BEFORE YOU GET STARTED
WHAT YOU MUST ALWAYS CHECK FIRST
ENSURE IT’S LEGAL
lThe laws surrounding drones are constantly changing and being readdressed. One of the most important things to do before you even take your drone out for the first test flight is to do some research and understand the basic laws regarding flying a drone in your country. Ignorance is not an excuse, and you don’t want to get on the wrong side of the law before you’ve even got the most out of your drone. There are limits to where you can fly, especially near people, airports and military bases, so check before you head out and about. Use your common sense and always make sure you’re abiding by the rules.
PICK YOUR SPOT
You’re not going to fly your quadcopter around your kitchen.
When you take it outside, though, the UAV must remain within your sight at all times. That’s specifically within your unaided eyesight. It’s an easy rule to understand: if you can’t see your drone without your own eyes, you’re in the wrong. The rule of thumb is that you are limited to 500m horizontal distance and 120m altitude.
KNOW YOUR BOUNDARIES
There’s a reason so many stunning drone videos are of landscapes: you cannot fly one over a populous area, like a park. Similarly, you cannot fly one within 30 metres of an individual. There’s also a weight issue: heavy drones must stay away from controlled airports. Also, if you are doing any flying for commercial reasons, like filming a pop video, for example, you’ll need a licence from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
TRACK THE WEATHER
There’s also a reason those stunning drone videos show perfect weather conditions. You can’t fly a drone in the rain (these are electrical devices you’re putting up there), and you must not fly through clouds.
Sunshine and rain are easy to spot, but wind speed is harder. Drones vary a lot, but typically if wind is below 45km/h then most drones will fly. Some can handle 65km/h winds, but no matter what drone you have, you’ll struggle to get decent video when fighting against strong winds.
WATCH YOUR TIME
You’re constrained on how long you can keep a drone aloft, but it’s not due to legal concerns; it is in fact the limits of battery technology.
We couldn’t do it without them, but batteries are also holding back UAVs. Batteries powerful enough for a drone’s rotors are heavy, so you need more power to lift the drone.
At present, you can expect to get around of 20 minutes’ flying time per charge. Professionals keep it to around ten and carry many, many spare batteries that they swap in for the rest of the shoot. The best at present are Lithium Polymer (LiPo).
CHARGE YOUR CONTROLLER
With all the concentration on battery power for the quadcopters themselves, you can forget that your controller actually needs it as well. If your controller fails while your drone is aloft, that drone is going to keep on going until its own battery dies and it falls from the sky.
Granted, that’s a worst-case scenario, but avoid any potential problems by taking a portable charger or spare battery. You could also practise changing them quickly, so you’re confident should you ever need to.
TEST THE CAMERA
You know you can use drones to do many things now, but perhaps one of the best is for aerial video, and that is completely wasted if your recording doesn’t work.
Some UAV cameras will just transmit video back to your phone to record there. However, high-end ones stream back so you can see what they’re filming, as well as record up to 4K quality video on board. Make sure you have a completely empty SD card, then test it to check it’s working before you pull off a fantastic aerial flyby that doesn’t get recorded.
WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT THEM, BUT BATTERIES ALSO HOLD BACK UAVS.