Flying drones

“When I took the controls, I was a little nervous. There were a few obstacles (trees and poles) where I was flying and my coworkers brushed off my trepidation saying, “It’s no big deal — we all have to have a crash story.” After that bode of confidence, I started the drone. When the blades whirred like a mini windstorm I took off. The little DJI Phantom launched straight up into the sky and before I realized it, the drone was a couple hundred feet in the air. I took a pause to realize that I had just sent this expensive toy hurtling toward certain doom. Once in the air, far away from anything it could crash into (and still under 400ft per the FAA regulations), I practiced moving around. Going left, diving right, rotating 360 degrees. I was entranced and only the warning of my app informing me that I had under 20% battery left could break the spell.”

“As a traveling video/photographer I had been eyeing the market for a few months before I finally caved and bought a DJI Phantom 3 Pro right around Christmas. It would be another 2 months before I would find an occasion to fly it and I was terrified. On a beach in Thailand I walked away from the crowds and attempted my first flight. I filmed the whole ordeal as I crashed it for the first time. Next morning I was feeling much more confident and got up early and went down to the beach. Here I emptied 2 full batteries and flew half a kilometre out over the ocean getting some breathtaking shots of the sunrise and my very first dronie.”

“The thrill of flying a drone for the first time is an exciting rush, but it is also scary as hell. And if you launch this device without knowing what you are doing, you could end up crashing it into a tree, a lake or even worse, a person; all of which could be a very expensive and harmful mistakes. [...] My heart starts racing each time I’m flying my drone and I hear a plane overhead, yours will too. Just stay calm and be aware of your surroundings.”