any suggestions on how to do that?) Two batteries and 3 miles later we exited the woods. I was exhausted. Great fun and only shaved a few leaves. Craig drove and filmed at the same time. I still haven't figure out good video production and am looking for tools. I will be submitting the video soon.
This weekend my son, Craig, (just graduated from Georgia Tech with his PhD! Proud parents) and I took the side by side ATV, the Phantom 1, and video camera and headed to the trails. I live in central Tennessee and we have lots of woods and trails. The trails are very hilly with trees and brush everywhere. The trails are pretty wild.
I have had my Phantom for about three weeks. Each day I fly different challenges to get used to the controls and flight characteristics. The trail ride was a huge test. As we moved along the trail, I tried to keep the Phantom about 20 -30 feet in front of the ATV and three feet above the ground. There were trees and brush to dodge. The slope of the trail created its own problems.
We got started with me in the right seat flying the Phantom. Craig drove the ATV. Off we went. Straight and level was no problem. Then the first hill. The Phantom is flying uphill and dodging trees. Life is good. Then it happened. The Phantom crests the hill and there is a downward slope. The ATV is still climbing the hill. Talk about struggling with your senses. You have to quickly begin to lower the Phantom or you will fly into the trees in a flash. The first few hundred yards were crazy. I kept shouting to "slow down!". We were able to fly 12 minutes on one battery and cover about 1.5 miles of trail.
Only once did I run into real problems. I could not see over the crest of a hill and a tree's branches were lower than I expected. I had to react quickly and ...... I pushed forward on the stick to go down. OOPs. I shaved a few leaves but we kept going. I have struggled with the push forward to go up and pull back to go down. I finally realized why. I am a pilot and I have flown aircraft with sticks and normal controls. You push the stick (or controls) forward to go down and pull back to go up. I haven't done it but I will definitely be trying to change the control stick to match a real aircraft. (Any suggestions on how to do that?) Two batteries and 3 miles later we exited the woods. I was exhausted. Great fun and only shaved a few leaves. Craig drove and filmed at the same time. I still haven't figure out good video production and am looking for tools. I will be submitting the video soon.
