Anyone here fly a drone?

[Bricktop X PWR]

Been flying on and off for about 7 years now.

Had the oversized Phantom Dji drone at the start, which was good fun, but with all the regulations that came in bought a Dji Mini 2 last year.

Here are 'just' a few piccies.....

They were gathering up the cut grass next door, for silage yesterday.

My home top of picture.

 

[Susanna]

@Bricktop X PWR
Amazing pictures - thanks for sharing. Love the multi coloured tractor/trailers!

 

[GaryMG4]

Yep, bought a mini2 back in 2020/1 as I couldn't fly my normal RC planes, now have a mini4 to play with. I have many sunrise sunset pictures over the fens and have taken the drone to Austria a couple of times.

 

[salty]

Excellent pics! ???

 

[Fluffykins]

That's not a large drone! I'm currently in Australia with family. There's a guy across the road with a crop spraying business. His "small" drone (which I think is a DJI product) will lift 30kg. The larger one can manage 50kg.

He's currently eyeing up a very large one which will lift 100kg.

He'd like larger but anything much bigger is classified as a full on plane.

And he gets paid for playing with those toys!!!

 

[decrep]

That's not a large drone! I'm currently in Australia with family.

So are you coming to WA?

 

[Fluffykins]

So are you coming to WA?

Nah. I'm in NSW for a few more days then it's back to Norfolk in Blighty

 

[decrep]

OK, enjoy that long flight.

 

[Fluffykins]

OK, enjoy that long flight.

I'll mostly enjoy it. But my arse wont ?

 

[decrep]

I think the advice is to keep fluid intake up, and exercise your legs.

 

[Fluffykins]

I think the advice is to keep fluid intake up, and exercise your legs.

I'll try to use the outside privy. That'll let me walk a bit further. Might be a bit windy though.

 

[decrep]

there's an equation here, the more you drink = the more you walk

 

[johnb80]

In my working life between 2013 and 2019 I worked offshore as an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) pilot / technician in the oil and gas industry. These machines 'fly' under water and can do all sorts of jobs.

Me in my office hard at work.

This is one of the ROV's I used to operate on a regular basis

All my life I have been interested in aviation, I got my Pilots Licence when I was 20 and went on into model flying a little later. Over the years I became an Area Chief Examiner for the British Model Flying Association. When drones started appearing I became involved and went into the commercial operation of them gaining the necessary Permit For Aerial Work from the Civil Aviation Authority. Recognising that there would be a demand for training and testing over the next couple of years I wrote a training course with all of the visual aids etc. My company was formed 'Skeyetrain' and following a successful audit from the CAA we were up and running training and testing candidates for commercial operation of drones as well as taking on commercial operations ourselves.

We did some wind turbine inspections

We did the work on behalf of another company using a bespoke drone with a thermal imaging system onboard. The drone weighed in at a hefty 40 kg with a price tag of £280,000.

The internal detail revealed bonding of the blades etc to avoid failures as in the first photographs.

I had the opportunity to sell my training company 4 years ago and it's now operated by Air Data Systems Ltd at Leeds.

I took the opportunity to sell up everything, drones, fixed wing model aircraft, model helicopters and my share in a Cessna 150. I havent flown since then.

 

[ozzz]

I did my 1st solo in a Beachcraft skipper , and the got endorsed on a Cessna 152
At the mo building a Cessna 152 rc model with electric motor.

 

[GaryMG4]

I took a week off work and did my PPL in a Cherokee, I was lucky and my gliding certificates meant I needed a minimum of 12 hours training plus exams. I started on Saturday and did my first solo in the Cherokee on Monday, by the following Sunday I had completed my training and exams, just needed to do my GFT which was booked for the Sunday but was weathered off.

 

[johnb80]

I took a week off work and did my PPL in a Cherokee, I was lucky and my gliding certificates meant I needed a minimum of 12 hours training plus exams. I started on Saturday and did my first solo in the Cherokee on Monday, by the following Sunday I had completed my training and exams, just needed to do my GFT which was booked for the Sunday but was weathered off.

