going pro • Flying fpv • DJI X7 • REVIEWS

May 2018 · No 32

on the edge GOLD Standards Flight, Camera, Action

Pushing the limits of the law How a new code of conduct A pro pilot talks about working with
to get some amazing photos can shape the future of UAVs the BBC and the new X7 camera

Eye in the Sky

how to Get a new perspective With first-person flying

ViFly X150
A giant among mini-quads?
dji mavic air
tested to the limit

Bird in Hand
105MPH! How swift is the GepRC MX3 Sparrow?

Drone Show is Back! 32

£5.99

First info on the new and improved UK showcase 9 772059 287008

 1-2 DECember 2018

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Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Photo by Damian Sadowski
www.dronestagr.am/author/falconmx
 contributors
Adam
Juniper
Hooked from the moment he saw
the AR.Drone at CES, Adam has
spent the years since building,
crashing, sinking, losing and
occasionally flying drones. With
a background in photography
publishing and over a decade
writing about video and still
photography in his rear-view
mirror, he was the only choice
for Ilex’s book The Drone Pilot's
Handbook (on sale now!).
Andrew
Wat ton-Davies
Andrew spends his time
monitoring the globe for drone
news stories, testing to death the
things people send him (mostly
drones), and hoping his cats won’t
moult all over his quadcopters. He's
a graduate of the Freedonia Flying
Academy and has never failed to
walk away from a UAV landing.
You can follow him on Twitter at
@raggedydrones
4 DRONE MAGAZINE
Gemma
Cox
Our launch editor for DRONE,
Gemma has worked at the helm of
NEO magazine for over ten years.
Spending over a decade immersed
in Asian pop culture, she recently
branched out into the world of
technology to take on UAVs. She’s
most excited about the future of
FPV racing and the prospect of
drone deliveries! Can drone racing
go prime time? She certainly hopes
so! Follow NEO at @NEO_Magazine.
Lee
Schofield
Known online as Painless360,
Lee has a YouTube channel and
business dedicated to making RC
technology easier to use. An RC pilot
for over eight years and with a 30-
year background in electronics he
became hooked on quads when he
was bought one in as a present. The
rest, as they say, is history! By now
he can probably strip a quadcopter
and rebuild it blindfolded.
robin
evans
Robin is an airline captain with
over 7,000 hours logged and when
he’s not ferrying people across the
skies is also a freelance writer and
photographer. It was two years
ago that his father asked him how
much crossover, in theory, there
was between flying drones and
airliners and that set the propellers
turning! Since then he's always on
the lookout for ways to get the best
of both worlds…
Wayne
Andrews
Wayne was drawn into the world
of RC and FPV after chancing on a
tricopter video in 2011. Determined
to understand how to construct
his own flying machine, he’s been
building, flying, crashing and fixing
multirotors and planes ever since.
Known online as CurryKitten, he
runs his own a YouTube channel and
blog focused on helping new pilots
into the air more smoothly.
Rob
Clymo
Rob has been covering tech
topics for more years than he can
remember, most recently in his
role as editor of Digital FilmMaker
magazine. He loves nothing
more than hitching a ride in light
aircraft or anything autonomous
and has been keeping an eager
eye on all things drone-related
ever since he got his first glimpse
of an early, slightly primitive, DJI
creation a few years ago.
rowan
bailey
Rowan is cinematographer and
drone fanatic with a passion for
exploring new places and shooting
them with his Xiro Xplorer. He’s
always looking for new places to
fly and new ways to push his work,
and you’ll often find him along the
Pembrokeshire coastline on most
sunny/non-windy days! You can
follow his most recent shots/trips
on Instagram @RTBaileyMedia.
 may 2018 • Issue 32
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H
aving spent a day in Monte Carlo last issue I had an equally illustrious trip 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT

this month, having been invited to the House of Lords in London for the Distributed through the UK/US specialist trade by
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announcement of the British Standards Institution’s upcoming Drone
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Firstly, it was great to see so many leading figures brought together, not just from
the drone industry but a variety of related fields as well. These people may get the odd
chance to chat at trade shows, but with everyone packed into the same room it was DRONE is published monthly by Uncooked Media
Ltd. All text and layout remains the copyright of
almost impossible to avoid being drawn into an interesting discussion at every turn. Uncooked Media Ltd. DRONE is a fully independent
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I started the evening discussing the merits of drones in harbour management and mentioned herein. All characters and artwork shown
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respective owners.
Of course, the main talking point was the introduction of a set of standards
No part of this magazine may be reproduced without
that will help to shape the future of the drone industry. As echoed in the article on the express written permission of the publisher.
page 26, these are not regulations; instead they are a set of guidelines to establish DRONE can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies
or complaints arising from editorial or advertising
minimum safety and quality standards that manufacturers and operators can choose within this magazine. All letters and emails received
to adopt. They appear in almost every other industry, so they shouldn’t be surprising will be considered for publication, but we cannot
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or feared in any way. responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs,
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the recognition that comes with it. Either way, having a code of conduct that we can
all aspire to on our terms – and further alienate the small minority not interested in
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Enjoy the issue! DRONE © 2018 Uncooked Media Ltd
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 10

12 26
It’s safety first for
drone users at a
nuclear power plant… 32

20

contents
10 // AIR RESCUE 16 // CLOSE CALLS 20 // UK DRONE SHOW
We hear from the Special Constable who was Two contrasting stories; one about a new drone Now under the expanded guise of the UK
able to use a police UAV to find a missing person designed to avoid collisions and one about a Drone and Technology Show Live, it’s back for
on a freezing cold night. pilot who nearly caused one. business in December.

12 // PLANT HIGHER 17 // HOT TOPICS 26 // NEW STANDARDS

Drone are lending a hand just about everywhere Some environmentally unfriendly reports, We speak to the Chairman of the BSI committee
these days, most recently at a decommissioned with drone deliveries needing to reduce its behind the new code of conduct coming soon to
nuclear power plant in Scotland. carbon footprint and a UAV fire-starter. the drone industry.

14 // VIDEO TO GO 18 // PUBLIC OPINION 32 // TV GUIDE

Parrot has introduced the Flight Director 92% of people think there needs to be some A professional drone pilot explains how his flair
editing software to its FreeFlight Pro app, restrictions on drone use, according to a new for flying really helped his career in television
offering up auto-edited videos on the fly. study of both pilots and the public. to take off – and meet Noel Edmunds!

6 DRONE MAGAZINE
 40 46

62

70
Is the GepRC MX3
Sparrow as fast as its
creators say it is? 80

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40 // CITY SLICKER 58 // FLIGHT SCHOOL 70 // GEPRC MX3 SPARROW

How one pilot has played by the rules and still Once qualified there aren’t too many other The creators are claiming a top speed of more
been able to get some memorable shots over the places to learn new skills but a new drone than 100mph, so is this FPV flyer punching
skies of London that skirt the law. academy aims to change that. above its weight?

46 // HEAD IN THE CLOUDS 62 // DJI MAVIC AIR 74 // FORMAT WARS

One of our experts takes you through We’ve teased it; we’ve had some brief test flights It’s not quite VHS vs Betamax or PlayStation vs
everything you need to know in order to take with it; and now it’s time for our full in-depth Xbox, but choosing the right format for sharing
your first steps into flying FPV. review of the drone everyone’s talking about. your videos online can still be crucial.

52 // TAMING ACRO 66 // VIFLY X150 80 // SHARP SHOOTER

Essential advice that will make life a lot easier When one of our experts says this is his new We chat with Florian Ledoux, winner of the
for any pilots looking to ease off self-levelling number one choice for quads of this size, you recent SkyPixel Photo Contest and a man on a
flights and go fully manual. might want to find out why. mission to bring the Arctic to your laptop.

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 7
8 DRONE MAGAZINE
 80
discover how a passion
for wildlife and a flair
for flying combined into
an award-winning career

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 9
 Words by: Andrew Watton-Davies
Search
and Rescue
Missing driver found with drone support
L
incolnshire Police has used a drone
to help to find the missing driver
of a crashed vehicle in sub-zero
temperatures. The incident happened on the
A16 near Ludborough in the early hours of 25
February, during a night with temperatures
reported as low -2°C when the weather
was both foggy and snowing. Officers were
responding to a call after a member of the
public reported seeing the car upside down in
a ditch with smoke coming out of it. The driver
had been spotted walking on foot away from
the crash site towards a nearby village.
We spoke directly with the pilot involved
in the search, Special Sergeant Kevin Taylor,
about the incident. He confirmed that the
search of the area had started at 2.24am with
four police officers on the scene, which he
described as a “pitch black night, freezing cold,
10 DRONE MAGAZINE
Police’s DJI Inspire 1 with XT thermal camera
was achieved, he said: “We go through all
the checks but we pre-plan en route as to
what we’re doing, the area we’re going to and
anything that might affect us.”
As for the flight itself, Kevin explained that
“the section of road we were interested in
searching was a kilometre long, and obviously
the interest was in the road, the dykes and the
surrounding fields. Lincolnshire is a very rural
area, so a thermal drone search can be ideal. I
did a flight out from the location of the accident
to the village; there were various heat sources
showing, particularly from the water in the
dyke at the side of the road. I had officers check
out two other heat sources first, which proved
to be water. When you look at the thermal
results back there were a couple of areas that
were a little bit bigger and a little bit warmer,
and they were ruled out.”
on an unlit section of A-road with no moon.”
They were further assisted by the local Fire
Brigade who had attended with a hand-held
thermal camera.
Whilst the fire crew was able to check
under the vehicle and in the area close by
to ensure no one was trapped or had been
thrown out of the vehicle, they had not been
able to find the driver. As a result the decision
was made for Kevin, a full-time Subject
Matter Expert for Metis Aerospace with 15
years of experience with fixed wing and rotor
craft, as well as a PfCO holder, to travel from
Lincoln to the site as part of his voluntary role
as a Special Constable.
Special Sgt Kevin arrived at the scene at
3.26am and was airborne and searching by
3.33am. When we asked how this seven-
minute deployment time of the Lincolnshire
Hot Spot
As the drone continued its flight back, Kevin
spotted a third source, about 150 metres
away, emanating from a ditch. “I didn’t
know that it was a person at that stage, until
I guided the officer in. He couldn’t see, even
when he was within twelve feet of where the
chap was. I had to tell him to go forward a bit
and then back a bit and then turn right a bit,
because he still couldn’t see. He was six feet
down into the ditch and you really had to get
down to see him.
“There was that element of talking him in,
going backwards and forwards, interrupted
by other operational radio work at the same
time, so he went back past the location that I
wanted him to check. So I had to ask him to
go back and keep going into the ditch, then he
confirmed back to me (at 3.45am) that it was
the chap in the ditch who was unconscious.”
Kevin confirmed that whilst the other officers

“I didn’t know that it was a person at that stage…

He was six feet down into the ditch and you really
had to get down to see him”

and the Fire Brigade had performed thorough longer and that the deployment possibly saved programme was started by Chief Constable
searches, the missing driver “was so far down the man’s life. He also referred to the response Bill Skelly, who had previous experience
in the ditch they simply wouldn’t have found as “a great team effort”, and, whilst praising with the technology in the Devon &
him. The only way they could have found him all those officers involved, he made specific Cornwall force, and was supported by Crime
was to go and walk down into the ditch, but mention of PC Logan-Glover, PC Smith and Commissioner Marc Jones. The team currently
due to the water in there it was not a possibility. drone pilot Special Sgt Taylor. consists of four pilots, with a further six
“As soon the officer was with him I returned Lincolnshire Police’s drone project started officers currently undergoing training. You
(the drone) home, because I was approaching in March 2017, with full approvals being can follow their daily operations on Twitter
the end of my battery life. Being a cold evening, given for operations in October 2017. The via their handle @lincsCOPter.
even with 12 minutes of flight time I didn’t
have a lot of battery left. I didn’t want to
leave the heat source in fear of not finding it
again, so I stayed airborne and by the time
the officers got to him the battery was at 30%.
However, the drone was about 140 metres
from my location with no wind so there was
no complication with the flight back.” Once
the craft had landed, Kevin began assisting the
other officers, with an ambulance arriving on
scene at 3.52am to take the driver to hospital.
Speaking about the incident to the press,
Sgt Mike Templeman commented that without
the drone this search could have taken much

