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First Flight - Just for the record...

Northwood Mediaworks

Former Spark & Mavic Air 2 Flyer
Premium Pilot
Join
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
2,776
Age
65
Loc
Northern Ontario, Canada
Web
northwoodmediaworks.com
So finally, had the time and the right weather to take to the sky (well kind of!). I have had my Spark for 2 weeks now, but I wanted it to be as calm as possible. So Saturday evening, around 7:30pm, the wind actually stopped... it was really still. Trouble with that, the bugs come on full tilt this time of year. (black flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, etc.) That's life in north-eastern Ontario! Light was fading fast.

So we spent just under 15 minutes getting set, up in the air, and then back to the house, the resulting video was very limited. After reading so much about fly-aways, I decided that baby steps were in order. Did my pre-flight checks, then went up about 50 feet, and kept it pretty much near. My gracious and bug-netted wife was my spotter. I was so excited, it was a bit nerve wracking, so in hind sight, wish I had gone higher and farther. Next time.

After flying the toy drone, I was blown away by the smoothness of it all. I am stoked for the next flight, to actually get some good video too.

Here's the first test flight ever! :p

Edit* I used a slow mo on one pan, which produced some artifacts, wont happen again!

 
Last edited:
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So finally, had the time and the right weather to take to the sky (well kind of!). I have had my Spark for 2 weeks now, but I wanted it to be as calm as possible. So Saturday evening, around 7:30pm, the wind actually stopped... it was really still. Trouble with that, the bugs come on full tilt this time of year. (black flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, etc.) That's life in north-eastern Ontario! Light was fading fast.

So we spent just under 15 minutes getting set, up in the air, and then back to the house, the resulting video was very limited. After reading so much about fly-aways, I decided that baby steps were in order. Did my pre-flight checks, then went up about 50 feet, and kept it pretty much near. My gracious and bug-netted wife was my spotter. I was so excited, it was a bit nerve wracking, so in hind sight, wish I had gone higher and farther. Next time.

After flying the toy drone, I was blown away by the smoothness of it all. I am stoked for the next flight, to actually get some good video too.

Here's the first test flight ever! :p

Edit* I used a slow mo on one pan, which produced some artifacts, wont happen again!


Now that you have done 0 wind, next time try 5mph.
Once you master that, move up by another 5mph at a time.

Soon you will be doing what I did yesterday morning - went up in a storm to get an odd sunrise.
Sun on the horizon only, dark storm cloud above.

I am reading my altitude as 800ft and all of the sudden, without input, I see my Spark has been blown over 600ft away.
I calmly lower the altitude and slowly the Spark returns where it can fight the wind.

That means it was over 32mph up there since the Spark was "losing the fight" at first.
 
Thanks Guys. I've been watching UAV Forecast for prime opportunities, last weekend was exceptionally windy during most of the daylight hours, I was lucky to have it drop to 0. I will for sure be braver next time, light winds should be no problem, our place with the open fields does allow the wind to get moving down low, but its the windspeed at altitude that one must really factor in, as pmshop illustrates so well. I must have watched 100 Spark videos on YT where I can see quite strong wind in the treetops, so, I know its do-able. This particular video really impressed me, and was somewhat amusing too...


It was cool however, to see the spark in still conditions, really optimal for any drone or RC aircraft (thinking about a foamy fixed wing craft at some point too)

Cant wait to get back up in the air. The flying camera has been a dream of mine since quads first appeared.
:)
 
Thanks Guys. I've been watching UAV Forecast for prime opportunities, last weekend was exceptionally windy during most of the daylight hours, I was lucky to have it drop to 0. I will for sure be braver next time, light winds should be no problem, our place with the open fields does allow the wind to get moving down low, but its the windspeed at altitude that one must really factor in, as pmshop illustrates so well. I must have watched 100 Spark videos on YT where I can see quite strong wind in the treetops, so, I know its do-able. This particular video really impressed me, and was somewhat amusing too...


It was cool however, to see the spark in still conditions, really optimal for any drone or RC aircraft (thinking about a foamy fixed wing craft at some point too)

Cant wait to get back up in the air. The flying camera has been a dream of mine since quads first appeared.
:)

Missed a good sale at Ready Made RC for the fixed wing thing.
$75 for a 4" wing had everything but Vtx, cam and Rx
 
Well, got to cool my jets for a little while, happy wife and all that... ;)

That is where I got lucky and have two Sparks all thanks to wifey.

One day she said " You have all of these spare parts on hand for your home made drones you could almost build another one. What if your Spark was in the repair shop? You need a spare for that situation."

Who am I to argue??? :D:D:D
 
That is where I got lucky and have two Sparks all thanks to wifey.

One day she said " You have all of these spare parts on hand for your home made drones you could almost build another one. What if your Spark was in the repair shop? You need a spare for that situation."

Who am I to argue??? :D:D:D

Can you have her call mine? :p
 
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