Pete the Drone Flying Outlaw

Let me introduce you to a guy I'll call Pete. He's the kind of guy that should be fined by the FAA. He just bought his first drone.

Peter figures a lot of things. He figures, if he's doing something unlawful, he'll never get caught. He figures, since his drone is from an experienced drone manufacturer, it must be extremely reliable. He figures, while other people crash theirs, he'll never crash his drone. He figures he can fly next to the airport anytime he wants without notifying anyone. He figures, since he's taking off and landing on private property, he's free to do whatever he wants.

Pete's the kind of guy that will be the first to have his drone hit a manned plane. He expects no consequences. He flies his drone FPV without a spotter. He flies his drone to the limit of its range. He flies without concern for life and property.

Pete makes all of us look bad.

Just to be clear, Pete is real. He's not a fictional character made up to make a better story. I know where he lives. I've seen him in action.

Did he read the Know Before You Fly brochure? No.

Did he look at the official FAA website? No.

I'm not like Pete. When I bought Glub, my first drone, there was no Know Before You Fly brochure. I proceeded with caution. For a while, I flew the drone less than ten feet above the ground. I flew it on private property. I was slow to move from one skill to the next so that I wouldn't hurt anyone or break anything.

Pete is the nightmare of the FAA. He's an accident waiting to happen.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics has 80+ years of experience in remote control unmanned air vehicles. They have a good record of safety. But, Pete is not a member and never will be.

One Hundredth Expedition

At the end of February 2017, I reached an interesting milestone of one hundred (100) expeditions. An expedition is an effort to capture video with a Phantom 2 Vision+ or Fuji X80 camera.

When I started, I wasn't sure how I would organize my work so that I could find any video clip at any time. No, I deliberately chose not to use iPhoto or Photos.

My Video Production Process

To produce a video, I use the following steps:

1. Capture raw video clips with DJI Phantom Vision 2 flying camera and Fuji XP80 ground camera. Capture raw screen capture with QuickTime Player.
2. Move video clips from memory card to an "expedition" folder on WD MyCloud. An "expedition" is a numbered event, based on date/time, matching my flight log book.
3. Copy clips to a "clips" folder on my Mac Mini.
4. Using iMovie, edit the clips for content.
5. Using GarageBand, create original music and export to iTunes as an MP3 file.
6. Add music to video project and edit to synchronize music and video.
7. Export video project from iMovie as a file.
8. Move video clip to a folder on WD MyCloud.
9. Upload video to a YouTube channel.
10. Backup iMovie video projects to external USB drive (TOSHIBA 2TB). Backup WD MyCloud device to another WD MyCloud device.