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R.Perry

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Our company has regular training sessions via the Web. One of our people were filming in a down town location with limited room. Began a mapping flight, problem was the drone was under what looked like about a 100 foot cedar tree, you can guess where the drone ended up, your right, stuck in the tree probably sixty to seventy feet off the ground. In the aviation would we would call this lack of situational awareness, and I guess we all can be guilty of it at times. As humans we can all make mistakes, the ones that don't kill you you can learn from.
 
A good point. I do a fair bit of drilling using mobile drill rigs in my main profession of doing environmental/hazardous materials consulting. I learned early on to always be looking up for obstructions to rigs like power/telephone/cable lines, trees, etc.

We live in a 3 dimensional world. Got to remember to look up!!
 
Reminds me about something Chuck Yeager once said:

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Any landing you can walk away from and use the same aircraft the next day is a great one!
 
Our company has regular training sessions via the Web. One of our people were filming in a down town location with limited room. Began a mapping flight, problem was the drone was under what looked like about a 100 foot cedar tree, you can guess where the drone ended up, your right, stuck in the tree probably sixty to seventy feet off the ground. In the aviation would we would call this lack of situational awareness, and I guess we all can be guilty of it at times. As humans we can all make mistakes, the ones that don't kill you you can learn from.
And, this being National Drone Safety Week, this is a good topic and reminder concerning situational awareness!
I crashed, however, I was aware of my surroundings when I crashed my practice drone; but NOT practiced enough to fly ATTI around my yard with trees (drone magnets) nearby. LOL
 
Reminds me about something Chuck Yeager once said:

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Any landing you can walk away from and use the same aircraft the next day is a great one!

Speaking of General Yeager he was a character. The book "Yeager" is a good read, some of the things the WWII guys did would be cause for immediate court martial today. Strafing a water tower in Nevada, stealing a B25 so him and Anderson could fly home for Christmas, stealing a helicopter and a fish and game truck to replant trout in New Mexico. He lives in Grass Valley and last I heard was flying RC aircraft. What a life he has lived, he is 96 years old.

I met him at the Nut Tree airport one afternoon, had no idea who he was. We were both looking at a P51 that was there. I started telling him what I knew about the P51, then he introduced himself and I felt pretty foolish.
 
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Speaking of General Yeager he was a character. The book "Yeager" is a good read, some of the things the WWII guys did would be cause for immediate court martial today. Strafing a water tower in Nevada, stealing a B25 so him and Anderson could fly home for Christmas, stealing a helicopter and a fish and game truck to replant trout in New Mexico. He lives in Grass Valley and last I heard was flying RC aircraft. What a life he has lived, he is 96 years old.

I met him at the Nut Tree airport one afternoon, had no idea who he was. We were both looking at a P51 that was there. I started telling him what I knew about the P51, then he introduced himself and I felt pretty foolish.
"I started telling him what I knew about the P51, then he introduced himself and I felt pretty foolish. "
embarrased.gif
I envy you, would love to meet him...
 
And, this being National Drone Safety Week, this is a good topic and reminder concerning situational awareness!
I crashed, however, I was aware of my surroundings when I crashed my practice drone; but NOT practiced enough to fly ATTI around my yard with trees (drone magnets) nearby. LOL

One thing I would suggest is, altitude is your friend, get up above things that could or will make your life miserable.
 
"I started telling him what I knew about the P51, then he introduced himself and I felt pretty foolish. "
View attachment 1842
I envy you, would love to meet him...

Not sure where you live, but go to the Reno air races, Yeager, Anderson and Hoover all normally go, however their ages may be keeping them from going. When you read the book Yeager you will quickly learn the rules didn't apply to him, or it seemed that way. Anderson was a little more level headed and personally I think Hoover was a much better pilot, but that is just the opinion of an old pud knocker so it's probably worth less than 2 cents.
 
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If I'm not sure of my limits on a mapping flight, I always use the cheaper drone (Mavic Pro) and fly to my planned flight elevation. I do a visual check and fly toward possible obstructions to make sure I will clear them with plenty of room. After I am happy with my parameters, I'll launch the Matrice and program the flight. If I have a lot of elevation gain, I split the flight into parts that work elevation wise.
 

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