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 11
 Going
Nuclear
Drones drive safety at
decommissioned power plant
Words by: Andrew Watton-Davies
A
lthough the winter weather hitting
the UK in March wasn’t good
news for most drone pilots, it did
give one aerial team the chance to
demonstrate the positive benefits of UAV use
for inspection work at a decommissioned
nuclear power plant. With only a few flights
the team was able to demonstrate both the
financial savings and the speed and safety
aspects of using drones over traditional on-
foot methods.
The drone programme has been initiated
at the Dounreay plant on the north coast of
Caithness in Scotland. It was opened in 1955
and until 1994 was the home to five nuclear
12 DRONE MAGAZINE
reactors. Following the closure of the facility
(and the passing of the site through a number
of government bodies), the maintenance of
the buildings, management of the potential
environmental harm of the radioactive
materials and the safe decommissioning of
the site has fallen to Dounreay Site Restoration
Limited (DSRL).
As part of these works, 50 building
inspections a year were previously carried out
using traditional techniques of putting people
on roofs and up ladders that could be 55 metres
off the ground. Following a project initiated by
senior electrical engineer John Moar, and an
outlay of £6,000 on a drone, the inspections
are now being carried out with a pilot safely on
the ground. As well as estimated manpower
savings of £100,000, the risk of serious injury
or even death from falls has been removed as a
result. The savings made on the very first drone
inspection, which targeted two 20-metre tall
ventilation stacks, are reported to have covered
the cost of the craft.
John told us that his awareness of
drones and reasons for initiating the
drone programme come from a long-time
interest in aerial photography. “I had a
hobby background in self-built RC model
aeroplanes and helicopters, mainly during
the 1990s, and first took aerial views using
a modified auto-wind film-type camera
mounted in a wooden plans-built model
aeroplane. I started flying light aircraft
in 1999 and began taking a lot of aerial
photographs from then onwards. Drones
were a natural progression and I only started
operating these recently for the purpose of
my work as I saw the opportunity emerge.”
Knowing the potential benefits of drone
technology, the next step was convincing
DSRL of the benefits of using such systems.
The nature of his work environment gave
John some assistance as “innovation is key
to our decommissioning programme and, as
an engineer, we are encouraged to constantly
innovate and stay in touch with new
technologies,” he explained.
As for the ground work, John says it was
“a self-driven initiative as a side-line to my
day job. Nuclear safety case considerations,
security, training requirements, cost and
conventional safety were all considerations
rather than obstacles.
“It was a matter of assessing, mitigating and
balancing these risks and other factors. The
balance of risk compared to ‘conventional’
access methods spoke for itself and I did
not need to work too hard to convince the
management of the benefits once I had done
my homework and presented the facts and
implementation plan.”
Power Ranger
Convincing the company of the benefits was
one thing, but getting permission to fly at the
plant was complicated as, due to the nature
of the site, there is a strictly enforced air
exclusion zone. “The area is a flight prohibited
area, as regulated by the CAA, in force
around the site. So the application included
permission to use the airspace with security
controls considered.”
With a PfCO and specific exemption finally
secured, John was able to get to work using a
DJI Inspire 2, operated with the dual TX set-
up and chosen for the task “because of the
functionality and support.” John explained
“After the recent strong winds we managed to conduct two months’ worth of
storm damage surveys over a period of just a couple of days”
that “general surveys are our main focus, such
as asset inspection, condition monitoring
or storm damage surveys. Provided in line
of sight, the drone is able to get very close to
the area being examined, much closer than
a mobile elevated work platform can, for
example. They cannot necessarily perform as
well as a person up close with the benefit of all
senses but the difficulty is in getting the person
up close in the first instance, and so the drone
is a clear winner.”
The success of this early use of the
technology has been made evident by the
amount of work the team have been able
to perform. “We have successfully carried
out around 20 inspections over the winter
period and after the recent strong winds we
managed to conduct two months’ worth of
storm damage surveys over a period of just a
couple of days,” John says. “This would have
previously required the hire of mobile work
platforms costing several thousands of pounds
each week and would have been more resource
intensive. In addition to saving the taxpayer
money, we are increasing the quality and
timeliness of the inspections.”
John says everyone seemed happy with the
results. “The project manager was delighted
at the quality and detail of the images and
how easy and safe it was to get them. It also
gives us 360 degree inspections, which often
isn’t possible when doing the inspection
manually.” With a team from the site’s
maintenance department now involved in
the drone works, John has said the system
“also has the potential to develop applications
in other areas, such as 3D modelling,
thermographic, environmental and land
remediation surveys, and PR footage.”
Further proof of the benefits of drone use can
be found in a number of similar initiatives that
are being undertaken at other nuclear facilities
in the UK and beyond. For more details on the
Dounreay facility and the drone use there,
head over to dounreay.com.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 13
 Words by Andrew Watton-Davies

parrot show
create your bebop videos on the fly

P
arrot, the developer of the Bebop drone When asked what the design goal was for Flight Director is available now and requires
series, has announced the addition of this latest addition to the growing library the FreeFlight Pro application from version 5.2
Flight Director to its FreeFlight Pro of software for the Bebop series, a Parrot onwards and either iOS 9.0 or Android 4.2 or
companion app. The program, powered by representative commented that Flight Director higher. The Premium version, available on a
algorithms developed by Singapore-based is “part of our efforts to create a user-friendly 15-day free trial, is listed at £19.99 in the App
video editing software company Muvee, ecosystem around FreeFlight Pro. Store and £14.99 on Google Play. A free version
identifies the “optimum sequences” in a user’s “Our goal is to provide our users with an is also available, enabling operators to use the
captured drone footage and then presents them exceptional, multi-purpose tool to accompany ‘Best Of’ feature which will select videos from
with a ready-to-share montage of between 15 them during their journey with our drones. your drone to create a 15-second compilation of
seconds and 3 minutes. Flight Director was specifically designed to the “best moments shot by your drone.”
The software’s algorithm automatically offer the opportunity to quickly edit drone Android users should note that Parrot has
identifies the best moments of the operator’s footage and create amazing content with confirmed that the software is only compatible
footage by analysing the drone’s flight minimal efforts and editing skills thanks to its with devices with the rm64-v8a and armeabi-
telemetry and then synchronises them to the intuitive interface and automated processes.” v7a binary interfaces. This means that a small
beats of the selected music track. Users can Whilst Flight Director is usable with all number of older devices will not be able to
choose tunes from the app’s library or from three craft in the Bebop range, when asked if use the app, and will therefore not be able to
their own playlists. In addition, three editing the software will be made available for users of purchase the software from the store. More
styles are available to select from. the Disco fixed wing craft, we were told that it information on Flight Director, FreeFlight Pro
Talking to Parrot about these pre-set is currently “designed to work on quadcopter and the company’s range of aerial solutions can
selections, a spokesperson explained that drones only.” be found at Parrot.com.
Story “follows the chronological order of the
shots” and is “great for following a journey or
storytelling.” Trailer is a “fast-paced editing
style which uses fast motion and quick cuts
to the most exciting moments to crank up
the impact and drama.” And finally there’s
Cinematic which “automatically finds the
most awesome sweeping smooth shots,” with
the intention of being “great for making epic
landscape aerial movies.”
Videos can be further customised with a
choice of seven ‘Themes’, which are overlays
that add flight telemetric information to the
video. The software then uses your smart
device’s built-in share systems to post the
videos to any and all compatible platforms,
including Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram.

14 DRONE MAGAZINE
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 Words by Andrew Watton-Davies
Follow the Leader
High-end automation targets
the prosumer market
S
kydio, a drone development start-up based in Redwood City,
California, has announced the launch of its 4K R1 autonomous
drone after four years of development and boasting some
impressive obstacle avoidance tech. The drone’s key feature, the
Skydio Autonomy Engine, has been demonstrated in a series of launch
videos showing the craft following runners, skiers, bikers and skaters
through a variety of densely forested areas. The technology has also
been demonstrated ‘in the wild’ by a number of vloggers, including
Casey Neistat who considered the autonomy “a quantum leap” when
compared to DJI’s technologies.
Talking about the launch of the R1, Adam Bry, CEO and co-
founder of Skydio, stated: “The promise of the self-flying camera has
captured people’s imaginations, but today’s drones still need to be
flown manually for them to be useful. We’ve spent the last four years
solving the hard problems in robotics and AI necessary to make fully
autonomous flight possible. We’re incredibly excited about the creative
possibilities with R1, and we also believe that this technology will
enable many of the most valuable drone applications for consumers and
businesses over the coming years.”
The craft is 13 x 16 x 1.5 inches, weighs in at 2.2lbs, has a top-flight
speed of 25mph and a flight time of 16 minutes. The camera allows for
4K at 30fps (or 1080p at 30 and 60fps) with live streaming also available
at 720p at 15fps. It has a maximum range of 300ft (depending on your
smart device) and twelve navigational cameras, with five tracking
modes available.
This isn’t a cheap piece of fun, though, as the R1 Frontier Edition
is currently available for the not insignificant sum of $2,499 (plus
shipping). More information can be found at skydio.com.
16 DRONE MAGAZINE
Near Miss
Glider and drone in close call
Photo by Frank Schwichtenberg / CreativeCommons
T
he UK Airprox Board (UKAB) has confirmed that on 01 January
2018, a glider on its landing approach to Dunstable Downs Airfield
in Bedfordshire was involved in a near-miss incident with a drone.
The drone was reported to have been “20-50m in front of the nose of the
glider and a few metres below” the Schleicher ASK 21, as it was at 550ft
and making its final turn for approach. With both the weather and the
UAV being described as grey, it is reported as having been difficult for
the pilot to see it “against a backdrop of Dunstable town.”
The report states that with the drone passing rapidly by the glider,
there had been no time for the glider pilot to take avoiding action. The
report concluded that “had the drone been on a collision course, it was
unlikely that the glider would have responded to control inputs rapidly
enough to allow avoiding action to be effective,” and thus the Risk of
Collision was given as “High”. It added that it was “a situation where
providence had played a major part in the incident” and that a definite
risk of collision had existed.
The incident was the highest risk of the seven drone-related reports
reviewed at the January meeting of the UKAB. The other incidents
included reports of UAVs being flown beyond practical visual line of
sight, in the vicinity of airfields, above cloud cover, and on approach
paths for landing planes. More details on the incidents can be found at
the website airproxboard.org.uk.
Words by: Andrew Watton-Davies

Fire Starter
Crashed drone sparks blaze

Aerial Footprints T
Environmental impact of
he US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service has reported
that a fire on 06 March in the Kendrick Park area of Coconino
National Forest, Arizona, was caused by a drone battery igniting
after a crash landing and setting fire to dry grasses. The fire is said
UAV deliveries assessed to have burned more than 300 acres of forest land and required the
efforts of around 30 firefighters and a water tender truck to get under

A
research team from the Lawrence Livermore National control, driving smoke across the nearby Highway 180.
Laboratory in California has concluded that the additional The craft is reported to have been 16 x 16-inch hobby drone, with
warehousing needed for drone deliveries, and the longer the pilot having been identified and charged with starting a wildfire.
travel distances being planned by developers, reduces the previously The exact reason for the battery starting the fire has not yet been
championed environmental benefits of the technology when compared established (though a hot battery and dry grass is a bad mix), but
to traditional ground-based vehicle delivery. if found guilty the drone operator can face anything from a fine or
In the paper, ‘Energy Use and Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions community service to jail time.
of Drones for Commercial Package Delivery’, the team found The flying of drones in the National Forest is permitted, provided the
that the drones themselves potentially consume less energy per pilot follows FAA rules, does not take off or land in a wilderness area
package-kilometre than delivery trucks, provided that the craft are and that there are no wildfires in the vicinity. The Forest Service itself
flown at an energy-efficient speed and distance. However, savings provides maps and supporting information for those wishing to fly
are undermined when the electricity and natural gas needed for in the area. The incident is believed to have been the first time that a
maintaining additional storage facilities are factored in. The paper wildfire has been caused by a drone.
concluded that to realise the environmental benefits of drone
deliveries, regulators and firms should focus on minimising extra
warehousing and limiting the size of drones.
Co-author Joshuah Stolaroff (and team leader along with
Constantine Samaras) told us: “Finding ways to use existing retail
space to store and stage goods is one way they might limit the need
for extra warehousing. For regulators, placing limits on package
weight and drone weight seems straightforward. Both parties should
assess the full life cycle impacts of their proposed system before
implementing it.”
As for the potential dangers of not taking such action, he said: “In
the worst case, widespread drone use would moderately increase
emissions in the transportation sector at a time when we need to
make dramatic reductions for climate reasons. We are not aware that
any developers or drone users have systematically considered the
drones’ environmental impacts before. Our paper is an important
first step.” The full study can be found and analysed at the website
nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02411-5.

