Litchi flight over colorado ghost town - very close call !

[I B Spectre]

Nice video, really enjoyed it. Must try Litchi. Do you specify altitude above ground or sea level?

Found this in the Mavic Pilots forum:

"It uses the height above your take-off point (which is zero) unless you have enabled the above ground elevation feature, in which case it will reference Google Earth elevation data. You should place your first waypoint directly above your take-off point, and it's a good idea to have your last waypoint very close to your first".

 

[Mtntrogger]

Nice video, really enjoyed it. Must try Litchi. Do you specify altitude above ground or sea level?

It goes by altitude above ground AT launch point. So this is one thing that made the area in my video tricky to plot, the elevation from the launch point to where the final way point is, was several hundred feet ! Google earth pro gives you that virtual flight path that shows your height from the ground, but again, it doesnt indicate tree height or other obstacles like power lines. lol
The 'missions' (as they are called in litchi) are really fun to plot. The ghost town flight I plotted on the laptop, but I did several practice waypoint flights just by programming a few quick waypoints on the phone I use to fly.
There are so many old ghost towns around here that I am going to make a video that compiles several flyovers. Will probably not be until next summer since we are already getting snow up here and most of these places are pretty remote. The town in my video is an exception.

 

[dudez]

Dude! @2:39 Sam Kolder couldn't have pulled that one off, whoa! Great footage btw Love the mountains and an interesting shoot to boot. ?

LOL, more like Johnny FPV

 

[Franklin J]

Great video, love the terrain. How far out was the ghost town from your control position ?

 

[Mtntrogger]

Great video, love the terrain. How far out was the ghost town from your control position ?

Less than 1/4 mile. But Im sure at some point during the mission the bird was well over 3,000 feet from the controller. The road (us highway 6) goes right next to the town, many of the houses are only yards away from the side of the road. However, as I mentioned its all gated off. I do know of a couple of ways to still access the town without climbing over the fences, but its always sort of sketchy. You never know what might be lurking in there, from security to other people checking it out, or of course unscrupulous riff raff. It has been used (unauthorized) in Snowboard and Ski Videos several times. I have been in almost every structure in there, many are pretty dangerous in that they are not too stable anymore. The ore processing building, seen towards the start of the video, with the tall silo type thing is definitely the scariest. It has a super deep open elevator shaft, and the basement which is sketchy for a variety of reasons, has hooks hanging from the ceiling and old gas masks on the floor !

 

[Barbara]

It goes by altitude above ground AT launch point. So this is one thing that made the area in my video tricky to plot, the elevation from the launch point to where the final way point is, was several hundred feet ! Google earth pro gives you that virtual flight path that shows your height from the ground, but again, it doesnt indicate tree height or other obstacles like power lines. lol
The 'missions' (as they are called in litchi) are really fun to plot. The ghost town flight I plotted on the laptop, but I did several practice waypoint flights just by programming a few quick waypoints on the phone I use to fly.
There are so many old ghost towns around here that I am going to make a video that compiles several flyovers. Will probably not be until next summer since we are already getting snow up here and most of these places are pretty remote. The town in my video is an exception.

Thanks for the info. Just put Litchi on my Crystal Sky. It connects properly to my drone and RC, but there appears to be a problem getting Google Maps set up to work with the device, so I can't get Litchi to use it. Followed Litchi's instructions, but no go. Guess I'll have to have a conversation with Litchi.

In any case, as I said previously, great video. I have lots of reading and practice to go before I even attempt something like that.

 

[Chrislaf]

Great video. Very cool ghost town and in such a scenic area.

Another alternative to Litchi is Hammer Missions. One of the unique features of Hammer is the ability to link separate missions together in one flight and to map out 'no fly' zones among many other features. I don't have any affiliation with the company but have been beta testing their software for a year now. Their software is constantly updated and has been rock solid stable. I think it is only available for iOS devices though.

Chris

 

[Mtntrogger]

Great video. Very cool ghost town and in such a scenic area.

Another alternative to Litchi is Hammer Missions. One of the unique features of Hammer is the ability to link separate missions together in one flight and to map out 'no fly' zones among many other features. I don't have any affiliation with the company but have been beta testing their software for a year now. Their software is constantly updated and has been rock solid stable. I think it is only available for iOS devices though.

Chris

Thanks Chris ! I actually went again yesterday and got some FPV footage using Litchi. The town is now covered in snow, which sort of gives it a different feel and look. Cant wait to post the edit. Not gonna be as good as the waypoint flight footage, since that allows you to fly much smoother at speed. I think my average setting was around 17 mph in the video. Just using the sticks in sport it would be tough to maintain that speed, especially through turns.

 

[I B Spectre]

Great video. Very cool ghost town and in such a scenic area.

Another alternative to Litchi is Hammer Missions...I think it is only available for iOS devices though.

Chris

? no Android...