Beginner Drones

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Jim

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I want to buy a Drone. I want a decent one to learn on. I know it will be destroyed so I don't want to spend a ton of money on it.

I have used the cheap ones you see for around $50 but I don't feel that's the right way to learn. Those are hard to control if you know what I mean.

Any recommendations?
 
For a starter I'd go as inexpensive as u can.. 50+to 75tops. You are going to crash so a soft and not very fast one will make it easier on your wallet. You won't believe how many dangers are around your yard, friends and neighbors houses, cats dogs squirrels, sun blindings, high tree oopsie landings, winds way different 50 ft. up from ground level, distractions from wives, kids, pets, airplanes etc. Best of luck right to ya. How's your reaction time??

'98 Lund Explorer w/ 50hp Merc 4cyl. (Yamaha) carburetored NO torque motor
 
I have a couple. The first one I purchased was a DJI Phantom 3 Standard. It cost me about $300 about three years ago. It was so easy to fly it was ridiculous. I flew it about a year then upgraded to a DJI Phantom 4 Pro which cost me about $2000 for the bundle that included spare batteries a case/backpack, props and other accessories. They are GPS stabilized so when you let go of the controls they stop and hover at that spot. There are a lot of rules and regulations involved in flying drones. My drones are equipped with geo-fencing so you can not fly them in areas that are restricted like an airport or school. I live within 5 miles of an airport so it will not even let me start the motors on them due to the geo-fencing properties installed. I have to fly at other areas because of that. You can get a waiver from the airport control tower and then contact DJI and then they can unlock your geo-fence lock on that area. They are restricted to 400 foot altitude. You can fly them up to a about a mile and a half away but one rule is that you have them in your line of sight so that distance is a bit too far to fly safely and legally. The laws are changing all the time so you have to keep up with them. I have had the police interact with me on one occasion and they had no idea what the laws were so I had to educate them. I have the laws typed up on a paper and laminated to let people know the laws if they are trying to tell me I am doing something illegal. Flying over ones property is legal in my area as long as you are not in their immediate airspace which includes the altitude up to highest point on their property. Different areas may have different laws so you have to keep up with that. The cheaper drones may not have geo-fencing so be sure you know where it is legal to fly. I could go on and on on the laws but I will stop there.

As for crashing, I had a neighbor at my friends house shoot my Phantom 4 Pro with a BB gun and hit the prop which caused it to crash. After getting the police involved and them figuring out what the laws were they told the neighbor that he was responsible and could be charged. I offered to drop the charge if he agreed to never complain about it or shoot it down again. I repaired it myself and it cost about $400 to repair. I learned a lot about small delicate electronics doing that.
 
First 10ish hours of flight time should be in your own back yard or maybe church parking lot or public land here in WI. No noobie should be flying a mile out or even 1/2 mile and not over say 100ish feet high. Your neighbor had no respect or training in gun safety and no business shooting at a flying object except skeet or trap. Suppose your injured aircraft had hit a car windshield going 40mph scaring the little old lady enough to crash into a car or tree or person. I'm done moaning.

'98 Lund Explorer w/ 50hp Merc 4cyl. (Yamaha) carburetored NO torque motor
 
"As for crashing, I had a neighbor at my friends house shoot my Phantom 4 Pro with a BB gun and hit the prop which caused it to crash. After getting the police involved and them figuring out what the laws were they told the neighbor that he was responsible and could be charged. I offered to drop the charge if he agreed to never complain about it or shoot it down again. I repaired it myself and it cost about $400 to repair. I learned a lot about small delicate electronics doing that."

Yikes, sounds like drone wars. Curious why the guy would take a shot at it -- was it hovering over his yard or something?
 
LDUBS said:
"Yikes, sounds like drone wars. Curious why the guy would take a shot at it -- was it hovering over his yard or something?

People do not know the laws. He felt it was in "his airspace". He was wrong. Actually, he shot it as it was over another persons property. He could have been held responsible for any damage to the neighbors property if there was any. It is a federal offense to shoot at drones same as shooting at an aircraft. It is also a federal offense to interfere with a flight crew/drone pilot in the act of flying a plane/drone. In my area your airspace is considered the highest point on your property. Above that and it is no longer your airspace. It would be considered Class G airspace which is legal for drones to fly in up to 400 feet. Aircraft are recommended to stay at 500 feet or higher so there is a 100 foot buffer zone between drones and aircraft. You still have to keep an eye out for low flying aircraft and yield to all manned aircraft. I did not press charges as long as he does not do it again. He has been very good since he learned of the consequences it could reap on him. I think the police were surprised at how much I knew of the FAA laws. They learned a lot too. I don't think they get involved in airspace laws too much.
 
Just read that Gatwick Airport (London Eng) was closed due to a drone intentionally blocking the airspace. I didn't read the entire article but apparently they were talking about a potential 24 hour downtime and were calling in the military to shoot down the drone.

I know I'm opening up a can of worms here, but legal or not I would not like a drone hovering 100' over my yard.
 
Yeah, what is happening at Gatwick is really is no different than a terrorist activity. Hard to understand the thought process of folks sometimes. Anyway, I can see a whole new set of regulations coming as a result of stunts like this.
 

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