Christmas Drone Time

Now that we have got our first drone flight out of the way I am itching to get out there and fly some more. I can not believe I had my drone for over a year and never once took it out for a spin. Was I just nuts or something? It is so fun to maneuver through the sky. 

Christmas was just yesterday, and we had Thao's grandfather over for the occasion. We did not do anything extravagant. Since it was only the five of us for the day, we decided to take it easy and just grill some burgers and have some potato salad. While grandpa was here, we told him about our "new" drone we had just flown two days prior. He seemed intrigued, and I came up with the grand idea of taking the DJI Phantom out to one of the nearby beaches and showing him what it can do. Everyone agreed so I quickly jumped onto Google Maps to find a beach we could just park and get out and fly. 

Around 3:30 pm we arrived at Capistrano Beach. Not too many people were around, but there were more than I thought there would be. We walked down the beach little ways and picked our flat take off spot. I have watched a few YouTube videos since our first flight to get some pointers. Apparently, we should have calibrated the compass on the drone before our flight. OOPS! I made sure the calibrations were done before lift off this time. I was feeling brave and told everyone I was attempting a manual take off this time. It looked pretty easy to do on YouTube so why not!. I started my propellers and slowly raised the drone up higher, higher, and higher. I could tell grandpa was pretty impressed with that. From there it was business as usual. I soared through the air with ease recording video of the skyline, the city, and the contrast of the ocean and the beach. I could just watch the waves from above all day long. It is very hypnotic. Finally, the low battery warning came on, and I flew the Phantom down to land. Now, I did a manual take off, so it only makes sense to do the same for landing right? It turns out I was fabulous on my landing; even grandpa was impressed.

Since the sun was starting to set, grandpa wanted to stay just a little bit longer at the beach to watch the sunset. We sat on a bench and chit chatted while the sun slowly disappeared into the ocean. While we were seated, all our ears perked right up. Someone else came to the beach to fly their drone too! We all had a good laugh and watched the other drone zip through the sky. 

I like this drone I bought. I wish I could just take it out every day and see what new perspectives I can achieve with it. If only I had the time. 

Flying Our DJI Phantom 3 Standard...FINALLY!!!

I watch a lot of YouTube videos, and the ones that impress me are ones with stunning drone cinematography. Being able to have a bird's eye view down onto earth is just amazing. Earth looks so much different from above. All the different textures, colors, and lines you can not appreciate from the ground is magnificent from above. 

So, last year on Black Friday, (yes, you read that right, LAST YEAR), after a long day at work, I drove down to the local Target store. I had my eye on the DJI Phantom 3 Standard because I knew that day it was $100 off, which is a big deal. Since it was late afternoon when I drove to Target, I didn't have high hopes of any being left. I told myself, ok, if there is one left it is destiny, and I will buy it, if not, then I am not going to worry about it, it just must not be our time yet. Cruising down the store's central aisle, I finally came upon the electronics section. Sitting alone in it's locked cage was a single DJI Phantom 3. I stood there for a couple of minutes having second thoughts on spending so much money on a drone but finally decided it was all in the name of photography and fun, I called the clerk over and told him I would like to purchase the last drone. He immediately told me how the rest of the drones were sold rather quickly that day and he had assumed the store was sold out, but just a few minutes before I walked in, he happened to be in the back supply room and found just one more drone. See, it is destiny that brought me to my drone. Lucky me!

We have brought our drone out with us on several trips in hopes of getting fantastic shots but either it was too windy, drones were not allowed, or I was just embarrassed to fly it. I have charged it countless of times, but it has never been flown. Looking back, I do regret not flying it along the coast in Monterey, CA. The ocean is such a stunning blue and the contrast of the sea with the rocky shore is just crazy.

Finally, I decided enough was enough. We are going out, and we are going to have our first flight. Now, finding a place to fly it in Southern California is hard. Drones are not allowed in the city of Laguna Beach, you can not operate them in parks, in neighborhoods, or near an airport or military base. I searched on Google Maps for a vast open space, not near any housing and came upon a place called Ortega Falls.

Saturday morning came, we all piled into the truck and headed on down to the falls. We pulled over to the parking spot on the side of the road and saw a little trail leading down the bottom of the hill. This trail was pretty steep and full of bushes and plants. We got down just a few feet and decided to turn back and try flying the drone from the flat area we saw just on the other side of the highway. So, we ran across the street and quickly placed the drone down on the ground. It was a little breezy at the particular spot and being drone novices we were not prepared for it to be blown away over the edge of the hill right after take off. Fortunately for us, the drone was swept into a bush and not over the side. Our next problem was how do you turn this thing off?!? After looking like total noobs reading the directions, we finally managed to turn the propellers off. 

My husband and I talked things over and decided we should go to a flat area for our first flight and just our luck, according to Google Maps, a flat field was just down the road. After making sure we did not see any no trespassing signs we set the drone down and took off on our inaugural flight. We learned how to maneuver the drone and control the camera at the same time, how far we able to fly away from us, and how to land.

It was a great experience, and we had a blast flying it around. The video that was recorded came out better than I thought it would and I was even able to grab a screenshot and post a picture on Instagram. We are all looking forward now to flying it along the coast. I have no doubt some great photos and videos will soon be published because of our year old drone.