My friend Paul received a fantastic Christmas present from his nice wife, a little too nice for him I might add. His new toy, a quadcopter, had been laying in the corner for a couple of months, silently tormenting him until the warm spring days return. A week or so ago they made the trip to our place and packed the new Phantom 3 along in case the weather allowed a flight or two.
Mother nature cooperated, winds were moderate and temps were mild for February. Paul and Michelle arrived on time, we had a nice visit ... with Michelle :) Ah ... it's fun to tease Paul ... does the soul good you know.
Anyhow, back to the story. The first flight with a drone is nerve-racking. These things are pricey, and I don't know about you but in my radio-control airplane and helicopter days, I've converted a fair bit of hard-earned money to landfill. Fortunately, by the time Paul was ready to try his Phantom 3 I'd had about 100 successful flights on my Phantom 2, so I was confident there'd be no problem.
"You fly it first," says Paul.
"Nope," says I.
"Bleepety-bleep-bleep (censored x 3)," says Paul.
"You'll do fine, you old %%$$@@##," says I, "Just be real gentle on the controls."
We download the DJI app, update the firmware and are soon ready for the maiden flight!
"I'm nervous," admits Paul. Heck, my first flight was terrifying, but after that all was well.
"Just start the props, keep your hands off the right stick, and advance the throttle slowly," I suggest.
The Phantom 3 gently rose about 10 feet and hovered.
"I'm hooked, this is neat sh--," laughs Paul.
He flew great, in a few minutes he was zooming around, ascending and descending, all under perfect control. He brought it back when the battery warning showed, and made a picture-perfect landing right in front of himself! We charged his battery and on his second flight we decided to fly the two drones together, what a blast! Above is a video shot from both copters and a handheld camera, it's going to be a great summer!
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