Litchi - responsibile usage or not?

[hrosee]

I have been flying drones for 5 or 6 years and never really flown out of my eyesight until last week. I flew a couple of 1 and 2 mile flights. Of course at times I had to depend on what I saw on the monitor and map to see where I was. When I was done I thought that was pretty stupid flying that far away but what a rush! I can't wait to do it again. One of the guys mentioned Litchi and asked if I knew anything about it.

Then I started looking at Litchi to see what it really offered. I came across the missions you can set up and got pretty excited about what you can do. Today I have been on the "mission hub" looking at some of the public missions people have set up and flown. I specifically looked at one's near me in Dallas, Tx and was kind of shocked at what I saw. Beautiful video but the flights were over people and places I would never fly for the worry of hurting someone or worse.

I am not saying everybody, but most, of the missions I saw shouldn't have been flown. Some were even in the dark. My though is it's way too easy (and fun) to sit here at home in front of my computer and go to town on the Mission Hub and start clicking away without giving enough thought to safety. You will end up with some very nice video but is the risk worth it. I am not saying I don't want to try it myself but I can see "Litchi" in the news at some point when something goes bad wrong.

So, when you set up a mission do you take safety into account or just click away? Be honest.

 

[stones]

Operator responsibility and common sense. No matter what app or mission or whatever the operator does, in the end, it's their own responsibility that weighs out.

 

[wa5tef]

Safety first. I love Litchi and the ability to create missions at home and then recall them later to fly. I live in a rural area so avoiding others is not a problem but by using Litchi to fly long and distant missions one violates the LOS rule. However I have found making and adjusting waypoints and such is more fun than just flying around in FPV! To create a new mission, tweak it, let it upload to your controller device and sit back and watch it obey the program is thrilling, especially when it returns home and lands safely. DJI GO can't compare!
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[hrosee]

Safety first. I love Litchi and the ability to create missions at home and then recall them later to fly. I live in a rural area so avoiding others is not a problem but by using Litchi to fly long and distant missions one violates the LOS rule. However I have found making and adjusting waypoints and such is more fun than just flying around in FPV! To create a new mission, tweak it, let it upload to your controller device and sit back and watch it obey the program is thrilling, especially when it returns home and lands safely. DJI GO can't compare!
Jim
WA5TEF

Hey Jim,

I see you are a ham. I am W5ZZT. Thanks for you comments.

 

[wa5tef]

Hey Jim,

I see you are a ham. I am W5ZZT. Thanks for you comments.

Hey Harold! Yes, I love my P4. I see you have a 7600 also. Very nice station too! Have you used your drone to string wire antennas?
73
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[hrosee]

Hey Harold! Yes, I love my P4. I see you have a 7600 also. Very nice station too! Have you used your drone to string wire antennas?
73
Jim
WA5TEF

No, but I have hit my 80 meter inverted V with my old P2 once. One prop barely touched the wire and down it came. I have a P3P now and it's really an upgrade from the now shelved P2. I didn't realize what a pain it was turning the GoPro on and off manually. Let me know if you want to meet up on 75 sometime. My email is good on QRZ.