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 17
 Words by Andrew Watton-Davies
Public order
New survey backs drone restrictions
N
ominet UK, the .uk domain name
registry since 1996, has released
research into public opinion on drones
and their use as part of its Digital Futures
Index. Aimed at “identifying consumer
sentiment around drone ownership, while also
exploring trends among drone owners,” the
results show that 92% of respondents believe
there should be restrictions on who can use
drone craft, 90% want drones registered with a
central body and 72% support “the equivalent
of a driving licence for drone operators.”
The results were based on a representative
sample of 2,002 UK adults and 500 drone
owners, who were surveyed over a ten-day
period in January 2018 by Opinium. Other
data released included the findings that 83%
of respondents believe that drones pose a risk
to the public when out of controller range and
79% having concerns about the safety of flight
paths, roads and properties.
The public were also concerned about illegal
use of the craft, with 71% of respondents
thinking drones could be used for criminal
activities and 58% saying that UAVs pose a
danger to their privacy, with 49% considering
camera drones “a major privacy risk.” How
the public believe registration should be
handled is not as clear an issue, though, with
42% supporting the creation of a new central
18 DRONE MAGAZINE
body, 37% in favour of registration with the
government, 30% with the aviation authorities
and 25% wanting drones to be registered with
the police (we’d assume it was a multiple choice
section before you question the maths!).
Of the 500 drone users surveyed, 66% said
that their drones are fitted with a camera but
the same percentage claimed there is “a lack
of clarity over filming permissions.” 62% of
users said that they had filmed persons or
places without permission and 9% said they
didn’t think filming permissions are ever
needed. On the issues of safety, 53% admitted
to having crashed a craft under their control,
37% admitted to having lost drones under their
control and 26% said they didn’t know the
range of their devices, “despite knowing the
potential dangers.”
Commenting on the study, Russell Haworth,
CEO of Nominet, said: “At the moment drones
are largely extravagant toys, but the reality is
that they have the potential to revolutionise
many aspects of our lives… What’s needed is a
centralised database and flight path mapping
tools that allows these drones to communicate
with each other. That way, accidents are less
likely to happen, as collision avoidance systems
would take over in the event of an emergency.
City infrastructure would also need updating
to accommodate drones, including things like
landing locations for drone deliveries. No doubt
as cities become smarter, drones will play a
wider role.”
When asked how much the views of drone
operators differed from the general public, a
spokesperson added: “On the whole, drone
owners and consumers were aligned on their
thoughts when it came to regulation and
restrictions or who should be able to purchase
a drone. One area where they did differ is about
the potential of drone use in the future for
deliveries. Drone owners were much more open
to receiving deliveries via drone, with a quarter
saying they think it is the future of deliveries,
compared with just 10% of consumers.”
More details on Nominet’s research, covering
a range of technological issues, can be found at
nominet.uk/DigitalFuturesIndex – although
we were told that there are no current plans for
the full results of this study to be released.
 The Show Goes On!
The UK Drone Show returns in 2018 with a new and expanded format – and big
plans for the future. Ian Collen spoke to the organisers to find out more…

H
aving launched in 2015, the UK Drone expects to be slightly bigger and certainly more As well as seeing many familiar faces from
Show enjoyed two great annual shows compact than those previous shows, and with the drone world on the show floor, plus some
before taking a break in 2017. Now it’s even more on to get your hands on. other potential big hitters from the worlds
ready to return under the expanded The headline features include the returning of photography, gaming, technology and
guise of the UK Drone and Technology Show iSeries FPV race event, boasting a whopping beyond, there’ll also be the very nicely timed
Live 2018, being held over the weekend of 01-02 £10,000 prize pool – and the team hopes to ‘Christmas Gadget Fair’.
December back at the NEC in Birmingham. entice some major international pilots to the Oliver explained that this will include
Although the change in name suggests a UK to take on the best of British over two “presentations of all the latest gadgets” and
shift in focus, the core is still very much on intense days of frenetic racing. that they were “looking at getting some well-
the ‘drone’ side of things. But with an ever- There’s also a £4,000 prize pot up for known hosts involved.” We can certainly
growing range of crossover industries such as grabs in the ‘Perfect Capture’ photography imagine it providing a very handy shopping
photography, virtual and augmented reality, RC competition, with two categories on offer: centre for many a festive gift this year!
cars, gaming, robotics and smart technologies Aerial Photography for the drone owners out
it makes sense to open those doors a little wider there, and Nature Photography which is open
and embrace a potentially larger audience. to more traditional hand-held photographers.
The event is being organised by DTECH
Show Limited, a joint venture
between the UK Drone Show
founder, Oliver O’Brien (who’ll
be project manager on the 2018
show); the former CEO of the MCM
ComicCon events in the UK and
current owner of Malo Events, Bryan
Cooney; and the managing director
of Activate Communications, Luke
Galliana, who’ll be heading up the
Brand Partnerships.
In terms of the show itself, you
can expect the same wealth of
major exhibitors, display stands and
presentation areas that we saw in
2016, but with a plenty of intriguing
newcomers and much more packed
into an NEC hall space that the team

20 DRONE MAGAZINE
Bigger and Better
The joint venture seems to be a nice piece of
timing all-round, with Bryan Cooney selling
his stake in the UK MCM ComicCon in October
last year, and Luke, who’d previously worked
with Bryan on those MCM events, told us
they’ve been keen to get involved with the
Drone Show for a while. And when Bryan
was free from the responsibilities of the many
ComicCon shows held across the UK each year,
Luke says it “gave us the perfect opportunity
to get the ball rolling with Oliver and try to put
some plans in place to get the show going and
get the partnership going.”
On announcing the event, Luke added: “It’s
going to be the largest showcase for drones
and technology in Europe. We’re looking to
have as many interactive areas as possible over
the course of the two days. There’ll be lots of
exciting competitions, lots of new product
launches and lots of new technology.” This was
echoed by Oliver who says it will be “the most
unique consumer technology show in the UK.” Oliver also explained how expanding it’s all about having as many areas as possible
his original premise into the UK Drone and that are interactive and that’s what helps to
Technology Show Live made sense. “With make the experience, as we’ve found in the past
things like photography, it crosses over into a putting on these kinds of large-scale events.”
whole new world, as with eSports and so on. So
it’s a natural progression for the show to grow… A New Beginning
but it’s still the Drone Show and we’ll still have What’s perhaps most exciting about this
all of the right drone elements.” new venture is that the 2018 show is only
To this extent you can still expect to see large the beginning. The team already has a five-
sections of the show floor given over to the likes year plan in place to expand and develop the
of drone training, development, insurance concept. One potential avenue of growth
and all things CAA-related. Plus we’ll see the could see the show follow in Bryan’s previous
return of the popular Tiny Whoop area and MCM footsteps, where ComicCons are held
the RC cars will once again be tearing it up on in many different cities across the country
their own track – and with talk of underwater throughout the year – and the UK Drone and
UAV technology joining the fun, we’re also Technology Show Live could also effectively
dreaming about the possibility of a giant fish be taken ‘on tour’, albeit on a slightly smaller
tank as well! scale to begin with.
With the likes of flight simulators, VR and “Obviously we’re used to having multiple
eSports amongst many other things, the 2018 events all around the country,” Luke explains.
show certainly does have the potential to be a “So we see this event happening in major cities
hugely hands-on and interactive experience. “I across the UK and worldwide as well. So it’s
think that’s key as well,” says Luke. “Obviously not just about the NEC, it’s about multiple cities
coming from the ComicCon experiences, for us, and we’re already working on that research

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 21
 and those conversations have already started to
take place.”
In the short term, though, the team is focused
mainly on getting the 2018 show in place to act
as a foundation for those more ambitious plans
into 2019 and beyond, and Oliver says they’ve
already received an enthusiastic response to
the new event. “Obviously we’ve got our core
people there, the main exhibitors, and we’ve
been talking to them before the launch. So
you’ll have all the players there you’d expect but
obviously we’ll be bringing in manufacturers
from the photography side and things like that
and we’re certainly getting a lot of interest.”
With some 10,000 people likely to attend, the
expansion into the ‘and Technology’ side of the
name could also help to drive new customers,
including those who might not necessarily
attend a drone show but might be enticed by
the likes of virtual reality, eSports or the latest
Apple gadget. “That’s the thinking behind it,”
Luke says, “and that’s obviously one reason
why we’re looking at having these categories
out there; it gives us the opportunity to market
those individually, as well as the crossover for
the drone sectors.
“It’s one of those things where we know
that the market is there for us to enhance
it with the crossover of technologies. We’re
playing it down a little bit, in terms of what
can be achieved this year. I think if we base the
footprint on something just a little bit larger
than what the UK Drone Show was, then we’ve
got the scope to increase that as the uptake
comes in from the partners.”
We’ll certainly be at the NEC in December
and we’d encourage anyone else who’s tempted
to come along and join us. We’ll keep you
updated with any major developments and
new announcements for the show during the
year. In the meantime you can find out more
information about what you can expect to
see over the weekend and book your tickets –
priced at £9 for children aged 11-16 and £13.40
for adults (including admin fees, though a
further delivery charge may apply) – via the
website www.techshowlive.com.

22 DRONE MAGAZINE
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A Reader’s View
St. Leonards-on-Sea,
East Sussex
Photo by Phil Ovenden
Given the wintry weather in the UK last month, reader Phil Ovenden
was right on cue with this overhead shot of a beach in East Sussex he
calls ‘Two Tides’ that had us dreaming of sunnier times. Phil tells us it
was taken with a Phantom 4 Pro and at a height of around 20m. If it
didn’t make the issue, he joked that the photo “makes a good screen
saver” but we’re more than happy to include it in the magazine – and
on our desktop!

If you’d like to get one of your own photos into the magazine – and by
submitting a shot for us to use, you are acknowledging that it is your own
work and property – then email us at dronemaguk@gmail.com, along with
the image (the highest resolution where possible) and ideally with a little
information about what’s in the shot and how you got it. Perhaps your
favourite photo could make it into our next issue!
 Setting the
Standards
With a new set of Drone Standards due to be
introduced both in the UK and across the world, Ian
Collen spoke with the BSI Committee Chairman, Robert
Garbett, to find out what exactly it could entail…
W
ith the impending regulations set to introduce
things like drone registration and mandatory
training for UAV pilots, the idea of having
even more rules or restrictions placed upon
everyday drone users might seem a little disconcerting. So
while the work of the British Standards Institute (BSI) might
be familiar to many, it’s probably important to start off by
clarifying for those not quite so sure that standards do NOT
mean regulations (as some other outlets have reported).
Whether it’s in the drone industry or anywhere else,
these standards are purely a set of rules or guidelines for
best practice that individuals or companies can choose to
adopt – typically in areas involving safety or quality. Those
26 DRONE MAGAZINE
that do so are, upon application, given due accreditation
(such as the BSI ‘kitemark’) which serves to inform all
potential clients and customers of their now-proven level
of professionalism.
You’ll find it on everything from plugs to fire
extinguishers, car parts and much more – because when
you’re buying something and you want to be sure that it
works, you’ll usually go for something that’s been approved
for safety and quality over something that hasn’t, right?
It’s this same practice that is set to be introduced to the
drone world, with standards to be established in an ongoing
process across all different aspects of the industry.
However, one very important positive for the drone
community – and one that could make a notable impact
on actually restricting regulations – is that typically
regulations lead and standards follow. But because the
drone industry has grown and evolved so quickly, the
standards have the chance to lead.
According to Robert Garbett, Chairman of the BSI
Committee on Drone Standards: “It means that things
are standards-led and not regulation-led, which is good
because it means that the industry is not choked by
over-regulation,” although he does point out that the UK
government is keen to avoid this anyway.
There are a few instances where the government could
decide to implement standards – for example in restricting
imports/exports for products not meeting those standards,
or possibly in future incorporating certain standards as part
of an operator’s training or qualifying requirements – but The announcement event was also notable for bringing together a wealth of
leading figures from across numerous drone-related industries. We spoke to
that’s not to say they will ever be used in this manner. people from Boeing, Parrot, Yuneec, universities and even port management!

