Frank's Story

Frankc · Jul 18, 2016

Well I took the trip to Tony's today and a delightful trip it was. The cars top down and a glorious summers day.

We took turns flying my Phantom but it was not easy. For some reason initially the map was not showing on the screen. It flew the opposite way to the direction of the arrow. The sun was so bright that you could hardly see the screen but despite all that we managed to get some nice shots. Judge for yourself in the video below. Thank you Tony for hosting me, and the nice cup of tea afterwards. Enjoy the film!

You can watch it fill screen.Click square bottom right.

GadgetGuy · Jul 19, 2016

Frankc said:
Well I took the trip to Tony's today and a delightful trip it was. The cars top down and a glorious summers day.

We took turns flying my Phantom but it was not easy. For some reason initially the map was not showing on the screen. It flew the opposite way to the direction of the arrow. The sun was so bright that you could hardly see the screen but despite all that we managed to get some nice shots. Judge for yourself in the video below. Thank you Tony for hosting me, and the nice cup of tea afterwards. Enjoy the film!

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You can watch it fill screen.Click square bottom right.

Did you also get a proper introduction to the farmer's daughter?

Susruth · Jul 19, 2016

What a showoff

Sent from my MI 5 using PhantomPilots mobile app

sailor43 · Jul 19, 2016

GadgetGuy said:
Did you also get a proper introduction to the farmer's daughter?

Frank did not get to meet the farmer's daughter as she had returned to the US!!! But we did have several great flights in perfect weather (86F no humidity).
I got a lot of hints from Frank as I have been flying "do it yourself" drones made out of home depot towel racks for a few years. I think it is easier to learn to fly the P3A without that experience!
For those who remember it is like going from DOS to Windows or Mac OS.

Frankc · Jul 20, 2016

Susruth said:
What a showoff

Sent from my MI 5 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Just curious. Who's showing off and what are they/me? showing off about.

?

Frankc · Jul 26, 2016

Tony kindly let me fly in his field again. As you will see from the footage right at the end I had a rather rough landing. However it must have been my sixth sense, my subconscious taking over. Less than 20 seconds after "landing" a military jet flew directly overhead at tree top height. Not just low but very very low. If I had still been flying I would have definitely been above him. No warning. Certainly did not hear it coming we certainly heard it leaving though. Would have made a terrific shot! It literally flew directly over our heads. I think that's the closest I have ever been with my little drone to an aircraft in flight. Who knew Tony could arrange a military fly over just for me.

The footage I actually took seems rather less exciting now. But putting it up anyway.

Shame I missed filming the jet below me.

GadgetGuy · Jul 26, 2016

Frankc said:
Tony kindly let me fly in his field again. As you will see from the footage right at the end I had a rather rough landing. However it must have been my sixth sense, my subconscious taking over. Less than 20 seconds after "landing" a military jet flew directly overhead at tree top height. Not just low but very very low. If I had still been flying I would have definitely been above him. No warning. Certainly did not hear it coming we certainly heard it leaving though. Would have made a terrific shot! It literally flew directly over our heads. I think that's the closest I have ever been with my little drone to an aircraft in flight. Who knew Tony could arrange a military fly over just for me.

The footage I actually took seems rather less exciting now. But putting it up anyway. Shame I missed filming the jet below me.

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The jet flying into you would definitely have made the news!

It would have been a shame, as the microSD card would likely not have survived the impact to record the drone assassination. The jet turbulence, even without impact, might have also crashed the innocent, unsuspecting Phantom.

Frankc · Jul 27, 2016

As for crashing into me that thought had crossed my mind. Joking apart I was so glad the drone was on the ground as the jet went over. I went high first for the shots. My RTH height was set at 90 feet and the Jet was below that.

GadgetGuy · Jul 27, 2016

Frankc said:
As for crashing into me that thought had crossed my mind. Joking apart I was so glad the drone was on the ground as the jet went over. I went high first for the shots. My RTH height was set at 90 feet and the Jet was below that.

All's well that ends well, eh?

Frankc · Jul 27, 2016

That is the way to look at it. The only regret is that I did not get a photo of it. It will always be 'The one that got away'.

GadgetGuy · Jul 28, 2016

Frankc said:
That is the way to look at it. The only regret is that I did not get a photo of it. It will always be 'The one that got away'.

I was playing golf today and got strafed by a special forces chopper that was literally flying at my ground level, within 500 feet of me, as measured on my golf laser, over the adjoining canyon. Never ever seen one that low in over 30 years! I regularly fly over the same area. Glad I wasn't in the air when he flew by! It's not in any GEO zone or NFZ! Be careful out there!

Frankc · Aug 5, 2016

Franks Tip.

Micro SD cards, and their adapters can be a pain in the watsits. I have lost my SD card in the past. I know it was on my desk somewhere but its gone to the great place in the sky where odd socks and loose change go never to be seen again. Even if I remember to put it straight into the adapter and put it back into my drone rucksack it still disappears into dark corners where I had to take everything out to find it.

The solution? 'Borrow' on of those small zip clear plastic freezer bags off your Mrs, or buy a pack around £1.50 at ASDA's. Stick your adapter and card into one of those and zip it up. Problem solved. Protected against water and dust. Much easier to find. The squeeze to seal are ok but they can come unsealed, the zip type are much better. Simple but effective.

GadgetGuy · Aug 6, 2016

Frankc said:
Franks Tip.

Micro SD cards, and their adapters can be a pain in the watsits. I have lost my SD card in the past. I know it was on my desk somewhere but its gone to the great place in the sky where odd socks and loose change go never to be seen again. Even if I remember to put it straight into the adapter and put it back into my drone rucksack it still disappears into dark corners where I had to take everything out to find it.

