New Quadcopter

Captin

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Just ordered a DJI Phantom to take on my holiday to the USA in December, gonna drive up the Route 66 for a month and on to Niagra falls for our 10th anniversary.

Just wondering if any of you knows of a few places that would be good to try it out in or around Runcorn, Frodsham, Liverpool, Southport etc..

I know there are a few rules to consider these days when flying a quadcopter (I refuse to call it a drone as it dont fire missiles and kill innocent civilians).

Should be posting a few vids when I get the hang of it.
 
Are there any legalities of taking these abroad?
 
There are rules aplenty in the States, I don't know if it applies to all states, but some certainly require you to have a licence before operating any type of UAV. I have the P3A (love it BTW) and Portugal is so far behind the times, as far as the law here is concerned drones apparently don't even exist yet; long may that continue.
I am a member of a DJI forum (Phantom Pilots) which, like this forum, is well moderated but fairly laid back too. Some extremely helpful members, definitely worth a visit. The rules in the UK seem pretty common-sense; no flying over crowds, main roads etc., or close to airports.
I hope these American licensing requirements don't put too much of a damper on your plans- but better to know than risk losing your bird and/or a hefty fine.
Here's my (unedited) effort from today.

YouTube
 
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I will have a good look at that forum trevortron, thanks.

I have a few quads, this is the first one that is decent and a lot more useful.

In the USA there are quite a few rules, one of the biggest that put a damper on my plans was that you cannot fly a quad in any national park. So flying over the grand canyon is a no no, pity.

Also a lot of the rules only apply to someone using a quad for commercial purposes, IE making videos for youtube if you make your living on youtube as quite a lot of people do these days.

Common-sence does play a big part, but there are loads of video of people flying over cities and parks, as long as you are not being a nusence people seem not to mind.

Besides I'll plead tourist. :)
 
Good, I'm glad you've looked into it.
Oh, and remember to take your receipt with you- in case UK customs decide they want a slice upon your return!!
 
Just a little update to the story.

Whilst the DJI Phantom 3 Standard (the one I got last year) is a very good quad, and the camera is very good too, if only 2.7k and not 4k. The range is a little lacking.

We went to Ainsdale beach near Southport for a range check and achieved over 1.5km, the range stated in the manual is 500m so I thought it was pretty good. But put any sort of obstacle in the way and the range is shot.

Flying from my garden, which has a greenhouse, shed, cat run, chicken coop & run plus garage (in short quite built up) and I bearly get 200m.

So the trip to the US and Route 66 & Niagara Falls was fantastic. But I didn't get much in the way of drone footage as it was below 0c for most of the month we was there. I did a bit in the California desert and an old bridge in St Louis.

I though the American TSA would be all over the drone but in fact it was on the way out that caused the most problem with the dicks at Manchester airport insisting that I take everything out of the bag so they could swab it. The TSA just waved it through both entering and exiting the US.

Anyway after a few months of having the Phantom 3 Standard I decided I need some better range so I bought myself a DJI Mavic Pro and the difference is amazing. Flying from my garden I got over 2.5km on the first flight.
 
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