Quality Control
We’d previously spoken with Robert in Issue 26, as we
discussed the launch of the Drone Major portal for uniting
industry professionals. Interestingly it was another of
his projects, SUAS Global (which is geared more towards
everyday operators), that possibly started the BSI ball
rolling. He explains how a while ago these members wanted
some kind of standard in place, so he approached the BSI to
create a kitemark. Although nothing was possible at that
time, Robert was directed to the International Standards
Organisation (ISO) and one thing followed another – and
so on 28 February 2018 he was standing in the House of
Lords addressing a room full of senior industry figures and it will entail, Robert explains: “There are two parts to this;
politicians (and one humble magazine editor) as Chairman there’s the product and there’s the operation. The product
of the Committee preparing to introduce Drone Standards is essentially: ‘Is it safe to use?’ And the operation is: ‘Is it
to the country. used safely?’ When you overlap those two things in the air
In terms of what exactly it means Robert describes a industry you get what we call airworthiness – and that’s
standard as “the industry’s best practice” – noting that what we’re trying to achieve, airworthiness within the
although UK-based, these proposals also work on an drone industry.”
international level as each standard is presented to the ISO Although Robert was unable to give any specific
for discussion and potentially global acceptance. As to what examples of what the standards currently include, we were

All photos by Lee Schofield, except where stated

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 27

The House of Lords
announcement event was
sponsored by Field Marshal The
Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank
GCB, LVO, OBE, DL. Robert was
also joined by BSI Chairman Sir
David Brown.
28 DRONE MAGAZINE
able to get a fairly self-explanatory understanding of what
to expect. In manufacturing terms it means that both those
making drones and also those making accessories such as
batteries or motors might have certain standards to adhere
to (if they want to be recognised as such).
“That’s talking to manufacturers to say ‘if you are
building a drone for use in the air, these are the minimum
safety considerations you should have’,” Robert says. “An
example of that might be if you’re designing a battery
for use on a drone you should ensure that that battery is
intelligent enough to check the temperature and alert the
pilot before it runs out of power.”
In terms of the operation, that’s actually one part that
Robert himself is a ‘convenor’ of. “That’s the standards for
the operator of an air drone. So that’s going to be really
exciting with all sorts of topics in there, from security, to
how you operate at night, operations beyond visual line
of sight, training, competence, maintenance… all of those
aspects are covered in there.”
It’s worth pointing to his use of the term ‘air drone’, as
these standards will ultimately encompass all aspects of
unmanned technology, taking in land, sea, underwater, air
and anything else that applies – ‘space’ is mentioned but
in the short term that applies more to airspace and UTM
systems (beyond that, who knows?!).
It’s also worth echoing the point that these standards
remain optional – but it’s easy to see them being almost a
necessary badge of honour for major companies. “That’s
quite important for a lot of organisations when they’re
trying to sell their services overseas or to very large
organisations,” Robert says. “Once the standard exists
it’s quite frequent that those organisations will ask: ‘Are
you following those standards?’” For smaller individual
operators who don’t need to operate at these higher levels,
or perhaps can’t justify the expense (as there are costs
involved with receiving accreditation), it might not be quite
so important. Although as a guide there’d certainly be no
harm in at least aspiring to these levels of safety and quality.
Standard Time
In terms of a time frame, these standards are still some
way off becoming ‘live’ so to speak. The BSI and ISO don’t
exactly operate in short turnaround times, with Robert
quoting 1-2 years for the former and up to 3 for the latter
to get a standard into effect. However, a lot of work has

“These standards are purely a set of rules or guidelines for best practice that
individuals or companies can choose to adopt”
already been done, with the operations side of things
(including Robert’s own contribution) up to what’s called
the ‘Committee Draft’ stage.
This means it will be presented to the committee and all
other ‘mirror’ committees around the world in ISO member
countries, ahead of their next meeting in June. The feedback
and comments will then be absorbed and responded to in
an “acceptable Committee Draft” before it goes out to wider
– and public – consultation later in the year. “It is not then
an official standard but it is reviewable by government and
Mrs Smith from Glasgow if she so wishes and they can make
further comments on that.
“We then take in those comments from the wider
consultation in order to release the final standard. I’m hoping,
certainly from the operations standard perspective, that we
can have that at least at a stage where we know where we are
by the end of the year. It may not be a formal standard by that
point but we will all know what is in that standard.”
Given the speed that these processes move at, compared
to the fast-moving world of drones and UAV technology,
As part of his speech Robert declared that “2018 is
going to be the year of the drone,” and that it will
be “a pivotal year for the industry which is set to
become a global phenomenon.”
it’s obvious that this will need to be a constantly evolving
process – although in this first instance getting the
foundations in place is an important first step. “It does
take time but we are moving as fast as we can and the
restructuring of the committee at a national level reflects
that,” says Robert. “We will be breaking out some of the
larger topics to separate sub-committees so that they can be
worked on in a more efficient manner.
“It will be a challenge but the BSI is very used to doing
this and the industry will move as fast as the industry
can move. Whether it will be able to keep up with the
requirements or the wants of the industry is another thing
but we will certainly do our best.” Robert quotes unmanned
traffic management systems (UTMs) as an example. “That
started as what’s called ‘beyond visual line of sight’, so we
needed to address that problem. That then moulded into
‘if we had a UTM that would solve that problem,’ And then
that moulded into ‘hang on, if you have a UTM then you’d
need integrated airspace’. So it’s evolved so quickly.”
It’s an example that does illustrate the breadth of the
industry and the various challenges ahead but Robert and
his team are excited to embrace the task in hand. “The
evolution of these safety quality standards is a very forward-
thinking idea and we’re not restricting ourselves to just the
classification of drones at the moment, or certain sizes that
are being operated. This is a standard which addresses all
drones in the air, in all environments, anywhere.”
Safety First
Much like there are people with justifiable concerns
over drone regulations, so there will be those who are
apprehensive about the introduction of these standards.
The truth is that they are an inevitable step, as they are in
any industry where safety and quality are to be considered
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 29

Standard Bearers
According to Robert: “The British Standards Institution is the
longest standing organisation responsible for developing the
national standard, or the British Standard. Essentially what
they do is develop open and clear peer review standards. So
they form a team of experts around a topic, those experts will
work to develop the content and that content is then reviewed
within the national committee.
“Then it goes out to the wider community of experts in the
UK and even out to the public, so the BSI tries to get as wide a
distribution and as many comments as they can possibly get
to ensure that the standard is as close as they can get to the
industry view. Every single comment is noted and that then
forms the standard which becomes the national standard on
any given topic.”
“Things are standards-led and not regulation-led,
which is good because it means that the industry
is not choked by over-regulation”
30 DRONE MAGAZINE
of paramount importance – and the simple fact that the drone
industry has the potential to put standards ahead of regulation
has to be considered a good thing.
Whether you’re a high-end manufacturer, a commercial
pilot or just a fun flyer, these standards could benefit everyone.
The likes of DJI can take some solace in the fact that those
numerous Chinese knock-offs won’t be getting the same
accreditation of quality; trained operatives adhering to these
standards will have a further seal of approval to support their
PfCO as a selling point to clients; and casual drone owners will
be able to buy their next model and accessories with a little
more confidence.
“The industry is crying out for permission to do more
with this technology and I think the regulations that are
now being evolved will be informed by these standards and
there will be not only an increasing awareness, but also kind
of a stabilisation,” Robert explains. “Once the standards
are in place, for example, investors will be more willing to
invest in companies that are compliant with that standard.
Governments and regulators will be more willing to allow
things to happen if they are done within the confines of the
standards and you get more acceptance of the technology.”
With the likes of the Drone Major Group and his work with
the BSI, Robert has been dealing with key figures on all levels
in the industry – and he says he has their full support. “We’re
having nothing but positive feedback from all areas of industry
all over the world. Many organisations, such as DJI you
mentioned earlier, are engaged in this process fully. I haven’t
witnessed any resistance whatsoever. The government is doing
a fantastic job in ensuring the regulations are enabling and not
restricting – and that’s really positive.”
You can keep track on any further updates on the standards
on the BSI website www.bsigroup.com. You can also follow
developments and get involved via the Drone Major Group
site www.dronemajor.net and at suas-global.com.
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 DRONE PRO

All photos by Jack Johnson

Sky TV: Turning a passion into an

aerial adventure

Jack Johnson is a freelance pilot who found a flight

path into the television world. Ian Collen discovered
more about his time working with the BBC, DJI’s
new X7 camera, and Noel Edmunds…

32 DRONE MAGAZINE
 DRONE PRO

A
s with many people who’ve established themselves
in the film and TV industry, Jack Johnson can trace
his foundations back to an early age. He developed
a love of video after his grandad gave him an old
Hi8 camera, and that passion continued through to university
(studying Media Production) and ultimately to the TV world
where he’s been working for the past seven years. However, his
career really ‘took off’ around five years ago.
“It was back in 2013 that I first started seeing videos for the
DJI Phantom 1,” Jack explains. “I remember seeing the promo
video for the first Phantom and thinking ‘wow, this looks
incredible!’ So I got my first Phantom.” As an interesting sign of
the times, Jack says he couldn’t initially afford a gimbal for the
camera, “so it was just bolted onto the bottom – but I instantly
fell in love with flying.” He later upgraded to a Phantom 2 (with
gimbal!) and hooked it up to an FPV monitor. “I thought it was
game changing.” he says. “I then took my PfCO in 2014 and
started to try and get myself out there with my contacts from
my TV work and I haven’t looked back since.”
Jack set himself up as a freelance drone operator and has
been working commercially for more than four years – and
his previous experience in TV gave him some good leads to
get his aerial career off the ground. “When I first started out,
I was lucky enough to be employed by the BBC in the Natural
History Unit on the Springwatch series. So I started to build up
contacts there before going freelance a year later and taking on
drone work properly. Nearly all of my work comes from word-
of-mouth recommendations by people I have worked with and
built up strong working relationships with.”
The large majority of his drone work remains in TV, where
he says he’s employed as a drone operator, typically on short-
term contracts such as one day at a time. And with most shows
working to limited budgets, he has to bring along his own kit,
which these days boasts an Inspire 2 with an X5S camera (and
12mm, 25mm and 45mm lenses). As filming often takes him
to remote locations, Jack also points to a LowePro rucksack
as being a “total life-saver for me. It means I can get all the
kit I need for a day’s shooting on my back rather than carting
around a giant hard case. It opens up new modes of transport
like being able to ride along on the back of a snowmobile or
quad bike to reach places that were a nightmare before!”

