DJI Phantom 3 drone goes to war....

Have you tried building a quad from motors and ftame or reprogram the flight controller. If you do, you would agree those are not low skills. Regarding flying, have you tried flying a 250 racer in acro mode. if you don't have good hand-eye coordination and quick thinking, you can't handle a racer.Regarding P3, even it has GPS and very conservative flight controller, it still requires certain knowledge regarding weather and GPS KP conditions.

Agreed. I was just talking about your "average" user but yes I agree.
 
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With skill comes safety, and even though your grandma could fly a phantom, I doubt that she could actually (truly) pilot the quad. This is the trouble people have flying phantoms, as they are easy to get in the air and fly but it takes time and training to pilot them safely and reliably. Fly Without GPS and Without the FPV see how well most new owners would do, not nearly as well as they do now. I learned to fly on a Hirobo Shuttle Heli back in the 80s using a 4 channel Futaba and 1st generation gyro on the yaw control and that was costly and painful ($$$) but a hell of a lot of fun. Multi-rotors today still require skill to learn orientation regardless of GPS usage or not. Just look at the panic that ensues when someone's tablet locks ups on them or RTH guides the quad toward power-lines or a tall tree that wasn't considered when the flight was started. Yeah buddy, you're going to wish you some pilot skills then...just saying. :)
 
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With skill comes safety, and even though your grandma could fly a phantom, I doubt that she could actually (truly) pilot the quad. This is the trouble people have flying phantoms, as they are easy to get in the air and fly but it takes time and training to pilot them safely and reliably. Fly Without GPS and Without the FPV see how well most new owners would do, not nearly as well as they do now. I learned to fly on a Hirobo Shuttle Heli back in the 80s using a 4 channel Futaba and 1st generation gyro on the yaw control and that was costly and painful ($$$) but a hell of a lot of fun. Multi-rotors today still require skill to learn orientation regardless of GPS usage or not. Just look at the panic that ensues when someone's tablet locks ups on them or RTH guides the quad toward power-lines or a tall tree that wasn't considered when the flight was started. Yeah buddy, you're going to wish you some pilot skills then...just saying. :)

I agree but the systems are getting far easier for grandma to fly your Phantom 3. GPS assistance is becoming more reliable and your confidence does grow. Let's face it my man, it's all about where technology takes us. Most people today think they have skills because they know how to operate an automobile. Put them in a 5-Speed and they wouldn't be able to move that vehicle if their life depended on it. I think GPS and fly by wire technology will become as reliable as your trusty automatic transmission and cruise control. Just saying... :)
 
I agree but the systems are getting far easier for grandma to fly your Phantom 3. GPS assistance is becoming more reliable and your confidence does grow. Let's face it my man, it's all about where technology takes us. Most people today think they have skills because they know how to operate an automobile. Put them in a 5-Speed and they wouldn't be able to move that vehicle if their life depended on it. I think GPS and fly by wire technology will become as reliable as your trusty automatic transmission and cruise control. Just saying... :)
Totally agree with you. I like your analogy about the car transmission and that precisely proves my point. An automatic versus 5 speed manual transmission... A great driver will know how to handle both and have the skills to use them well. Any "automation" is a nice thing to have but when it fails is when you have to rely on your skills in "manual" modes to save the day. Whether or not it is a car or a quadcopter, manual skills are something we should all have if just for safety's sake.
 
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As hobbyists we prefer to call them Multi-rotors, Quads, etc.
The media calls them Drones; better for headlines apparently. Unfortunately, it is now a term that is well known to the general public.
Yes, I recently was flying and someone came up to me and said: "Is that a drone?" I answered: "No, it's a quad copter." It's obvious the media has already placed a false stigma.
 
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I answered: "No, it's a quad copter." It's obvious the media has already placed a false stigma.
This has been going on for couple years now the media did there job creating the problems we have now . Some here call them drones ya know sounds cool :rolleyes:
 
Yes, I recently was flying and someone came up to me and said: "Is that a drone?" I answered: "No, it's a quad copter." It's obvious the media has already placed a false stigma.

Shoulda woulda said, That's a stork flying upside down... and here's your sign :p
 
Skill? Nah. Ever try flying an old R/C helicoptor without stabilization? That required skill (and a large bank book). These require very little skill at all.

They do require a lot of knowledge to fly properly and use to the fullest, and are an extremely rewarding hobby.