The solution? 'Borrow' on of those small zip clear plastic freezer bags off your Mrs, or buy a pack around £1.50 at ASDA's. Stick your adapter and card into one of those and zip it up. Problem solved. Protected against water and dust. Much easier to find. The squeeze to seal are ok but they can come unsealed, the zip type are much better. Simple but effective.

A much spendier but more effective way to store up to 12 MicroSD cards is the waterproof hardshell Pelican wallet case with MicroSD foam inserts on each side. I had to buy two to create one, as they only come with one side for MicroSD, with the other for standard SD cards, but the foam is easily pulled out and swapped, so you end up with one case for 12 MicroSD and one for 12 SD cards, that can all be SD adapter sleeves that can hold another 12 MicroSD cards. You turn the used Micro SDcards upside down to keep track, and all your MicroSD cards are now kept securely in one place. The hard wallet cases easily fit in a large jacket or pants pocket, as well as inside most drone carrying cases.

Frankc · Aug 6, 2016

GadgetGuy said:
A much spendier but more effective way to store up to 12 MicroSD cards is the waterproof hardshell Pelican wallet case with MicroSD foam inserts on each side. I had to buy two to create one, as they only come with one side for MicroSD, with the other for standard SD cards, but the foam is easily pulled out and swapped, so you end up with one case for 12 MicroSD and one for 12 SD cards, that can all be SD adapter sleeves that can hold another 12 MicroSD cards. You turn the used Micro SDcards upside down to keep track, and all your MicroSD cards are now kept securely in one place. The hard wallet cases easily fit in a large jacket or pants pocket, as well as inside most drone carrying cases.

Blimey how much filming do you do? I have not, yet, managed to fill up 1 32gb SD card let alone a dozen. I have one card and one adapter it goes into. When the Micro SD is not in the drone I keep it in the adapter. Less chance of loosing it. Still your system obviously works for you. Thank you for the tip.

GadgetGuy · Aug 6, 2016

Frankc said:
Blimey how much filming do you do? Thank you for the tip.

Lots! Over 80 hours! Been doing this since May of last year! I record continuous 4K video on every flight, and my flights average over 25 minutes each, and I also swap cards every time I land. Most are 16GB 633x Lexars, as you can't fill them up in a single flight. I also use them as additional backups, until I have used them all up, and then I just format them all, and start over. The cards were less than $10 each, including a free USB 3.0 microSD adapter for every one! Needless to say, I have a few extra USB 3.0 adapters! If you ever leave your one microSD card at home, and arrive at your launch site without one, you'll appreciate the benefit of putting an already formatted empty microSD card into the drone immediately upon removal of the one in it! I also don't like wasting precious battery time formatting cards before flight, nor risking forgetting to format before flight, nor having video recording unexpectedly stop during flight, after filling up a card I forgot to format before takeoff. My method fixes all of these previously encountered problems at once.

I should also mention that I have three P3P's and a P4, and every one of them has an empty, formatted microSD already inside, ready to shoot immediately. The Pelican card holder is used for all of them.

Frankc · Aug 6, 2016

I seem very amateur compared to you then. I fly for about 2 batteries worth. Take out the SD car and copy everything to the computer to watch. I think I have just 3 hours of flights on my card.

GadgetGuy · Aug 6, 2016

Frankc said:
I seem very amateur compared to you then. I fly for about 2 batteries worth. Take out the SD car and copy everything to the computer to watch. I think I have just 3 hours of flights on my card.

Give it time. You just started. It can be very addictive! Aerial views and flying with a 6 mile radius without traffic and signals is a true joy. It's like being a bird for half an hour! Once you begin to travel with it, the world is your oyster!

gingerbloke · Feb 21, 2017

Hi Frank,
I've been reading this thread, catching up because I'm from North Herefordshire.

Some of the videos are offline, did you take them off for some reason?

Do you experience any interference anywhere around Malvern? I've flown gliders on the hills before without any problems but was told by someone in the club there that the older 'crystal' sets were flaky sometimes, they always suspected the RAE / Dera connection.

Military traffic in Herefordshire is scary at times, I once had a Tornado jet come underneath a glider I was flying.

Adam

Frankc · Feb 21, 2017

gingerbloke said:
Hi Frank,
I've been reading this thread, catching up because I'm from North Herefordshire.

Some of the videos are offline, did you take them off for some reason?

Do you experience any interference anywhere around Malvern? I've flown gliders on the hills before without any problems but was told by someone in the club there that the older 'crystal' sets were flaky sometimes, they always suspected the RAE / Dera connection.

Military traffic in Herefordshire is scary at times, I once had a Tornado jet come underneath a glider I was flying.

Adam

Hi Adam. I did have a clear out of videos. Just surprised anyone noticed! Left 90% of them up though. If you could let me have the links I will double check to see if the problems are on my end.

Yes I do experience some interference around Malvern. I went onto Castlemorton common a couple of times and found North had moved whilst flying and all sort of oddities like that.

As for Military scares yes I have had those! I flew a drone on 'Tony's farm, thats in Herefordshire. Pretty sure the film is up on Youtube somewhere. Anyway I had just landed and a jet flew over at roof top hight straight over us. AKA Brown trouser moment. If I had been on the way or down it would have been very hairy. It literally flew over our heads kicking up leaves. At the time Tony and his son were standing next to me and although they are back in America at the moment I am sure they will confirm this as I know they do read this forum whilst state side. Could only have been a hundred feet at the most over our heads.