Running Wild
Being a creative individual on what is often a scripted
TV show with its own director sounds like it could be an
area of frustration, but Jack says it’s very much a two-way
communication process. “Before most shoots I will work with
the production company to find out what they want to achieve
from the shoot and the best way to go about getting what they
want. I always work with a director on site who will always have

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 33
 DRONE PRO
ideas for shots and together we work out a shot list of what is
needed. It’s a collaborative process and I get a lot of freedom
to get the shots that I think work.” One handy trick he uses
is to run an HDMI cable from the Inspire controller, so the
director can follow the action for added peace of mind.
Having made his break working on the BBC’s
Springwatch series, it’s unsurprising to hear that wildlife
and natural history shows are commonplace in Jack’s
portfolio – with the likes of Blue Planet II also appearing
on his growing CV. He’s lucky that this is another passion
34 DRONE MAGAZINE
of his, even if drones don’t exactly blend into these
environments. “Flying drones near any wildlife is always
a bit tricky due to the noise they make, it would be great if
someone made a silent drone!”
On a more practical note, Jack says he has worked closely
with the likes of the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology
to set out best practice and the required safety guidelines for
operating in wildlife habitats. “A few years ago I was asked
to film a heronry, which is an area of trees where herons
nest together. It’s amazing to see these almost prehistoric
birds all nesting in close quarters high up in the trees. I
worked with a man who had been counting the birds there
all his life from the ground but he had never had a chance to
see them from above.
“We started by taking off at a safe distance from the birds
and then flying in slowly, making sure to come in from
a different angle of descent than their predators would
usually take. Amazingly the herons were not fussed in
the slightest by the drone and we managed to get some
amazing and intimate shots of the nesting environment
from above. Most birds, however, do get spooked by the
noise, so it’s very important to be aware of where the
nesting areas are so as not to scare them away or stress
them out while they are nesting.”
To echo the point Jack admits to being chased off by red
kites and buzzards: “While they have never looked like
attacking, it’s unnerving being followed by such big birds!”
However, his hairiest moment was one he didn’t realise had
happened until he reviewed his aerial footage later in the

“As I had been flying slowly along I had passed
over a giant rattlesnake that was perfectly
camouflaged in the desert”
day. “I was filming in northern Mexico out in the desert. I
was busy getting some top down shots of some plants that
come out only when there is a bit of moisture. It wasn’t until
we got back to our camp that evening that the producer was
looking through the footage and said to me: “Did you know
you got a shot of a rattlesnake?”
“I ran over to look and as I had been flying slowly along
I had passed over a giant rattlesnake that was perfectly
camouflaged in the desert. I hadn’t seen it and it was about
25ft away from where I was standing! I made sure I kept
more of an eye on the ground after that…”
Bright Lights
One of his more recent assignments saw Jack head off
to Finland for three weeks last November as part of a
documentary on the Northern Lights and the Sami reindeer
herders in the area – and it’s not exactly a natural habitat
for drones. “We knew heading out there that it was going to
be cold, but nothing quite prepares you for standing around
in -30 degrees for hours on end!” Jack says. Fortunately for
him, the Inspire 2 was up to the challenge. “Once you start
DRONE PRO
to get below -25, lots of the camera kit was starting to break;
monitors freezing and batteries dropping out, but mostly
the drone kit worked very well. I had full arctic gear on, so I
had my batteries in the inner pockets to keep them close to
my body for heat.”
Another problem was the moisture in the air icing up the
leading edges of the blades pretty quickly, meaning Jack
had to limit his flight times to 3-4 minutes before swapping
propellers and having the producer cleaning up the frozen
blades. Further adding to the complexity of the job was that
in order to fully capture the Northern Lights in real time,
the crew would have to work in low-light conditions and
predominately at night.
“We were in a very remote part of Finland,” says Jack,
“and each location we filmed at night we had recced during
the day so we knew where trees and obstacles were. To
be able to pick up the Northern Lights on current drone
cameras, they have to be very bright. After three weeks of
frustrating cloud cover, we were very lucky on one of the
last nights to catch an unbelievable display and capture
some shots on the drone as well as our other cameras. It
was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen and I
highly recommend it to anyone to try and see them!”
His work was helped after he was able to get in touch
with DJI to test out the new Zenmuse X7 camera, with
the bigger sensor hopefully giving better results than
traditional low-light cameras, at a time when the sun is
Time and Time Again
One interesting and impressive side dish to Jack’s work is with time-lapse
videography. Last year he set about filming cherry blossom trees in Japan
to show just how their spring bloom really changes the landscape. “It
was an idea that had always intrigued me with the new automated flight
apps coming out but it wasn’t something that I had seen done before,”
Jack explains. “The theory was simple; set a flight path, save it and then
go back and keep repeating it as the environment changes. So I spent a
few months practicing the techniques and working out all the variables
that can affect the accuracy of the repeat flights.”
Although the theory was simple, Jack did find lots of tricky variables
and little niggles that meant things didn’t work out to begin with,
plus it took a while to get the relevant permissions from the Japanese
authorities – but eventually he got some great shots. “It took us three
weeks to get the results we wanted but I was very pleased with how the
time-lapse worked out. It’s not a perfect process and I’m still working
on how to get the success rate higher but I have a number of different
shoots this year hoping to repeat the effect in different environments.”
You can see his efforts for yourself over at vimeo.com/214559440.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 35
 DRONE PRO
A Great Deal
Jack offers up many highlights from his career so far, including a trip to
Portugal last year to film the huge waves at Nazare for Blue Planet II.
However, we can’t say we’d have imagined that filming Noel Edmunds
in front of the famous Flying Scotsman locomotive for a Deal or No Deal
special would have been one he saw coming!
“I grew up watching Noel’s House Party so it was very strange to
suddenly be in a train yard, instructing him on safety and then directing
him on where to walk. After we finished I asked if I could get a photo of him
standing in front of the trains. He said yes and asked if he should hold the
drone. It was a weird thing to do, but I said yes and came away with this
bizarre photo of him almost hugging my drone stood in front of a train!” It
looks like Jack got the best deal…
36 DRONE MAGAZINE
only up from around 10am until 2pm. Fortunately it lived
up to its billing. “The shots that came out of the X7 were
incredible. With the Northern Lights it was still a bit of a
struggle and the lights had to be really bright to be able to
pick up properly in video, but that’s to be expected as it’s a
specialised low-light camera. However, even when we got
some shots that looked very grainy, in the post-production
process we were able to clean them up very nicely and make
them usable.
“There was an example of shooting early one morning
where the moon was still in the sky, and the unprocessed
image looked very noisy and grainy. However, the final
product looked beautiful. When the sun came out and I had
some rare bits of nice lighting, the camera really came into
its own. Sunny days in Finland at that time of year is like
perpetual sunset; it’s four hours of golden-hour sun so it
was a pleasure to shoot in and the X7 helped give that extra
bit of detail and colour depth that really stood out.”
Going Pro
Although the X7 is a very impressive piece of kit aimed at
high-end professional use, Jack says that simply having the
best gear isn’t the be all and end all of aerial filming. “I’m
of the opinion that more important is ability to get a good
shot. It’s only really high-end TV productions like drama
and high-quality wildlife documentaries that really need
the likes of the X7 shooting RAW.” He adds that his existing
X5S is still doing a great job, and he combines this with
ProRes for his TV work – “as it’s much easier and quicker
to work with in post-production and still gets great results,
especially when nearly all TV productions still deliver their
final programmes in HD.”
As for what further additions Jack would like to see
boosting his arsenal, he notes the aforementioned quieter
propellers to avoid disturbing the wildlife. He’s also keen to
see some more lenses to make the X7 even better in the field:
“Both a special low-light lens, something around f1.8 would
be amazing, and I would also love to see a tighter lens. The
50mm is great, but I would love to see something around

The freezing temperatures
in Finland meant Jack had
to keep swapping blades to
prevent the ice from becoming
a major problem.
the 100mm mark. It would open up a whole new dimension
in observing wildlife from a safe distance.”
Taking this equipment into a professional arena such as
a TV set does bring its own pressure and challenges. For
example, Jack says he often only gets one shot to get the
required take as the conditions might not be right for a
second chance – or it could be one of those single capture
moments that you have to be ready for. “Quite often the
drone shots are an additional bonus, so it has to be done
in gaps when the main film unit are re-setting or having
a break. You can be standing around for hours waiting for
your time to go, then you have to quickly clear the flight area
to make it safe and then get up and get the required shots.”
As for any advice for young pilots or those with
aspirations for getting into the TV and film industry? “Don’t
worry right away about having the top level kit and don’t
sell yourself as an experienced pilot until you are ready.
DRONE PRO
Build up a showreel showing a variety of shots. Build up an
arsenal of shot types and moves that you can perform well
and smoothly under pressure.
“One of the keys with a good drone shot is making it look
like a drone shot; to do something that couldn’t be achieved
any other way. The TV industry is a hard industry to break
into so you have to be persistent. Companies get so many
emails that nine times out of ten they won’t respond, so
trying to get a meeting in person and having a really catchy
showreel is very important. Most people won’t watch a
showreel over two minutes long.”
Flying Ahead
Even though he’s only been working in TV for seven years,
as a drone operator for more than four of those he’s pretty
much a veteran – and things have certainly changed even
over this relatively short time. “When I first started, there
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 37
 DRONE PRO
“Quite often the drone shots are an additional bonus… You can be standing
around for hours waiting for your time to go”
wasn’t a large variety of drones and the technology in them
was very basic compared to now. Back then productions
were a bit nervous about drones because they were very
new and it was seen as something really special if you could
get some drone shots into a show. Now, four or five years
later, they are a standard feature in almost every TV show
and they have become much more accessible.”
Unsurprisingly, and not just as a matter of job security,
Jack says that drones in the TV industry are here to stay,
delivering excellent production values in a more accessible
and cheaper way than before (especially compared to
using helicopters or complex rigging). “It’s going to be
really exciting to see how the next five years go and what
new advances are on the horizon,” he says. “It would also
be great to see some more competition to DJI as I think
competition between companies aids progression. Unless
you are after a drone that lifts heavier format cameras, in
my opinion there is no real competition to DJI in terms of
quality of product, technology and ease of use. So it would
be great to see some new companies come through and keep
DJI on its toes!”
38 DRONE MAGAZINE
As for Jack’s own future, he says he’s got some exciting
projects coming up in 2018, and is still working to perfect
his time-lapse technique. He’s also recently gained his Part
107 permissions for flying in the US, so that’s also opened up
some new avenues for work – and he’s not stopping there.
“I’ve been lucky enough to film in some amazing places, but
there are number of dream locations that I would love to
visit and film.
“Filming wildlife in Africa has always been a dream of
mine, and I’ve worked in the post-production of a number
of TV programmes about the ocean but never filming, so
I would love to get the opportunity to film some of the big
whale migrations.” So the next time you see some great
aerial footage of whales on a wildlife documentary, stick
around for the end credits and you might just see Jack’s
name in there!
If you want to see more of Jack’s work or follow his
progress on any upcoming shoots, head over to his
Facebook page www.facebook.com/JJAerialCinema.
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 interview

Legal Eagle
With flying regulations long since restricting most flights in large
urban areas, Andrew Watton-Davies speaks to one pilot who’s been
able to take flight in the heart of London…

