Ummm.....been there, gone, home having breakfast kinda thing. You go ahead and wait out there for me though. :knock:

Pretty neat video.

I've been thinking about buying one of these "drones" (technically quad copters) to film the kids playing on the beach, or inspect the roof of my house (2 stories)

As Curtis pointed out, these will need to be flown below 400', especially near an airport or aircraft. Most of the drone flyers are not aware of the restrictions. Last thing we want is the FAA cracking down. Several recent incidents came to mind (NY where 2 guys got arrested for flying too close to a chopper for example).

Buddy of mine flying a C-130 in IRAQ was at 5000' and hit a small UAV (Drone). It took out the number 2 engine and the damage to the wing was insane. He said that had it hit between #1 and #2 there was a real chance it could have brought the Herc down. People seem to understand that birds can bring airplanes down (Sully on the Hudson ring a bell), but they get so excited about these small drones they don't realize how much damage they can do.

400!? :twak:

How far (high) can one of these quadcopters get away from the controller and still be "controlled" and what happens to them when they get too far away?

According to this website ---- 1000 Meters so roughly 3,000 feet. Much further than what I would have thought. This model from this company has an "auto return to home" when the signal is lost.



https://store.dji.com/product/phantom-2

Wow!!

At the last auto-x I attended, there was a couple there running a drone with a high-end Canon shooting video of the runs. It was outside the track shooting back into it. The guy ran the drone, and the wife ran the camera. It was big, 4-5' in diameter with 6 or 8 props. I was told he used it often for shooting video of water skiers, and he was 'practicing' with the cars.

Unfortunately during my session of working the course, it crashed. It was hovering about 100' from my station, and I heard a strange sound and turned just in time to see it hit the ground. Completely shattered the drone, and destroyed the Canon that was attached as well. One of my coworkers was also into them, and he said that may have been a $10k crash given the carbon fiber makeup of the drone plus the camera.

The culprit ended up being that he forgot to replace a batter pack with a freshly charged one. He had several there and was switching between runs. Apparently he replaced one and not the other. Upon inspection, when the one battery died, the other was running the whole unit. That appeared to draw too much current and melted a wire or connector. When that happened, instant power loss due to a short, and down it came.

I was certainly glad it wasn't near anyone. And I felt for him, that was a pricey mistake.

http://www.dronefly.com/product-p/backpack-kit.htm

I know a few people with this one and are very happy with it. Stay away from the Carbon blades though.

Dito w/ GotBlueMilk.com has a DJI-550 six rotor capable of " a few thousand feet, though FAA says don't go above 400'."

http://www.senmais.com/wp-content/uploads/dronelugo.jpg

When I was talking with the drone photog at OUSCI I asked him how much he had his QuadCopter and equipment insured for...........$23,000.

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-r...rrtvpmM-XL.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-D...DrcF3Tj-X2.jpg

A Friend of mine got one a couple months ago - it has an Auto Return if it gets too far away, loses the Signal from the Controller or if the Battery Pack starts running Low. It's pretty cool!