Do you fly lots of locations or tend to keep to where you know? I haven’t flown as many, or as much, as I envisaged when I got my first drone three years ago. The vast majority of my flights have been from the family property. Partly through health and partly through weather not being up to it the days I could fly.
A couple of screenshots heat map/cluster map from my AirData.
Got a weekend in the Isle of Man planed again for beginning of September.
If only there was a resource for such things
Don’t forget to click ‘I’ve flown here too’ on any DS listed location
For the first like 3 years of flying I kept quite local and flew at locations I already knew the lay of the land so to speak. Did this mainly to feel safe I guess knowing what was in the area and how populated it could be.
Its only recently have I got really brave and been flying in a city ( Digbeth, Birmingham ) and trying to find new places that I have never been too in order to fly. Wish I had done so sooner as I had nothing to worry about.
Flying in Digbeth was a bit of an eye opener - people walked passed and no fuss at all - only issue I had was the warm air from buildings and roads made flying a bit more bum twitchy. Then flying at a windmill the other day and talking to members of the trust that looks after it was quite reaffirming that locations like this can be open to drones if you talk to them and be open to suggestions to ensure everyone is happy.
Do need to fly more in more new places and see more of the landscape around me than being so local.
I have added locations to drone scene in the past but didn’t realise so much other information was there. 
Only been flying a couple of months but most of my flying will be done within SW Scotland. There is so much to film round here and I have enough projects lined up for at least a year especially as the weather and my health mean I can’t get out as often as I’d like. I’d quite happily just pack my drones and a rucksack and disappear into the hills all day. I will be heading up to the Scottish get together at Culross this weekend.
I must admit that up until now I have been just getting a feel for my new drone around St Germain’s church at Marske on sea. The couple of early morning sunrise scenes were great. A couple of people even said good morning - no hassle flying. I hope that I can drum up enough confidence to actually go on a meet up in my area.
After a year in the game I have a fair idea what to look out for on maps, and there are some potentially spectacular locations not too far from me. But I don’t have a car, and outside the city the last buses can be quite early (I prefer to film in evening golden hour light). So, getting the logistics right is vital (thank you Google Gemini, she’ll tell you the last bus from anywhere.
My preference for evening light/sunsets means that different locations are suitable at different times of the year, and you can forget about Sundays unless it’s walking-distance local or in town. Oh, and just to make life easier (!), if it’s coastal I want a high tide! So planning a trip is a fairly complex exercise; I’ve already noted the afternoon/evening high tides, and keep an eye on the weather. What I’m aiming to do over time is seek out possible locations not too far from bus stops on the OS map, and make a list of them, the last bus times, and the sunset & tide times. Don’t mind walking a few miles or climbing the odd 1,000’ or so…
I’m planning a coastal photo flight where I want a Spring Low Tide; to photograph the remains of a paddle steamship (similar to PS Waverley) that went down off north Wales 118 years ago.
I might do this on a spring low with high atmospheric pressure and a northeast wind at Sker Point, Porthcawl, should an opportunity present itself, as in such conditions the steam engine and a few other pieces of the Samtampa, a Liberty ship wrecked there in 1947, are visible.
One for my notebook. I used to scuba dive before health issues overtook me.
She was on passage from Hartlepool to Newport in ballast, and in worsening conditions got into diffiuculty off Hartland Point, the stern-on wind breaching her several times. Liberties had a high feeboard and were not easy to handle in high winds, especially if the winds were on the beam or astern. Attempts to anchor in Porlock Bay resulted in her dragging her anchors, and the storm, along with the Bristol Channel’s vicious tides, took her across to a mile or so off Porthcawl, where her captain radioed that he intended to run her on to Kenfig Beach. By that time it was getting dark, the wind had backed southerly, and the tide was ebbing He ran out of sea and into Sker Point before he got there; she was a total loss with all 39 on board, as was the Mumbles lifeboat with 8 crew.
The story was a part of my childhood (I was born in '52); an aunt who lived 7 miles or so away in Tondu, north of Bridgend, had bunker fuel over her windows the following morning, it was quite a storm! Rockets with lines fired from the shore were blown back inland. Her boiler remained visible on the top of Sker rocks for many years afterwards. The wreck was sold to a scrappie and his wife, who proceeded on their own to salvage what they could, camping out in the dunes and using a war surplus Sherman tank with the turret removed to haul steel plates off the rocks and along Kenfig and Margam sands to be weighed in at Port Talbot steelworks. Took them about 15 years, but they bought a house nearby on the proceeds and retired, weighing the Sherman in on the last trip and walking back. I would ask to see the ‘tank people’ on day trips to Rest Bay, and once had a ride up the beach in it!
She broke up into 3 peices, the stern with the engine in the sea at the end of the point, the midships and bows washed on to the top of the rocks. I’ve tried to locate whatever is left a few times, and have seen photos of the engine frame and what looks like a connecting rod with the crankshaft and cylinders buried upside down in the sand; perhaps I’d have better luck with a drone survey! It is of course possible that it’s all under the sand now…
Still worth a look, then!
Very interesting. Like “The Johnster” I no longer have my own vehicle & therefore rely on public transport to reach destinations locally to do flights. However, even at my somewhat advanced age, I’m still an active diver but only in clear, warm water overseas which fortunately also often includes interesting scenery for UAV flights several times a year. Therefore best of both worlds, capturing interesting scenery both above & below water, aerially & in Davy Jones’ locker.
Me too I was a member of BSAC in Middlesbrough.
I have always been disabled since birth, but took up scuba in 1995. I logged a few hundred dives between 1995 and 2002, all in warm water locations; Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand and mainly Türkiye.
Then life took a different direction. I would have returned to scuba in later life but health took over and any travel would be complicated by having organise dialysis (and the expense of such.)
Here is a video of a couple of my early dives (dive #005 +#006 from memory), I am the one with the baseball cap when above water.
Truly inspiring @Edison 
It’s such a pity you couldn’t still be scuba diving
My son has CP, and we have these sorts of challenges every day, but it’s great to share with him what others have and can achieve
Thanks for sharing 
Ah, good old BSAC! IMO best way to learn rather than the 4-5 day courses of other outfits who are used to rush “Celebrities” into diving with big sharks as currently on ITV. I’ve dived in the 4 hottest dive locations for tiger, bull & Great Hammerheads, Tiger Beach, Bimini, Tiger Zoo in the Maldives as well as Beqa Lagoon, Fiji but I wouldn’t advise beginners doing what these “Celebs” are asked to do. We had to have done at least 50 dives before being allowed to interact with the big boys in grey suits & steak-knives for teeth. Imagine being the drone pilot videoing above a scene where Sir Lenny Henry gets his Crown Jewels munched by an inquisitive shark!
I have certifications both from BSAC (Advanced Diver - never signed off so one level below, and Assistant Club Instructor) and PADI (Master Scuba Diver and Nitrox Diver)
Ahh happy days! Although mostly dived in this country and in the Maldives. I enjoyed every time I was underwater.
