Official video for Phantom 4 - March.1st

[licensed pilot]

You are correct, of course. We can look forward to a new crop of morons sendings their P4s in flights of fancy just to "see how far and if they don't hit anything" and more media hysterics about killer drones. I do not blame the FAA for onerous rules. Thank you DJI. Spending your R & D budget in longer flight times and batteries that just don't shut down w/o warning would make too much sense....

 

[hoodlum1]

Now even a 6 year old can be a drone master lol it still looks like a kids toy.

 

[unyks]

I can literally feel some new FAA regulations

 

[RaptorMan]

Honestly, collision avoidance is a bad thing -- it looks to me that the licensed pilots out there that have had a leg up on others particularly from the money making end are just pissed that this drone, which I believe is small enough to quality as a drone anyone can fly AND make money from, will permit the rest of us to make some money.

In order for this industry to progress there needs to be progress made in collision avoidance and this appears to be a first step. Looking down the road a decade or so and assuming the industry isn't ruled out of existence there are likely to be fully autonomous drones with advanced collision avoidance using a suite of sensors and transponders. I can see a transponder that other radars can ping and I can see on-board radar as well.

We are going to have fully autonomous drones for SAR and border patrol -- yes, we now use the Predator on the southern border, but a vastly cheaper fleet of drones operating 24/7/365 for security and domestic protection is inevitable.

So, it looks like I pretty well nailed this a while back when I suspected a longer flight time P4 with some collision avoidance tech. But again ... this is a first step. For me the bigger value is the longer flight times. I have photo/video mission ideas that could benefit from longer flight times and being able to follow a route for 6, 8 even 10 miles would be sweet.

Yes, there will be idiots that do stupid things with drones, but a $1700 drone is probably going to be a bit beyond the reach of the average a-hole.


Brian

 

[The Editor]

Yes, there will be idiots that do stupid things with drones, but a $1700 drone is probably going to be a bit beyond the reach of the average a-hole.


Brian

The Inspire wasn't and we've seen plenty of idiots flying those!

 

[RaptorMan]

The Inspire wasn't and we've seen plenty of idiots flying those!

There are idiots flying Gulfstream G650's as there are idiots everywhere else. The thing is most (MOST) of these knuckleheads are playing with the cheaper stuff. Yes, there are videos of guys doing stupid stuff with the Inspire but just about all the stories that make the news in a negative way are about idiots flying lower end Phantoms and less.

As the price goes up the idiots tend to drop away and even when they do buy one of the higher end drones they tend to be a bit less idiotic with them. Also, idiots tend to self eliminate themselves when they crash as they inevitably do -- once there toy is broken they tend to move along and find less expensive ways to be idiots!


Brian

 

[licensed pilot]

Honestly, collision avoidance is a bad thing -- it looks to me that the licensed pilots out there that have had a leg up on others particularly from the money making end are just pissed that this drone, which I believe is small enough to quality as a drone anyone can fly AND make money from, will permit the rest of us to make some money.

In order for this industry to progress there needs to be progress made in collision avoidance and this appears to be a first step. Looking down the road a decade or so and assuming the industry isn't ruled out of existence there are likely to be fully autonomous drones with advanced collision avoidance using a suite of sensors and transponders. I can see a transponder that other radars can ping and I can see on-board radar as well.

We are going to have fully autonomous drones for SAR and border patrol -- yes, we now use the Predator on the southern border, but a vastly cheaper fleet of drones operating 24/7/365 for security and domestic protection is inevitable.

So, it looks like I pretty well nailed this a while back when I suspected a longer flight time P4 with some collision avoidance tech. But again ... this is a first step. For me the bigger value is the longer flight times. I have photo/video mission ideas that could benefit from longer flight times and being able to follow a route for 6, 8 even 10 miles would be sweet.

Yes, there will be idiots that do stupid things with drones, but a $1700 drone is probably going to be a bit beyond the reach of the average a-hole.


Brian

 

[licensed pilot]

"Yes, there will be idiots that do stupid things with drones, but a $1700 drone is probably going to be a bit beyond the reach of the average a-hole."

I wish I could trust that to be the case, but....

 

[Outta Control]

Cnet @CNET <~~~ Click here

 

[licensed pilot]

Honestly, collision avoidance is a bad thing -- it looks to me that the licensed pilots out there that have had a leg up on others particularly from the money making end are just pissed that this drone, which I believe is small enough to quality as a drone anyone can fly AND make money from, will permit the rest of us to make some money.

In order for this industry to progress there needs to be progress made in collision avoidance and this appears to be a first step. Looking down the road a decade or so and assuming the industry isn't ruled out of existence there are likely to be fully autonomous drones with advanced collision avoidance using a suite of sensors and transponders. I can see a transponder that other radars can ping and I can see on-board radar as well.

We are going to have fully autonomous drones for SAR and border patrol -- yes, we now use the Predator on the southern border, but a vastly cheaper fleet of drones operating 24/7/365 for security and domestic protection is inevitable.

So, it looks like I pretty well nailed this a while back when I suspected a longer flight time P4 with some collision avoidance tech. But again ... this is a first step. For me the bigger value is the longer flight times. I have photo/video mission ideas that could benefit from longer flight times and being able to follow a route for 6, 8 even 10 miles would be sweet.

