Strange Fetish

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I am still somewhat new to this hobby (quadcopters). I used to fly RC planes back in the 80's. My P3s is very cool, and I am delighted with it. In fact, I am still kind of old-fashioned (perhaps from my old RC plane days) about watching my bird fly. Visualizing and maintaining spacial direction/orientation, and the like. I rarely look down at my tablet. I know my relative speed, height, and direction from visual input and experience. Heck, my sole mod is a strong (Inspire 1 style) tablet holder.

The strange fetish I read about every day is the hellbent need for many Phantom pilots to fly at great distances. (Farther than the FAA rules allow..... remember line of sight???)

I see plenty of fellows boasting of their distance records.
I see lots of posts about modifying antennas to fly farther than original design.
I see fellows likely imagining themselves to be military drone pilots that fly via big monitors and easy chairs from thousands of miles away.
I also see some folks get in trouble while their birds are very distant.

Not to "bag on" you guys too harshly, but.... What is this strange fetish for flying at great distances? :confused:
 
same as the need for speed
 
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Um, since the beginning of recorded time. When haven't we had that thrill of pushing the limits?
 
What's the point of this post aside from lecturing others about how it's against FAA "rules?"

Why do people buy sports cars that go 180mph? (Remember there are SPEED LIMITS?).

Not to "bag on" you too harshly but you should stick to flying RC.

Some of us enjoy technology and taking advantage of its capabilities.
 
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I can understand the OP's thoughts. I also started flying RC planes. I built all of mine and they are semi scale. I liked having the plane within sight. It was a thrill to have a good realistic take off and landing per the type of craft it was. Roll, loops, etc was a skill to be learned. There wasn't any auto anything. You had to fly it. Now, having the quads go a long way via video is kind of cool but that's all you do. If all my flying was looking at a screen, I might as well save the money on the quad and play video games. I like flying my Phantoms and shooting video but that's all they do. I actually liked flying my planes more. I can see some reasons for the video flights. It gets you in places not normally accessible. When you build a plane from sticks, tune the engine, and have a good flight...it's something to be proud of. If you don't build it straight, can't keep an engine running, or even fly in a controlled manner and crash...it's all on you. When we got into trouble, we had to get ourselves out. We had no Return To Home button and auto land. So the next time you take your self flying gps self leveling bird up and think you did such a great thing...you really didn't. It did it. Go to full manual and report back to us old RC guys on how well you did. .
 
I can understand the OP's thoughts. I also started flying RC planes. I built all of mine and they are semi scale. I liked having the plane within sight. It was a thrill to have a good realistic take off and landing per the type of craft it was. Roll, loops, etc was a skill to be learned. There wasn't any auto anything. You had to fly it. Now, having the quads go a long way via video is kind of cool but that's all you do. If all my flying was looking at a screen, I might as well save the money on the quad and play video games. I like flying my Phantoms and shooting video but that's all they do. I actually liked flying my planes more. I can see some reasons for the video flights. It gets you in places not normally accessible. When you build a plane from sticks, tune the engine, and have a good flight...it's something to be proud of. If you don't build it straight, can't keep an engine running, or even fly in a controlled manner and crash...it's all on you. When we got into trouble, we had to get ourselves out. We had no Return To Home button and auto land. So the next time you take your self flying gps self leveling bird up and think you did such a great thing...you really didn't. It did it. Go to full manual and report back to us old RC guys on how well you did. .
roll with the changes.
 
I like flying my Phantoms and shooting video but that's all they do. I actually liked flying my planes more. I can see some reasons for the video flights. It gets you in places not normally accessible.

I don't fly a Phantom 3 to prove my manhood (or relive my kidhood). I don't pat myself on the back for a good flight. I fly a Phantom 3 because it is an aerial camera and it let's me take videos and still images that heretofore were impossible or absurdly expensive. It allows me to undertake projects of art and documentation that were previously unthinkable for single person on a modest budget. Some of the subjects of my work require flying a long distance to reach them. And I wouldn't trade most of that work for all the rolls and loops and engine tuning in the world.

Each to their own.

Astro-Phantom-Landers.jpg
 
I don't fly a Phantom 3 to prove my manhood (or relive my kidhood). I don't pat myself on the back for a good flight. I fly a Phantom 3 because it is an aerial camera and it let's me take videos and still images that heretofore were impossible or absurdly expensive. It allows me to undertake projects of art and documentation that were previously unthinkable for single person on a modest budget. Some of the subjects of my work require flying a long distance to reach them. And I wouldn't trade most of that work for all the rolls and loops and engine tuning in the world.

Each to their own.

View attachment 46092
What Ralph said.

Sure you will find horsepower jockeys or those showing that "theirs is bigger" but part of it is being able to go so far as to get pictures and video you'd never get from olde school RC. Both have their places and even cross over but don't knock anothers joy.

I have my P3P for taking pictures of the world around me. The ultimate camera tripod and selfie stick.
 
I figure its your Phantom, do what you want as long as it doesn't shine a bad light on the AP Quad community. I also figure if you are pushing the operating specs of the Quad and somehow you manage to lose or crash your Quad. Don't cry about it or ask "WTF happened". Just like anything else that has operating specs, you go beyond that, all bets are off...
 
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mine was pizza box cost of pizza . what about a garbage can lid hum next mod project
 
Seems like a lot of folks that agree with the OP's use of the P3 could've saved themselves a lot of money by buying a Parrot AR drone
 

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