Good morning (afternoon, evening, noon, night...where ever you are)
Nooby here and excited to start this journey! I just got my P4 on Saturday, and man is it a blast! Ok, only 1 flight, for about 20 minutes flying around my front yard I just got interested in drones about a month ago. A little background on me. Retired Air Force (22 years), and part of that I was the Flight Safety Superintendent for 3 fighter squadrons (F-15 and F-22), so I understand about restricted airspace, NFZ's, air traffic control operations etc. Not that I'm an expert, I just have a basic understanding about how those processes work. I'm not new to the RC world. I have built and raced RC cars since the early 90's. I got my son into RC cars when he was about 7, and now at 15, he builds and races also. About 2 years ago, I bought him an RC plane (Super Cub), and he is getting ready to build a P-51 to start flying. So, from a RC perspective, I was pretty sure I could navigate a drone with some degree of confidence. Although I knew it would take time (baby steps) to learn how to fly. In my first (and only) flight so far, all seems good. I have a feel for the control of the P4, and I was able to successfully take off, fly, and land several times without issue.
How did I get into drones? My brother-in-law introduced my family to it. He bought a drone (Hubsan FV) and would post pictures and send us video's. He upgraded to the P4, and sent the FV to my wife. Of course my son took an immediate liking to it. He flies it about 98% of the time. My wife tried it once, and I tried it once for about 5 minutes. Then, my brother-in-law decided he wanted the P4P, and offered to sell me the P4 for $600 (3 months old, extra battery, HDMI output included). What a deal!! So I jumped all over it. I bought an iPad 2 that I plan to use exclusively with the P4. So far, I have the DJI Go app, Litchi, and AirMap installed. I found a post on how to set up the device for flying (recommended settings). I've been lurking in the forum for the past 2 weeks trying to learn as much as I can. This forum has gotten me more confident to operate and fly my new P4 I registered with the FAA immediately, as did my wife when she got hers a couple of weeks ago. My plan is to continue reading through the forum and soak up as much as possible. Although this thing has capability out of this world, I plan to keep it on my level for a while, and really learn all I can about it. The thought of being reckless and losing this thing is not an option! Lol So, any advice is welcomed. Otherwise, I will continue reading through the forum, and hopefully one day meet some of you in the MD/PA/DE area. Very happy to be here!
Frank
Nooby here and excited to start this journey! I just got my P4 on Saturday, and man is it a blast! Ok, only 1 flight, for about 20 minutes flying around my front yard I just got interested in drones about a month ago. A little background on me. Retired Air Force (22 years), and part of that I was the Flight Safety Superintendent for 3 fighter squadrons (F-15 and F-22), so I understand about restricted airspace, NFZ's, air traffic control operations etc. Not that I'm an expert, I just have a basic understanding about how those processes work. I'm not new to the RC world. I have built and raced RC cars since the early 90's. I got my son into RC cars when he was about 7, and now at 15, he builds and races also. About 2 years ago, I bought him an RC plane (Super Cub), and he is getting ready to build a P-51 to start flying. So, from a RC perspective, I was pretty sure I could navigate a drone with some degree of confidence. Although I knew it would take time (baby steps) to learn how to fly. In my first (and only) flight so far, all seems good. I have a feel for the control of the P4, and I was able to successfully take off, fly, and land several times without issue.
How did I get into drones? My brother-in-law introduced my family to it. He bought a drone (Hubsan FV) and would post pictures and send us video's. He upgraded to the P4, and sent the FV to my wife. Of course my son took an immediate liking to it. He flies it about 98% of the time. My wife tried it once, and I tried it once for about 5 minutes. Then, my brother-in-law decided he wanted the P4P, and offered to sell me the P4 for $600 (3 months old, extra battery, HDMI output included). What a deal!! So I jumped all over it. I bought an iPad 2 that I plan to use exclusively with the P4. So far, I have the DJI Go app, Litchi, and AirMap installed. I found a post on how to set up the device for flying (recommended settings). I've been lurking in the forum for the past 2 weeks trying to learn as much as I can. This forum has gotten me more confident to operate and fly my new P4 I registered with the FAA immediately, as did my wife when she got hers a couple of weeks ago. My plan is to continue reading through the forum and soak up as much as possible. Although this thing has capability out of this world, I plan to keep it on my level for a while, and really learn all I can about it. The thought of being reckless and losing this thing is not an option! Lol So, any advice is welcomed. Otherwise, I will continue reading through the forum, and hopefully one day meet some of you in the MD/PA/DE area. Very happy to be here!
Frank