40 DRONE MAGAZINE

A
number of pilots may seek viral infamy in the drone
community by taking risky or overtly illegal flights
to get some aerial shots shots that have people going
“why did they do that?!” However, Darrell Mills, a former
marketing consultant and now operator of Creative Sky
Aerial Photography & Video Production, has had those same
people asking “how did he do that legally?!” with a series of
images from the skies of London. We caught up with Darrell
to find out how he was able to get some great shots safely
and within the law…
How did you get into taking what would
appear to be ‘legally questionable’ shots?
During my hobby years I learned the laws through trial and
error. When I got my first quadcopter the DroneCode didn’t
exist and I’d never have thought it would have been regulated
to such a degree. I was totally unaware. Then by continuing
with the hobby and having people talking to me online, I
started to learn the laws and how to do things seriously.
Because of my background in PR and marketing, I thrived
off of finding ways of creating footage that gave me images
where people would have to scratch their head, assuming it
was illegal. It was never my goal to get these accusations but
at the same time I liked that people had to think about how
I did that shot legally – because I wouldn’t be so stupid as to
put a shot out there that’s going to get me arrested.
What sort of things were you doing to get
people twitching?
Image scaling, zoom lenses, angles, messing with people’s
perception of distance, closeness to objects and that kind of
thing. There was a shot on one of my videos where it looked
like I’d flown in between two apartment towers in Medway
and then pulled back for the reveal. I got a lot of flak for that,
including from a good friend, a well-respected pilot in the
industry, questioning me and basically saying there was no
way I could do that legally.
interview
All photos by Darrell Mills / Creative Sky
Eventually I ended up showing him the flight log and
map, that it was 4K cropped to 1080, and the different
techniques I’d used, so that when I’m pulling out I’m also
zooming out whilst upscaling to retain quality. I was never
closer than 51m to the towers. I’m tricking people; you don’t
need to break the rules to get the shot. It’s just about using
your brain, finding out about the laws and bylaws, and
knowing your environment. It’s preparing for your shot and
having in mind what you can achieve with your equipment.
What lead you to the capital and its
packed roads, streets, and skies?
I wanted to do stuff I’d not seen before and I wanted to
challenge myself as to what I could achieve within the
boundaries. The first one, which was at St Paul’s Cathedral,
wasn’t my operation. I was just the cameraman for my
fellow PfCO holder, who is actually also a Metropolitan
Police Officer. I just tagged along to help out.
That got me thinking “what can be achieved if you lay
down the groundwork?” And so I spoke to him about
the permissions he sought and got some good advice and
understanding on the things that are achievable if you start
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 41
 interview
“The full-resolution image in VR makes you feel like you’re
Superman hovering over the city”
doing the paperwork and the leg-work required to look into
these kinds of things.
The next shot was near the O2 Arena and Canary Wharf.
There’s a corridor between City Airport and helicopter route
R159 and I had a take-off and landing area 35m from the O2.
I was outside of the aerodrome at six in the morning with no
flights in until after 11am and no-one in the area. All these
things in place; ticking off the required boxes. I’m legally
allowed to be here, I’m within my distances. I even spoke
with the O2 security which was on site as well.
The O2 was happy to have someone
operating so close to the Arena?
I wasn’t on the O2 grounds, but out of respect because
I was operating in their area I contacted them and they
had no issue. The only thing they stipulated was that they
didn’t want me flying over the O2. As I wasn’t going to do
that I said “okay, fine”. I went through everything with
them and I was speaking to the police as well. I had given
them the plans and details, so everything was logged and
official and if anything went wrong with the operation
they would know who’s flying there, what I’m flying and
all my details.
42 DRONE MAGAZINE
That kind of co-operation isn’t often
talked about for an unpaid shoot. How
hard was it to work out?
There’s a stigma amongst people who aren’t in the know
about drones; the whole ‘drones are going to kill someone’
view. But some people can be approached if you approach
them in the right way. Be very open, show them you’re a
professional, show them you’ve got plans, and they’re more
likely to start acknowledging what you’re saying and be
thinking ‘can this situation happen?’.
With that done, I thought “let’s up the game. Where else
can I fly to get some great shots?” I started looking around
maps of London for tall buildings with a big surface area
that I could get the 50 metre rule encompassed within
and I identified the Radisson Hotel. It’s about 80 metres
high and gives me a 30 metre take-off and land area. I can
happily maintain a 50 metre separation whilst flying; I’m
not flying over anyone and I’m not doing any movement at
all. I just fly up, get the shots I want and come straight back
down again.
I called them up on the off-chance, had a chat with
the manager and they said “okay, there’s a possibility.
We’re not against the idea if you can show us how you can
achieve this safely, we’ll look into it and get back to you”.
So I demonstrated how it could be achieved safely with
diagrams and the relevant information and they signed it
off saying “yup, that’s absolutely fine”.
Who else did you have to get permissions
from before flying?
I went through NATS first of all, to see what they would
say. They came back with zero issues and signed the
permissions within five days. They knew about the St Paul’s
Cathedral flight and I had contacted them previously about
sponsorship of a drone event happening in Kent, so they

possibly knew me in that sense, but I hadn’t done many
non-standard flight applications through them.
Then there no concerns raised by the Diplomatic Service;
they just signed off on it. They’d seen the plans, they knew
who I was; I called them up to start the operation and
called them back when it was done. When you receive a
non-standard flight approval from NATS, who you need
to contact is included and I just called them with the same
information. A NOTAM was issued by London Air Traffic
Control, they knew I wasn’t exceeding 120 metres (I actually
estimated I’d be at 100 metres), and the period was a two-
hour window, so I’m guessing they considered that as low
risk as I wasn’t going to be in any flight paths at that level.
That was a fairly brief flight window, how
long did it all take?
I was in the air for about 40 minutes, but on site for about
three hours in total, including final risk assessment, an on-
site survey, setting up, checks and making the phone calls
to notify the authorities that I’m about to fly. I actually had
my dad with me on this shoot and he can be seen in the 360
in a high-vis jacket. A lot of people assume it’s me, but that’s
my dad! He was excited as he’s been a keen supporter of this
for many years so he was excited to come on a shoot.
The photo was taken about 8.30pm. I was lucky because
there was low wind so I had low movement on the camera
and I could open up the shutter speed a bit and pick up
all the light. I managed to keep it a relatively low ISO so I
didn’t get too much noise in there. It was actually a manual
panorama. I used to use automatic but it let me down on a
number of occasions so on this flight I wasn’t going to risk it.
It all worked out on the PC, which took about six hours
of processing but the final image is huge. Facebook doesn’t
do it justice as the full one was a 1.5GB image, which meant
I did get a bit of smoke from my machine processing it.
The full-resolution image in VR makes you feel like you’re
Superman hovering over the city.
interview
What equipment have you been using to get
these shots?
An Inspire 1 Pro with an X5 camera. My first serious drone
was the Phantom 3 Advanced, and then I jumped to the
Inspire. If business carries on the way it’s going, I’ll recruit
some more drones to the fleet. Different tools for different
jobs. I’ll maybe even upgrade to an Inspire 2 but at the
moment the Inspire 1 is doing very well.
Any advice for like-minded pilots?
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Rather than relying on
second-hand information through Facebook groups and
forums hoping that that’s the correct information, go to
the source. I see the same questions come up time and time
again with the wrong information being given.
When people ask, do you have to back up
that it was all done legitimately?
If I’m ever unsure if something can be achieved legally and
safely, I’ll share my plans with some of my well-respected
PfCO friends to get their input. I can provide every scrap
of information, from email chains, NATS confirmation,
authority phone call times and references.
Unfortunately some people in this industry think they
know best. They’ve been flying for 20 years so they know
the rules better than anyone else. I’ve had someone say
they’ll get my PfCO removed because of it and I’m thinking
‘good luck, it’s all been approved’. I’d be the stupidest person
on the planet to take this shot, get it to go viral all around
the world and then not have anything to back it up.
It’s not about bending the rules; it’s about using the rules
and permissions to make it work. If you assess the flight
can be made safely, you’re within your permissions and you
have ticked all the other boxes, go for it. Every single flight
has risks, whether you’re in the centre of a city or in a field
200 metres away from a busy urban area. Drones fly. Just
mitigate as much as possible.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 43
Krabi, Thailand
Photo by Damian Sadowski
www.dronestagr.am/author/falconmx
 A Beginner’s
Guide to FPV
F
irst Person View, more commonly referred to as
FPV, is now the most popular way for pilots to fly
the majority of multirotor and fixed wing drones,
be it for high-speed thrills or a more sedate
bird’s-eye view of the world. The cost of a camera, video
transmitter and some entry level goggles or FPV screen
is now so low that many traditional line of sight (LOS)
pilots have tried it for themselves and become hooked.
The technology has also become a lot more mature
in the last year. Now it’s easier than ever to get into FPV
with equipment that’s pretty much guaranteed to work
together even if it’s from different manufacturers. In
the early days, the main vendors of this kit such as Fat
Shark sold ‘bundles’ that included the camera, FPV
video transmitter (VTX), antennae and goggles so you
knew they would all work together. Now you can buy
the individual pieces you want and ‘plug’ them together
for an easy setup.
46 DRONE MAGAZINE
Seeing the world from your drone’s-eye
view is the best way to fly. Lee Schofield is
here to help you get your FPV experience
off the ground…
Over the course of this article we’ll look at some of the
basics and answer some of the most common questions
that newer pilots ask…
Getting Started
Before we dive into the kit that I’d recommend for new
and more experienced pilots, let’s look at the parts of a
traditional 5.8GHz FPV system. Why 5.8GHz? It’s a set of
frequencies that’s available in most places and it doesn’t
interfere with the 2.4GHz radio frequency of modern
radios. There are other options for flying much longer
ranges using lower frequencies but they are much more
specialised and expensive – so let’s keep things simple to
start with.
The first part of the system is the camera. This
captures the image and sends it to the FPV video
transmitter (VTX). Most modern cameras from vendors
like RunCam and Foxeer are all great with excellent
default settings so that the image is always well exposed
and provides a clear and balanced image. Many modern
cameras also feature the ability to change the settings to
suit your own preferences with changes to the saturation,
colour and exposure, as well as other things like PAL/
NTSC settings.
The next part of setup is the VTX. The VTX connects to
the camera on the model and transmits the image coming
from the camera. Most modern VTX units support all of the
available frequencies and bands. FPV commonly uses five
bands (usually called A, B, C, F and Race) and each of those
has eight channels or frequencies they can use. We’ll go into
channels and bands in a moment.
The antennae are what send and receive the FPV radio
signals from the VTX to your goggles or display screen.
Enclosed circular polarised or ‘Pagoda’ style antennae are
cheap and work fantastically well, but more expensive
specialised designs are available, too. Just make sure you
have the same style at both ends to give yourself the best
possible picture.
The final piece of the FPV jigsaw is the goggles or screen
that you’ll use to receive the image from the VTX so you can
see what the camera sees. Most FPV pilots have their own
preferences for goggles and I have to admit that I’m a Fat
Shark fan. The price range can run from £30 to well over

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 47
 £300 for a set but, like a radio, a decent set of goggles will
last you for years.
A common question is: “Do I need to bind to the
camera?” The answer is no. Unlike a radio receiver you
don’t need to bind both together. As long as the VTX and
goggles are set to the same channel you should see the
image clearly. This does also mean that if you own a set of
goggles you can use them to watch other pilots’ 5.8GHz
FPV signals. You won’t hurt their ability to see their FPV
video doing this – and it’s a great way to get involved at
race events or social gatherings.
Not all options are legal in all countries but the most
common choices such as Band F (also called IRC after
ImmersionRC or the ‘Fat Shark Band’) are usually safe to
use. All you need to do is make sure the band and channel
are set the same on the VTX and your goggles or screen and past this feeling with enough practice. If you find you suffer
you’ll see the image. Some of the more advanced VTX units from any sickness or feel a little unsteady on your feet, then
have region settings that make sure that the right power sit down to fly. I used a folding camping chair at first.
and only legal frequencies are available. But how do you ‘learn’ to fly FPV? I created a video a
while back that outlined a series of steps to go through to
Learning to Fly help with learning to fly this way. It’s best to practice with
Some pilots, though not many in my experience, will take a flying buddy (when flying FPV you should always have a
to the FPV perspective quickly and find it easy to fly that ‘spotter’ with you to keep an eye on the world around you
way. If you’ve flown a lot of line of sight, moving to FPV can for possible dangers), so make sure that your language or
feel like you’ve lost all of the ‘clues’ to what’s going on with warning messages are agreed before you start. In the heat of
the mode – with the attitude, height and speed typically the moment not getting clear instructions about something
being the main examples. you need to do to avoid a crash can cause the blood pressure
Some, including myself, feel ‘seasick’ at first, as the view to rise for both of you!
in the goggles and the movement of your body are not the With support, your spotter can help give you some of that
same. But almost everyone will get the hang of it and get detail about losing or gaining height and drift as you fly, and

“If you find you suffer from any sickness or

feel a little unsteady on your feet, then sit
down to fly”

