Hello from Chalkwell Beach in Southend

Thats a good way to describe it lol

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Our most senior member of the club, one of the original founders who I posted the photo of is actually the keenest to step up to his own proffessional quality drone, he has been flying one of the little white maplin ones for over a year now but is veey keen to make the next step up.

Tony.

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I think seeing a “real drone” not one of your Maplins toys, will certainly impress him then!.
Looking after a drone is like looking after anything else that is electro mechanical.
Keeping it clean, firmware updated regularly, batteries charged correctly, visual inspection after each flight session.
I have a very regimental regime i go through with the drone when i get it back home, i check the drone thoroughly.
Has held me in good stead over the years i have been flying.

These flights in this video, were my “Buttock Clenching” minutes.

scuse the music, i am a great Pink Floyd fan !!.
Also some of these were some of my longest distance flights to this day.
I should add, where i was, there were no drone laws, as such.

Is the firmware update a relatively simple job to do or do you need to be a computer wizard Chris ?

Thats a stunning video Chris, I can fully understand the buttock clenching involved.

Tony

The Firmware is can be updated from the mobile phone and the drones controller, or there is an application for PC/Mac to do it on a Computer.
It is a relatively easy job, but, sometimes hits the occasional problem.
But re-doing the firmware nearly always sorts the problem out via the App or the PC.
There are restrictions now in place to warn of No Fly Zones,plus Height is restricted (by law) to a max of 400 ft altitude.
Distance is governed by LOS (Line Of Sight) There are VR Google available for our drones which you wear over the head and eyes, so you see what the drone see directly.
as you turn your head so the drone camera turns with it, or up and down.

I had to fly over a mile over open sea, to get to the Glacier, it is 11 miles long and 4 miles wide at the point where it meets the sea.
The whole flight took 23 minutes, the crevasses you see are up to 200 ft deep.
That one of the flights over to the Glacier, I knew that if anything went wrong, I could kiss it goodbye !!, i had to rely totally with what i could see on my phone.
At least i can say that I have flown over the most Northerly town in the world (Pyramiden, Svalbard).
Has to be the most exciting flight i have ever had, and probably will ever have.

Just for your info,
Most of the aerial shots in these documentaries show on TV now are nearly all done by drones like we fly.
It gives photography a totally new perspective.

That does not sound to bad then and the goggles to control the camera with head movement sounds like a great idea.

Tony.

Thats what you call extreme drone flying, right on the edge and great to of got such amazing and unique footage from it.

I will bare that in mind when I next watch one they dont seem ro let on about making use of drones which is a shame.

Tony

I believe Surrey/Sussex Police Asst. Ch. Constable (or similar) paid the couple a personal visit with apologies, plus offers of counselling etc. A very serious damage limitation exercise. Not a proud time for that Force.

Sometimes they do mention Drone Flying by ???
In the end credits.
(Would just love a job doing the drone flying for Top Gear, or something similar.)

Apologies!, I am surprised they don’t sue for Deformation of Character.

They would probably have quite a strong case.

Tony.

Hi Liberator,

Not much concelation for the drone couple after having their faces plastered all over the news, its a shame that drones don’t get some good publicity for a change.

Tony

Hi Angela,

We have a small club house mainly set up for lifeguarding, with two changing rooms, basic facilities for hot drinks and food, only a cold shower Im afraid, a nice tarmac outside area just back from the promonade for outdoir activities, we are right on the beach so there is plenty of fresh air and sunshine when its out and there are no charges involved everything is free, we are a registered charity which tries to support the local community in any way that we can.

I hope that this helps a bit.

Best wishes,

Tony.

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Doing some work on a show like Top Gear would be amazing, I will have to keep a look out on the credits in future to see if I can spot anything about the use of drones.

Very windy in Southend today not much good for drones and probably a bit too much for the kite surfers too.

Best wishea,

Tony.

If you do a search for Simon Reeve who is an nature explorer, he has many documentaries on Catch Up TV on (i believe) Iplayer, they use a lot of drones in his programs.
The wind here in Norwich is blowing 60 mph, and is going to return tomorrow as well.
Will not be flying until that dies down !!.
Something else to mention, you can buy what are called “skins” to cover your drone with, and have a customised colour scheme.
Looking at your pictures above, i reckon yours would have to be red and yellow !