Yes, there will be idiots that do stupid things with drones, but a $1700 drone is probably going to be a bit beyond the reach of the average a-hole.


Brian

"Honestly, collision avoidance is a bad thing -- it looks to me that the licensed pilots out there that have had a leg up on others particularly from the money making end are just pissed that this drone, which I believe is small enough to quality as a drone anyone can fly AND make money from, will permit the rest of us to make some money."

I'm not pissed at the P4, but would like to see all current DJI product problems solved first. I am not sure what "changed", you still need a 333 for commercial operations.

 

[Clancey]

Yea even the good operators make mistakes it happens, this will only help prevent mistakes from happening IMO

 

[licensed pilot]

Yea even the good operators make mistakes it happens and this will only help prevent mistakes from happening IMO

Expect to read many more mysterious "fly aways" stories here from incompetent operators who blindly trust the technology.

 

[Outta Control]

Expect to read many more mysterious "fly aways" stories here from incompetent operators who blindly trust the technology.

So who is to blame.

 

[Clancey]

I wish I had these sensors on my inspire, that would so cool, I know how much more skill is required to fly indoors even as a good operator, flying indoors without GPS can be challenging. I'd rather have them then not, sure it may not work all the time and probably has its bugs, more crash prevention the better is how I see it, It keeps your craft safe from getting broken, and can see people to a degree, Yes nothing is perfect I agree, I do trust my inspire more then any any aircraft I have ever flown.

 

[DennisR]

IMHO, these DJI things are camera platforms only, if a pilot needs obstacle avoidance tech to fly he's not much of a pilot.

Its ok to think like that but I'm a licensed pilot and yesterday i had my inspire Pro take off from me and crash into a 4 story apartment block 400 metres from where I thought it was. Its in a million pieces and Im up for another $8000 for a new one. A crash avoidance system would have saved me 8k. I dont pretend to be a great pilot but I use this machine for my work. Now I have to buy a new one. I think Ill go for the Phantom 4 and wait till the inspire comes out with it.

 

[Outta Control]

... i had my inspire Pro take off from me and crash into a 4 story apartment block 400 metres from where I thought it was. Its in a million pieces ...

 

[unyks]

Its ok to think like that but I'm a licensed pilot and yesterday i had my inspire Pro take off from me and crash into a 4 story apartment block 400 metres from where I thought it was. Its in a million pieces and Im up for another $8000 for a new one. A crash avoidance system would have saved me 8k. I dont pretend to be a great pilot but I use this machine for my work. Now I have to buy a new one. I think Ill go for the Phantom 4 and wait till the inspire comes out with it.

Where you thought it was? So you had no eye contact over inhabited areas?

I already hear the 333 owners coming after you waving with the FAA paperwork

Nevertheless, sorry for your loss, a lot of money and time went down the toilet pipe :-(

Chris

 

[licensed pilot]

Its ok to think like that but I'm a licensed pilot and yesterday i had my inspire Pro take off from me and crash into a 4 story apartment block 400 metres from where I thought it was. Its in a million pieces and Im up for another $8000 for a new one. A crash avoidance system would have saved me 8k. I dont pretend to be a great pilot but I use this machine for my work. Now I have to buy a new one. I think Ill go for the Phantom 4 and wait till the inspire comes out with it.

Dang...you fly VLOS?

 

[RaptorMan]

The main thing that concerns me about the Phantom 4 is that they do seem to be positioning this thing against the Lily drone and I've already expressed my concerns about it being ruled unacceptable given the fully autonomous nature of its operation. The collision avoidance sensors may offset that problem a bit, but I'd not count on the FAA to prohibit such operation.

The video based follow me mode with collision sensors is probably a safer mode than the follow me mode in the Inspire 1 and older Phantoms, but my concern is that the FAA may say that you can't operate a drone without having your hands on an RC so you can fly manually if a problem arises. Again, this is similar to my concern about the Lily. And, as I mentioned before, if they decide the Lily is no-go then they may further rule that all autonomous flight operations in all out drones is not permitted.


Brian

 

[Colin Berry]

Lots of chat on here about users and their behavior. Legislation wont stop bad behavior else none of us would speed and i'm sure most of us have (or is it just me!!!). Idiots with money will buy an Inspire - Look at the fake Georgian pillars outside their houses to realize that money does not buy common sense.

What the Phantom 4 does is move the gap closer to the Inspire and therefore makes Inspire seem overpriced (which it is IMHO). Sure, the 3 and 4 look like a toy but its all about the footage and if you can charge less and use the 3 or 4 why wouldn't you? Mr **** with his Carlos Fandango Hex leaning against his Porsche Cayenne zooming all over the place with crap post processing wont impress people

Again, IMHO the Inspire needs to up its game with collision avoidance, follow me (not the controller (unless that's available but Ive not found it) and a forward facing panning camera for the pilot. A camera that actually looks as close to an object as it actually is would help no end! Looking at the Yuneec demo on another thread I think DJI cannot afford to rest on its laurels too long. From what I can see the main advantage DJI is Lightbridge.

Im also not impressed that the battery is yet again different on the 4 so those with a 3 are left with having to start again. This, IMHO says what they think of the consumer.

The Inspire is awesome but it could be better and others are catching up fast.

Im sure this wont be popular but hey ho