Recent content by Virtual1

go an email: The FAA wants to know what you think about drones! Calling all recreational drone flyers and modelers! The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is asking you to help us better understand and enhance the recreational flyer community?^?^?s interaction with the FAA. Your...

6. When I go to the park, I fly until my thumbs get tired or the sun goes down, whichever comes first ;) One case carries my spark etc, the other case carries an 18AH SLA with three dual-12v-chargers. I usually go home with seven dead batteries, and tired thumbs, but no regrets! (6 batteries...

6 here :) When I go to the park to fly, I fly all day and come come when my thumbs are tired. You need around 5-6 batteries to fly continuously (considering a few minutes to swap etc) I have an 18 AH "alarm panel' SLA battery and three dual-12v chargers I take with me to keep recharging the...

FWIW, pitch, yaw, and roll combine to describe the direction the craft is facing and in what orientation. It has nothing to do with its elevation or position on the map. GPS signals are all about position and elevation. pitch/yaw/roll are all detected locally by the compass in the craft. So...

at exactly 1:25 you can hear the rotors start to "wow wow wow wow", something is going wrong. That's not wind, the trees are pretty calm. Something is oscillating or "hunting".

don't put a cap across the led, that will at least cause more power draw, if not actual problems. If you don't want the lights, remove the LEDs. OR just tape over them. The clear round plastic covers can be removed. (and replaced if damaged) though I don't know how they come off, they're...

The other concern I would have would be the pitch and roll, especially if you're not in a nice calm lake but instead out on the ocean. Even trying to catch a drone by hand could be challenging since it's probably going to be at a stable elevation while you and your boat could easily be going up...

while I realize boat trips may be great places to get drone video, I can't help but be extremely nervous to see launch-and-recovery over open water. Nowhere safe to land except in your hand!

Although I totally agree with that, I wonder how much of the time it's not attached securely vs how much of the time it either just comes unattached on its own OR is "partly attached". I know on my spark i have to use more force than seems reasonable to get the battery to positively lock into...

I flew my spark for the first week in a park with the prop guards on to protect the prop and a lens glare shield on to protect the camera/gimbal. The very first time I removed those, my spark got behind me (and I wasn't quite fully mentally programmed yet to handle it not facing the same way I...

well it was a somewhat tongue-in-cheek response but maybe too subtle for some ;) still makes my skin crawl when I see those video though, I almost (and from time to time, DO) shout "noooo, don't do it!" (I can't watch!)

watching those videos makes my skin crawl... why are you backing.... serves you right! wait, look around you, you're surrounded by trees! no don't- *sigh*. There's NO worse place to fly than in a field in the winter or spring where there's trees everywhere with no leaves on them.

I suspect the pin-up procedure on the spark is a VERY carefully monitored process, to verify all four of the props are: - present - firmly locked down - balanced - identical in drag All of this can be accomplished by monitoring the amount of current the motors draw when they are spun up AND...

You'll probably want to leave it in "beginner mode" when taking off, landing, and definitely while filming video, to take advantage of the better automatic control, proximity sensors, and more deliberate / slower speed. Mine spends a lot of time in Sport mode though, since for me it's more of a...

it would be nice though if there were a way to "hot swap" batteries.