Well done, I converted to PPL from a BGA Silver C, I managed 1300 hrs in Gliders and 1100 hrs in light aircraft before packing it all in. My greatest achievement was collecting a brand new Cessna 182 RG from the factory in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and flying it back to the UK across the Atlantic. I have never been as scared as I was on that trip and I would never do it again. I did the hop from Gander to Shannon, when I got to Shannon I had enough fuel to make it to Luton to clear customs where the aircraft got impounded because the paperwork wasn't quite right, I came back on the bus LOL. This was all before the advent of GPS so it was difficult to navigate and know where you are etc.

 

[GaryMG4]

My greatest achievement was collecting a brand new Cessna 182 RG from the factory in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and flying it back to the UK across the Atlantic. I have never been as scared as I was on that trip and I would never do it again.

Ferry pilots are a breed apart, I've read some pretty scary stories over the years of their achievements. It really puts it into perspective when you read about the women who ferried aircraft during the war, often solo in multis.
I think the scariest time I had was taking the O/H up for some aerobatics on a marginal day, in my efforts to find a big enough hole in the clouds I ended up between two layers of cloud and totally unaware of my location. Eventually found a hole below and saw a large runway with lots of large aircraft on the ground, I turned tail and called D+D who vectored me back to Oxford and safety.

 

[johnb80]

Ferry pilots are a breed apart, I've read some pretty scary stories over the years of their achievements. It really puts it into perspective when you read about the women who ferried aircraft during the war, often solo in multis.

When I arrived in Gander, there were some pro ferry pilots there asking what I was doing etc, they were amazed that I was starting my ferry experience with single engined aircraft, they said you start with twins and then progress to singles. They kind of adopted me and looked after me and said they would let me know when the weather was good for the flight. I was in Gander 3 days until there was a knock at my door at 3am the guys saying was time to go. I had already overfilled the engine with oild and had internal collapsible fuel bladders with a hand pump to pump it into the wing so we were good to go. The take run was quite extended with the heavy load and following my brief full throttle climb all the way until it wouldnt climb any more. Levelled out at about 14,000', leaned off etc on the way, still rich but not consuming so much fuel. Daybreak was around 3.5 hrs later and all I could see was horizon to horizon water. Amazing how the engine sounds different, is it knocking a bit, jeez I didnt like it.
A few helpful airliners had a chat and gave me fixes which was good. Just over 15 hrs I could receive an ADF signal which I estimated I was 22 miles further North than I planned, VOR's then came to life and I was happy chappy.

I think the scariest time I had was taking the O/H up for some aerobatics on a marginal day, in my efforts to find a big enough hole in the clouds I ended up between two layers of cloud and totally unaware of my location. Eventually found a hole below and saw a large runway with lots of large aircraft on the ground, I turned tail and called D+D who vectored me back to Oxford and safety.

I took my Glider (SZD Pirat) up to Portmoak for a gliding holiday on a ridge site, I had never flown a ridge before. It was great, in the second week booming with confidence I took off and worked the ridge, out over the lock for aero's back into the ridge and repeat, brilliant. And then...... loads of cloud cloud formed underneath us 8/8 cover. No radio, no nav aids, no engine - loads of panic. There were two of us above cloud, the ridge was easy to find but I was trying work out what the hell to do. I waited for about 4 hours and there no sign of it clearing so I decided that 40 mph in a glider should be survivable, I planned to fly from the ridge how I normally did, turn base at the normal time and then finals, air brakes out and get the speed right back as much as I could. I was completely in cloud on a limited panel, I came out of cloud at about 150' and the airfield was just to my right but I was high, some very quick S turns got me back into Portmoak. Time to change underwear

 

[GaryMG4]

I can't imagine what it's like to see nothing but ocean when sitting in a single, the engine sounded rough enough crossing the channel when I was doing my IMC rating in the Archer. Did a lot of ridge flying at Dunstable and some at Sutton Bank, good fun but not too many options when the wind drops. I flew a Pirat at Cranfield, nice old school lightweight glider, I was joined in a nice thermal by a load of 'glass open class gliders competing in the nationals, I kept up with them in the climb as I could turn tighter - they left me standing at top of climb.

 

[ozzz]

Wow seriously all good stuff and better everybody survived, time and cost ended my flying still solo was definitely a highlight for me.
Best flight I did was 4 pilots rented a 172 flew from Hoxton park Sydney and visited the international air show in Melbourne awesome weekend .