Drones Eye View – My first week with the Phantom 2

As a child I was always fascinated with planes. For me the few times that family holidays required a flight, wet English coastlines or the ferry across the channel was the holiday norm, I was glued to the window for the entire duration. I remember once being invited up to the cockpit to meet the captain, my little heart pounding, I stepped into the cramped space, oblivious to the greetings of both pilot and co-pilot as my attention was completely fixed on the sea of cloud beneath us. Soaked in golden light it seemed to stretch out forever, dotted with ‘windows’ to the land below, like the inverse of reflections of the sky in puddles. There’s something about seeing the world from above that gives it a new, exciting and beautiful quality.

Needless to say I didn’t become a pilot (I joined duckrabbit), although for a while in my teens I was determined to join the RAF, but for the last week I have been earning my wings and am on the verge of buying a bomber jacket and some goggles and I haven’t even left the safety of Terra Firma. This is thanks to the guys at DJI and their Phantom 2 drone. Complete with GoPro, Gimbal and an FPV set up, which allows me to see a live feed from the camera, I have been taking to the skies of Birmingham and oh is it exciting! You can see some of my first shots in the one minute video below:

The drone itself, which has four rotors and built in GPS for stabilization, is very straight forward to fly even for those not brought up on video games. However an open field is a definite requirement for the first few flights and putting the hours in really helps. I have taken it out a total of five times now I feel pretty comfortable and quite used to it’s capabilities. The thing that is so exciting about it, other than the fun of zooming around the skies, is the quality of the footage. Straight out of the GoPro, after fine tuning some settings, the results are spectacular and every time I come back to watch the results my jaw drops. The things you can achieve with this bit of kit are not only outstanding but the difference in shot quality from my first flight to my most recent is exponential. Now that I have more control over the drone and have started to figure out what works best with angle, movement, settings etc the possibilities are mind boggling and the footage is getting better and better.

For the price of a (expensive) new lens you are getting a whole new perspective. And with that in mind I don’t think it will be long before we see the skies full of these things. I know they have been taking off (no pun intended) in the US and problems have arisen, notably with the Federal Aviation Administration issuing the first fine to a commercial drone pilot:

“the Federal Aviation Administration sought to penalize a commercial drone operator with a massive fine. It ordered Raphael Pirker to pay $10,000 for an October 17th, 2011 incident during which it says Pirker operated his aircraft — in this case a 4.5-pound Ritewing Zephyr-powered glider — “in a careless or reckless manner””

Pirker fought the fine and according to his lawyer Kramer Levin they have filed a motion to dismiss. Kramer’s firm is dealing with more and more drone related cases as the FAA put a ban on commercial drone use:

“Instead of issuing a rule using the required notice-and-comment process, they just issued a policy statement saying business use is prohibited. We’ve argued that’s not an enforceable policy statement. If we prevail on that argument, I think it has implications for other people who are seeking to use these for commercial purposes.”

What happens with Pirker’s case may have a huge effect on commercial drone use in the US and not just for media companies – drones are being used for all sorts of work, from helping farmers check their crops in vast spaces, to aerial and 3D mapping and even for search and rescue. Here in the UK you do not need a license if the drone weighs less than 20kg but you do have to apply for operating permission “for aircraft used for Aerial Work purposes or if flown within a congested area and/or close to people or property”. There are a few other rules which can be found on the Civil Aviation Authority website, our version of the FAA. Regardless it is going to be interesting to watch this grow as the next big thing and to see where it takes us.

…A post to follow shortly on the ins and outs of aerial photography.