48 DRONE MAGAZINE
this will help you start to get a feel for all of that just from
the images in the goggles alone. With practice you’ll be able
to judge speed, pitch and roll angles along with any changes
in height from the video footage alone and need less and less
support from your spotter to fly safely.
Practice with an FPV simulator can be helpful, too (not
to mention less painful or costly if you crash!), but in many
pilots’ experience there is no substitute for the real thing.
My other tip is to start without all of the on-screen display
pieces turned on if you’re flying with a flight controller
with an OSD. That information all over the screen can be
an overwhelming distraction when you start out and you’ll
likely find yourself crashing as your eyes stop ‘watching’
the flight and are drawn to the OSD data!
For many, goggles simply are not comfortable to
use. Screens are handy for those who need lots of sight
correction or wear glasses and don’t have the issue with
fogging up on cold mornings. They are not as immersive as
goggles but are still a great choice.
“How far can I fly?” is probably the next top question
I get asked when pilots are looking at FPV gear. If you’re
using a video transmitter on the model set at the legal
25mW maximum power, with a decent set of antennae
and a sensitive receiver in the goggles or FPV screen you’re
using, then you can easily get up to around 150 metres
(approximately 500 feet) before you start to lose the FPV
signal. Some FPV models use Wi-Fi as it allows for an owner
to ‘view’ the footage from their tablet or phone. The range
here is usually a lot less and depends more on the quality
and orientation of the phone!
Most 5.8GHz FPV equipment comes with a ‘rubber
ducky’-style linear antenna. Unless the model also has the
same style stay away from using them. Specialised antennae
and diversity can extend that range significantly with
most pilots using two antennae together (one is usually
directional, like a ‘patch’ antenna) to get the best of both
and keep the signal strong. With sensitive antennae it’s easy
to fly beyond the range of your standard 2.4GHz radio.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 49
 Beginner’s
Buyer’s Guide
Given the growing range of equipment out
there, it can be quite daunting knowing what
kit you need and what’s best for you. When
starting out I’d always advise that you keep
the costs down as much as you can. Until you
know that this is something that you love,
there is no point in spending hundreds and
hundreds of pounds on expensive gear you
may not use again. Many manufacturers have
created kits for the beginner and rolled out
some of the features we only saw in the high-
end FPV equipment only a year ago.
The All-In-One Kit
Likely to become a more common solution for
beginners, we’ve seen the likes of Fat Shark
create a fantastic way to experience FPV for
the first time – and learn to fly a quadcopter
generally – with the 101 ‘Drone Training
System’. We looked at it in detail back in Issue
30 and in the package you’ll find everything
you need: goggles, radio, drone and batteries,
plus insurance and even a flight simulator.
Goggles
The new Quanum Cyclops Diversity goggles
are my top buy for a new starter. They work
great, come with diversity and a decent set of
starter antennae, and also feature a DVR! They
are simple to use, can be powered from pretty
much any spare battery you have and even
50 DRONE MAGAZINE
feature an auto-scan button for those times
when you can’t remember what you set the
model’s VTX to.
Camera
There’s lots of choice here with the best cameras
costing about £40 now. If you want really cheap
and cheerful (so you don’t mind if you break
it!) then something like the Eachine TVL1000
works great and costs well under £10. If you
want a camera that will be something you are
still using in a few years go for something like
the RunCam Micro Swift 2 or similar.
VTX
You’ll find plenty of options here, too, with
suppliers like Eachine and vendors such as
Aomway. I always like to choose a VTX that
has variable power settings, provide the 5v
needed to power a camera and supports the 40
main channels used in FPV. Most of these VTX
units cost well under £10 now so won’t break
the bank. If you are happy to spend a little
more I’m a fan of the Quanum Elite VTX units.
I’ve had lots of them and they just work well.
Camera/VTX combos
As well as buying these pieces and putting it any model. They are small and lightweight,
together yourself then there are also little VTX/ though usually run on a very small selection of
camera/antenna combos that come in one voltages – but they do offer a fantastic and easy
small package that can be stuck onto just about way to add FPV to your favourite model!
BNF/RTF Models
If you don’t already have a model that you want
to add FPV to then you can buy a Bind and Fly
(BNF) or Ready to Fly (RTF) package that may
require only one or two pieces of extra kit (such
as a radio or batteries). So long as the model
and the goggles or screen you use can operate
the same bands and channels then it will work
fine. Keep in mind that matching antennae are
a good idea and also make sure you’re familiar
with how to change the power and channels on
it before leaving for the flying field.
Professional
Buyer’s Guide
If you’ve used the kit outlined previously
and been bitten by the bug (be warned: this
happens to most of us!) then the chances are
you’ll find yourself wanting to upgrade. So if
you’re planning to take things to the next level,
here some more advanced options that you
might want to consider…
Goggles
I’ve tried dozens of goggles and the ones I
pull from the shelf every time I fly for fun are
the Fat Shark HD3 or Dominator V3 goggles
(the Attitude V3’s are great, too). The Aomway
Commander V1 goggles are also very good,
but are not modular so you can’t change the
receiver. Fat Shark models are expensive but
they are usually a wise investment and will last
you for years and years.
Diversity Receiver
If you’re getting yourself a set of Fat Shark
goggles then you can use one of the simple
receiver modules that plug into the goggles
to receive the signal. I’d recommend using a
diversity receiver that will either fit into the
bay each side of goggles, or something like the
LaForge or True-D diversity receivers modules
that only take up one of the bays.
FPV Screen
If you’re not able or not happy
using goggles then there are lots of
screens or monitors about. Make sure that
you choose one with diversity support and
an internal DVR, which is always helpful for
replaying the footage to help spot where the
model came down in the field!
Antenna
The antenna you use can make a lot of
difference to the experience. I’d recommend
a patch and pagoda antenna on the goggles or
screen you use. MenaceRC have some great kit
that comes with all the antennae you need and
the connectors to boot.
Camera
It’s a choice for me between the RunCam Eagle
2 Pro and the Foxeer Predator here. Both are
fantastic cameras and perform wonderfully.
Both also now have micro-sized versions for
those models that can’t support full-sized FPV
cameras. You can expect to pay around £40 for
these but the image they produce is worth it.
The latest versions of these cameras allow you
to access their internal settings menu from
the radio sticks on your transmitter if you’re
running one of the latest flight controllers.
VTX
When you start to use FPV in more of the
models, and especially when you are using
a flight controller running something like
Betaflight or iNavflight, then you can add a
‘Smart’ VTX to the model that allows you to
change the band, power, frequency and other
settings via the OSD. I’d go for something like
the TBS Unify Pro family or the ImmersionRC
Tramp HV units. Both support a huge voltage
range so wiring them up is easy.
Summary
One last word of advice here: Don’t ignore
learning to become an accomplished
line of sight pilot, even if FPV is your
main preference. FPV kit is a lot more
robust now but occasionally you’ll have a
problem and lose the FPV feed. In those
instances you still need to be able to fly
the model back to you and land safely.
Line of sight can also be hard to master,
but it’s a rite of passage for all pilots.
If you’ve watched all of those videos on
places like YouTube and are looking to try
FPV now is a great time. The technology
is cheap, easy to get and simple to set
up. If you’re never tried FPV then the
challenge is learning to fly with just that
‘TV’ screen view of the world, but stick
with it – once it clicks you’ll want to fly
like that all the time!
You can find some of Lee’s instructional videos
on his YouTube channel @Painless360. And
if you want to really get control of your FPV
flights, turn the page to see how mastering Acro
mode might be easier than you think…
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 51
 Aerial Acrobat
The smart way to tame manual flight
Learning to fly in Acro mode can be just as testing as it is
exciting. Wayne Andrews explains how a few adjustments in
Betaflight can make it a pleasure rather than an ordeal…
T
here’s a common misconception that Acro mode,
which is sometimes referred to as rate or manual
mode, is just for doing mid-air tricks, such as flips,
rolls and inversions. Whilst it’s certainly used in
freestyle flying or racing, the way it works is much more basic.
In a self-levelling mode, such as Angle or Horizon, if
you let go of the pitch/roll stick, then the quad comes back
to level; in Acro, it doesn’t. If you push your pitch stick
forwards to get your quad moving in a forward direction
and then let go, Betaflight will hold this forward pitch until
you pull the stick back to correct it.
There’s occasionally some confusion about how to
actually activate Acro mode, as it’s not listed in the modes
tab at all. Acro is the default mode, so it’s active if you don’t
have another type of flight mode selected.
52 DRONE MAGAZINE
Why use Acro?
So what’s in it for you? There’s no doubt that flying in Acro
is harder than any self-level mode, so why do it? First and
foremost it’s smoother and allows for more fine-grained
control. A self-levelling craft will always want to return to
level flight and so there’s a feeling that you are fighting your
quad instead of flying it.
Self-level also requires you to hold the stick in the
position constantly, and holding a sprung thumbstick
perfectly in position for any length of time whilst making
course corrections makes it much harder to get smooth
results. In Acro you don’t need to hold the stick in position
and so instead you are left free to concentrate on making
small and accurate corrections to keep things far smoother
in the air.
All photos by Wayne Andrews
 As mentioned, a new pilot’s introduction to Acro mode
can often be brutal and, once crashed and burned, some
might be very wary about making a return and may often
stick to the relative safety of Horizon mode. So why are
these first flights so often such a baptism of fire? It’s the fault
of the default PIDs, or more accurately the rates.
Whilst we might be used to playing with the PID values
for roll, pitch and yaw, the three important values that
define how your quad reacts to your stick movements are
RC Rate, Super Rate, and RC Expo.

The Going Rates

RC Rate and RC Expo are concepts that are quite familiar
in RC terms and you’ll normally find them on anything
but the most basic radio. Betaflight has added these into its
configurator so you are able to use them even if your radio
doesn’t support it, as well as enabling you to visualise how The Betaflight default rates may be overly sensitive for new pilots.
your quad should fly when all these values come together.
The RC Rate defines how much control input is passed
through to the flight controller for any given amount of
movement on the stick. It defaults to 1.00, which means
it’s a “full” rate, so if you move your stick to the full extent,
then the quad gets the fullest possible movement. Similarly,
though, if you were to set this to 0.50 then your full stick
movement will only produce half of what it previously did –
a simple way of dialling the controls down. If you are feeling
particularly brave, set it to 2.00 and watch how fast your
quad will spin, even with small stick movements.
RC Expo is a method of making the stick movements
around the centre less sensitive and the extremes of the
stick more sensitive. Instead of the stick movement being
linear, it introduces a curve which flattens along the middle
and increases at the outer extents. The reason for using Expo
is that becomes easier to make small accurate corrections
around the centre of the stick without it being overly Below the PID settings you’ll find the very useful Rates Preview window.
sensitive, but still having your full rates at the stick extents.
The default setting in Betaflight is 0, giving no Expo at all. The default setting for RC Rate, Super Rate and RC Expo
The Super Rate value is easily mistaken for Expo at first produce a rotation of 667 deg/s, which is nearly two complete
glance, as it also works on an Expo-like curve, but it’s a rotations in one second. This can be overly aggressive if you
bit of a mash up of both Expo and RC Rate. The more it is are just starting out. A beginner might try Acro mode, panic
increased, the more overall impact your stick movement that the quad is rolling much more than anticipated and so
has, but you’ll still be able to make the small movements slam the stick over in the opposite direction, resulting in
you need around the centre stick. The default Super Rate more rolling and generally ending up in a crash.
value in Betaflight is 0.70.
At this point, it’s a great idea to jump into Betaflight to Try Before You Fly
look at the visualisation which shows how RC Rate, Expo One great thing about the Betaflight configurator is its
and Super Rate work together, and how they can be easily Rates Preview window. It’s all very well trying to imagine
tuned to your liking. If we take a look in the Betaflight how quick your quad would respond based on some pretty
configurator under the PID Tuning tab, we can see how the graphs and numbers, but it’s far better to actually see it.
stick responses are visualised through a curve on a graph. To see your quad respond to your stick movements in
We also get an indication of how fast the quad will move, as the preview window, you’ll need your flight controller
measured in degrees per second (deg/s). connected to Betaflight, your radio on and your receiver
powered up. In most cases this will require a flight battery
being connected, so, as always to be safe, don’t forget to
remove your props beforehand.
With the battery connected you can move your sticks and
watch how quickly the virtual quad spins and flips. In the
default settings you should see that moving the stick around
the centre produces quite a small response, but as you get to
the stick extents it speeds up fairly dramatically.
It’s often the case that it’s this speeding up as the stick
moves that catches a beginner out, so one way of really
taming the rates is to remove the Super Rate altogether. If
you set this rate to 0 on all axes and look at the quad in the
Rates Preview window, you will see that response from the
stick is linear, so there’s no sudden increase as the sticks
move to the extents – it’s smooth and progressive.

