First Flight--No Issues

gunman · Apr 18, 2017

I received my UAS on the 8th. I have been busy at work and trying to read up, study and learn. I was still as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I previously calibrated the gimble , and the accelerometer. I calibrated the compass in the field. All seemed well. I couldn't remember what combination of colors said all was good. I started the bird up and took off. Great flight. Recorded in 1080p for three first battery. Came back and landed fine. Idled down ok. I changed batteries and also the video setting to 4k. Cranked up the bird and took off again for another good flight. Did some strafing runs and flew about 1000 feet from me. Another good landing. And that was that. Then i remembered i forgot to push record. Only on the second flight. I will post more details later including software revisions because it looks like mine are above whats on the website. Only thing i can say is - buy more batteries!

Steve Carr · Apr 18, 2017

I made this list a long long time ago and it is still accurate today.

Things you can expect when you fly:
1. You will try to take off in Smart or Home mode.
2. You'll think its a great idea to take off from the roof of your car.
3. You will forget to put a card in the camera or forget to erase the files that have it nearly full.
4. You will see your gimbal bracket fall into a pond because you forgot to remove it before you launched.
5. You will watch a prop wrap around a tall weed when trying to take off in a field, flipping the bird upside down and breaking the other props.
6. You will have the best flight of your life and get spectacular video of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find later you forgot to hit record.
7. A gourgeous blond will come up and start asking questions, you will loose concentration with the resulting embarassing crash.
8. You will discover dead tree branches are immpossible to see 1000' away.
9. You will practice your planned shoot with your first battery only to discover you didn't bring a second.
10. As you are editing your video you will see a group of kids shooting arrows at your bird.

GRH · Apr 18, 2017

Steve Carr said:
I made this list a long long time ago and it is still accurate today.

Things you can expect when you fly:
1. You will try to take off in Smart or Home mode.
2. You'll think its a great idea to take off from the roof of your car.
3. You will forget to put a card in the camera or forget to erase the files that have it nearly full.
4. You will see your gimbal bracket fall into a pond because you forgot to remove it before you launched.
5. You will watch a prop wrap around a tall weed when trying to take off in a field, flipping the bird upside down and breaking the other props.
6. You will have the best flight of your life and get spectacular video of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find later you forgot to hit record.
7. A gourgeous blond will come up and start asking questions, you will loose concentration with the resulting embarassing crash.
8. You will discover dead tree branches are immpossible to see 1000' away.
9. You will practice your planned shoot with your first battery only to discover you didn't bring a second.
10. As you are editing your video you will see a group of kids shooting arrows at your bird.

That's hilarious!! So far I've done #3,6,9.

gunman · Apr 18, 2017

Thats great. I will print that.

Steve Carr · Apr 18, 2017

GRH said:
That's hilarious!! So far I've done #3,6,9.

Ummm.......I can claim 10 of 10. The list is much longer.

iSkyInAC904 · Apr 18, 2017

Steve Carr said:
I made this list a long long time ago and it is still accurate today.

Things you can expect when you fly:
1. You will try to take off in Smart or Home mode.
2. You'll think its a great idea to take off from the roof of your car.
3. You will forget to put a card in the camera or forget to erase the files that have it nearly full.
4. You will see your gimbal bracket fall into a pond because you forgot to remove it before you launched.
5. You will watch a prop wrap around a tall weed when trying to take off in a field, flipping the bird upside down and breaking the other props.
6. You will have the best flight of your life and get spectacular video of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find later you forgot to hit record.
7. A gourgeous blond will come up and start asking questions, you will loose concentration with the resulting embarassing crash.
8. You will discover dead tree branches are immpossible to see 1000' away.
9. You will practice your planned shoot with your first battery only to discover you didn't bring a second.
10. As you are editing your video you will see a group of kids shooting arrows at your bird.

I need to print this and look at it every day!
Rule 7. Don't look at the blond! -M

Dr Delta · Apr 19, 2017

FlushVision · Apr 19, 2017

6 for me too. On more than one occasion I might add.

ThunderChicken · Apr 19, 2017

gunman said:
I received my UAS on the 8th. I have been busy at work and trying to read up, study and learn. I was still as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I previously calibrated the gimble , and the accelerometer. I calibrated the compass in the field. All seemed well. I couldn't remember what combination of colors said all was good. I started the bird up and took off. Great flight. Recorded in 1080p for three first battery. Came back and landed fine. Idled down ok. I changed batteries and also the video setting to 4k. Cranked up the bird and took off again for another good flight. Did some strafing runs and flew about 1000 feet from me. Another good landing. And that was that. Then i remembered i forgot to push record. Only on the second flight. I will post more details later including software revisions because it looks like mine are above whats on the website. Only thing i can say is - buy more batteries!

I'll pose this as a question because I'm not 100% certain, but isn't the video recorded in the ST-16 even if record is not pushed? Seems like I went into the file explorer and found video I did not record.

Dr Delta · Apr 19, 2017

ThunderChicken said:
I'll pose this as a question because I'm not 100% certain, but isn't the video recorded in the ST-16 even if record is not pushed? Seems like I went into the file explorer and found video I did not record.

Do not think so, or at least I can not find any video that I wanted to record but forgot to push the record button (number 6 on Steve's list).

I did find all kinds of stuff I do not know of though... like a few test flights in China and in Germany (I bought in Europe). Pity there are no vids from those events to be found.

Cheers!

ThunderChicken · Apr 19, 2017

Dr Delta said:
Do not think so, or at least I can not find any video that I wanted to record but forgot to push the record button (number 6 on Steve's list).

I did find all kinds of stuff I do not know of though... like a few test flights in China and in Germany (I bought in Europe). Pity there are no vids from those events to be found.

Cheers!

Mine has a bunch of flights around Hong Kong in the CSV format

Steve Carr · Apr 19, 2017

Dr Delta said:
Do not think so, or at least I can not find any video that I wanted to record but forgot to push the record button (number 6 on Steve's list).
I did find all kinds of stuff I do not know of though... like a few test flights in China and in Germany (I bought in Europe). Pity there are no vids from those events to be found.
Cheers!

That is one of the reasons I press Record before I take off. I just record the whole flight launch to land. If I need a photo I take a frame grab from the video which are really very good. After all, recording video the whole flight costs nothing and then I also have the flight record stored on the ST16 in the event I would need it. It also gives me a nice readout of the minutes flown right at the top of the screen.