*** Edit: I think the real skill needed with a Phantom flying the right pattern in the right light with the right camera settings. So, yes, it does require a lot of skill to "get the shot". But going up, flying around and coming down? Anyone that ever played a video game could do it. That is, if they did a compass calibration and a cold IMU calibration and the kV index was low, and a prop doesn't fly off and.....
 
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I learned to fly on a Hirobo Shuttle Heli back in the 80s using a 4 channel Futaba and 1st generation gyro on the yaw control and that was costly and painful ($$$) but a hell of a lot of fun.

Hirobo Shuttle Heli
Holy Cow! There's a blast from the past! That aircraft was a handful to fly. I think I actually lost weight flying it because I was so nervous, sweating, and knee knocking the whole time. What's funny is I "thought" I was getting good at it and was a friend's house for a cook out. I even went so far as to say," Hey yall, watch this!"

About 3 weeks later I have replaced the shafts, paddles, blades, dampers and about 70% of the aircraft I was back in the air. For the first year most of my flights were less than 10 seconds and consisted of popping into the air, realizing I was lost mentally, and landing again quickly (not softly). Once I got the hang of it the bird was still a handful to fly but it was much more enjoyable.

Later on I got into more "stabilized" heli and they were a blast to fly but even then you had to "fly" them.
 
I still have my fixed pitch GMP Cricket heli AND Kraft electro-mechanical Gyro.
 
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I still have my fixed pitch GMP Cricket heli AND Kraft electro-mechanical Gyro.

LOL! Y'all are cracking me up. I haven't seen the company name "KRAFT" in a long time other than the cheese company. Makes me want to dig through some of my old equipment bins and see what's hiding in there.
 
Have you tried building a quad from motors and ftame or reprogram the flight controller. If you do, you would agree those are not low skills. Regarding flying, have you tried flying a 250 racer in acro mode. if you don't have good hand-eye coordination and quick thinking, you can't handle a racer.Regarding P3, even it has GPS and very conservative flight controller, it still requires certain knowledge regarding weather and GPS KP conditions.
KP? LOL.
 
The United States is helping West African troops fight ISIS-linked Boko Haram and they're using the DJI Phantom 3 for reconnoissance and surveillance missions.

Watch video:

U.S. helping West African troops fight ISIS-linked Boko Haram
Wow this is a piss take , they can do that in war and yet we can't have a nice peaceful flight around our own country and we wonder why phantoms get a bad name


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Hirobo Shuttle Heli
Holy Cow! There's a blast from the past! That aircraft was a handful to fly. I think I actually lost weight flying it because I was so nervous, sweating, and knee knocking the whole time. What's funny is I "thought" I was getting good at it and was a friend's house for a cook out. I even went so far as to say," Hey yall, watch this!"

About 3 weeks later I have replaced the shafts, paddles, blades, dampers and about 70% of the aircraft I was back in the air. For the first year most of my flights were less than 10 seconds and consisted of popping into the air, realizing I was lost mentally, and landing again quickly (not softly). Once I got the hang of it the bird was still a handful to fly but it was much more enjoyable.

Later on I got into more "stabilized" heli and they were a blast to fly but even then you had to "fly" them.

Yup, been there, done that and have the "scars" to prove it...tried to stupidly save the Shuttle's crash on my wife's new car, nine days old at the time, left me with two severe scratches on the hood, a nice dent and quite a few nights on the couch... not to mention a badly mangled left hand. My first mistake was taking the whiffle ball training gear off so I could show off, then it was basically all down hill from that point on. Spent more than a month fixing the bird, only to crash it almost as badly again. Rough and painful learning curve on that one, but man talk about seat of your pants flying...
 
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WOW........."A forum chuck full of Newbie's", that alone is more scary than Big Brother will ever be ! lol

I started out saying "quad copter with camera", etc. but then I end up having to say "drone" and people know exactly what I am talking about. It is actually not that improper a term. Racing quads and other FPV quads are NOT drones and need constant control from the operator. Phantom's are really drones since they can auto hover, run predetermined flight paths autonomously, use GPS to position, can come back home on their own with no control, etc. After giving it some thought, "Drone" is the best term for these. Look at it the other way: The military "drones" are operated from far away, they can fly autonomously, they can return home on their own, they use GPS, etc. and can fly precise programmed flight missions, use remote video streaming and high resolution cameras to capture imagery, have very detailed telemetry about altitude, GPS position, battery strength, etc. etc. Name one thing on that list my P3P does NOT have? The only difference is that the military often uses satellites to add world wide range. But they also have directly controlled ones like ours too.
 

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