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 53
 The Betaflight OSD makes fine tuning rates in the field easy.
However, the deg/s drops to just 200 which may be too
slow for real-world flying. So if you want to keep that linear
rate but have more response in your quad, then increase the
RC Rate. If you find it’s still too responsive, then reduce it.

Recommendations
Although you can fine tune the RC Rate and RC Expo to
make your stick movements feel just right for you, it’s quite
likely that as you become a more confident flyer and start
to build some extra finesse on the sticks you’ll want to
regularly increase these rates to give you more of a response.
It’s much easier to keep adding a little bit to the Super
Rate instead of retuning the RC Rate and RC Expo
repeatedly, so rather than turn the Super Rate off altogether
initially, try it first on a lower figure, such as 0.30. It’ll
always just give you that little bit more if you need to make
a quick turn.
If you feel the need to increase the RC Rate, increase the
Super Rate first and retry. If you find yourself liking the
overall rate, but it’s still too sensitive to make the small
movements you’re after, then increase your RC Expo.
It’s also worth touching on the Throttle Expo setting at
this point. This is useful if you can’t quite seem to find that
throttle position where your quad will hold its altitude
easily, and the slightest of touches seems to make it either
descend or ascend. To give you a little less sensitivity at that
central stick position, try raising this figure to 0.20 or 0.30.
Once you are happy with the feel of your quad in the
preview window (don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ before you
exit!), you’ll want to test it out on your quad in a real flight.
Things might not match up perfectly as the preview system
Adding a small amount of throttle Expo can fix issues with finding the
point in the throttle stick where it’s easy to maintain your altitude. doesn’t take into account things like the type of motors,
props, size of quad, battery type and so on – all of which can
make a difference to the real world experience. It should be
fairly close, though.
“In Acro mode you are left free to concentrate on If you have only flown in a self-levelling mode before
then some commitment is needed. Don’t be tempted to
making small and accurate corrections to keep take off in self-level and then switch to Acro; the transition
things far smoother in the air” can be overly jarring. Try and go from take-off to landing

54 DRONE MAGAZINE
all in Acro. You don’t need to do anything extreme, just fly
some basic circuits and get used to how it feels. I’d advise
against trying to hover in FPV using Acro mode at first;
it’s more difficult to get a fix on your position and there’s a
tendency to drift. If you make sure you can keep flying in
the direction you are facing, then you’ll progress quickly.
If you need to make any adjustments and have a flight
controller equipped with a Betaflight OSD, then it’s fairly
easy to tune things on the field. Entering the OSD menu will
allow you modify Super Rates, RC Rate and RC Expo via the
Rate sub-menu – albeit without the graphical visualisation.
But keep the changes small, especially with the Super Rate.
A change of just 0.05 can feel quite different.
You should notice fairly quickly that Acro mode feels a lot
smoother to fly, and after a few flights you will hopefully
begin to find your muscle memory starts to kick in and the
small corrections you previously had to really think about are
just performed by your thumbs subconsciously. Good luck!

Learning Curves All-Purpose Rates

Linear Rates
By removing the Super Rate setting entirely and reducing the RC
Rate to 50% we get a very gentle response all the way through
the stick movement. Whilst this is a useful example of how simple
it is to ‘tame’ Acro mode, the response may be a little too slow to
actually fly with.
Once you get to the point where you want to be making small and
subtle stick movements, you’ll want to start increasing your rates
for a faster response. A simple change of increasing the Super
Rate to 0.80 is a popular starting point – and is what I personally
fly with. It will give fast rolls and flips when you need them, but still
allows for gentle control at central stick. When moving your rates
upwards, though, do so in small increments.

Gentle Rates Mixed Rates

A recommended starting point for a more gentle flight is to reduce
the Super Rate and add in a little RC Expo. This still gives you a
fairly large amount of movement around the centre of the sticks
for small changes whilst allowing more responsive movement at
the stick extents.
It’s not necessary to keep your rates the same on all axes.
Depending on your model, the roll and pitch response can feel
quite different. This rate was set up for an indoor quad which was
flown quite gently in the roll and pitch axes, but needed to be able
to yaw very quickly in order to escape from the tight spaces inside
the building.

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 55
Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam
Photo by Damian Sadowski
www.dronestagr.am/author/falconmx
 interview

All photos by ABJ Drone Academy

Higher Education
Having previously developed training courses for beginners, ABJ Drone
Academy managing director Mark Caney is ready to help pilots take
their skillset to the next level. Ian Collen gets all the details…

How has your previous work evolved into
this new project?
Our motivation for starting the ABJ Drone Academy was
the recognition of the fact that there is a huge potential
marketplace for the industrial use of drones. I’m sure you’ve
seen all of the numbers and projections as to how far this
industry can go and the technology is all moving in the
right direction, in terms of not only the drones themselves
but also the payloads they can carry. But what is not really
keeping pace with that is the training of the operators.
In the UK you have a process in place for training
somebody for their initial qualification, the PfCO, but
there’s very limited information and support available for
what to do next. So you’ve got a lot of people out there who
know how to fly a drone, but they have no real training
on how to use the various payloads – and that is what the
industry needs.
For the drone industry to be as successful as all of the
predictions say it should be, people need to know how to
deliver the data that industry needs. And that’s what drones
are all about; they are taking an instrument into the sky,
recording the data the customer needs and then giving that
data to them in a meaningful way. So that’s the skill gap,
and unless that is properly filled drones are never going to
reach their potential.
So these new courses are mainly about
offering up specialities for people to
expand into?
Basically the bulk of what you’re going to see come up are

58 DRONE MAGAZINE
 interview

specialist skill courses, which give an existing UAS pilot a

specialist skill which will enable them to go and work in
a particular industry and be equipped to fulfil what that
industry needs. For example, we’ve got UAS Photography
which will give people an in-depth knowledge of how to use
the camera, which is the most basic tool for a drone.
Then we’ll have an advanced UAS Videography course,
so people can actually put together a complete movie for
a client based on what the client needs. We also have UAS
Surveying, which tells them how to use photogrammetry
techniques, 3D mapping and how to assemble a 3D model of
a building or something else.
We have two closely linked courses planned for the
telecommunications industry; so one is RF Awareness,
which is essentially about showing people how to operate
in the presence of cell towers and understanding the safety
regulations that they need in order to safely fly their drones
around an object that might be transmitting. Following on
from that we have Telecommunications Inspections that
will cover everything they need to inspect something like a
cell tower.
We’re also going to have a range of thermography technology. At the moment someone who, for example, has
courses, basically on how to use an infrared camera. got a solar farm will probably have someone knocking on
And we’ve also got one coming up which will be UAS their door with a Phantom 3 saying ‘why don’t you let me
Multispectral Imaging. As the name implies, that’s using come and survey your panels?’ The person running that
multispectral cameras which are widely used in things like company has no real idea what that person’s competency is
precision agriculture. or what their credentials are, so there’s a real need for this
creation of standards.
Is this training done online, on-site or a
combination of the two?
For all of our courses there’s a standard style; there’s an
online course and then there’s a practical component –
“You’ve got a lot of people out there who know
which is not required as you can just do the online part how to fly a drone but they have no real training
but we would always recommend people do both. So they
do the online course and that gives them the bulk of the
on how to use the various payloads”
knowledge they need to get involved in that specialist area.
It includes different modules and a theory review at the
end. In order to get an indication that they’ve achieved that
level of knowledge they will have to get at least 80% in that
theory review.
If they also go to the practical session, that will be run
by an experienced instructor in that discipline and the
instructor will take them through various ground-based
exercises, showing them how to use and set up that payload,
how to program it and set it up for a mission.
For example, if you were doing UAS Surveying, it’ll be
how to pre-program your flight plans over the area you’re
surveying, how to use the software that will be linked
with that particular discipline and then they’ll go and fly
some simulated missions. So they’ll go out and simulate
working in that environment, gather the data and then get
that information out of the payload, interpret it with the
relevant software and the instructor will show them how to
formulate that for a particular client’s needs.

What kind of recognition or reward do

people get for passing the course?
If they do the theory and the practical parts they will get a
wall certificate and a credit card-sized certification card.
What we’re going to see in the future is, I think, getting
more alignment across industry for this. The idea is to
get this created as a series of courses with international
recognition which will then have two principal benefits.
One is that it will allow someone who has the credentials as
a drone pilot to find work across borders and be recognised.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it will
give industry confidence in getting involved with this

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 59
 interview

“I can see in the future that all engineers,
architects and surveyors would know how to fly a
drone as part of their training”
so the longer term goal would be that
all pilots would be taught to those same
standards you’ve helped to establish?
Yes. Inevitably more people will get involved in the
integration of these courses – that always happens and we
welcome good quality competition. But we would hope to
get our programmes as well established as possible in the
near future so that they can become the model for other
people to follow.

You’ll have the capacity to add new

courses and amend existing ones, so
do you see this as something that can
continue to grow?
It’s going to grow exponentially because if you look at all
of the various predictions on how many billions of dollars
the drone industry is going to create – that’s because drones
are going to be used in many, many different industries.
Somebody’s got to fly those things, and they’ve got to
know how to use the specialist payloads that are going to
be hanging underneath them. There’s going to be more
and more demand for this kind of thing so, yes, I do see it
growing hugely.

Does your feedback help to drive what

new specialist training should come next?
We’re actually going to deliberately cultivate that. Our idea
is not that they do the course, we give them a certificate
and then wave them goodbye; they become a part of our
pilot network. So we will interface with them. We get
approached for jobs sometimes so we can feed that back
into this network of pilots, so they could be actively getting
commissions from us.

60 DRONE MAGAZINE

We’ll be arranging webinars with them so we can
interface and share information back and forth. We’ll
try and arrange demonstrations for them of the latest
technology that might be of interest. When somebody
becomes a pilot with us they can get that bond going, that
communication back and forth with us. That way we make
sure that the training programmes represent not only what
the industry needs but also what the experienced pilots say
works or doesn’t work.
Are you also talking with the wider
industry to find out what those
businesses might need?
Yes, absolutely. In the one sense that comes from, for
example, requests from industry because we are involved
with industry through our sister company ABJ Drones,
so we know what the industry is looking for. Also we go
along to various events, like trade shows and so forth where
drones are applicable and we talk to the people there that
are potential purchasers of this technology so we know
what they’re looking for.
Ideally this would be a symbiotic
partnership so you’re training the pilots
that they need?
Exactly. Again, this is what differentiates us from everyone
interview
else out there. We’re trying to do this holistic approach, so
providing the service, finding work for the pilot, training
the pilot and making sure that training meets the industry’s
needs – and that’s the missing component.
You can view the future of the drone industry as a
triangle, with one side being the technology, another side
being the operational processes and the third side being the
training of the people involved – and we’re completing that
third part of the triangle.
What are you ambitions for the Academy?
The long-term goal is to have a complete range of training
solutions that meet all of the requirements of industry.
That will evolve tremendously and we’re looking at beyond
visual line of sight, autonomous flights and that kind of
thing. And then we also aim to raise the profile of drones
and piloting so that they become a more recognised
professional qualification.
I think we also need to respect that we will be seeing the
future generation of drone pilots as not just specialist pilots
but also people that will be flying drones as part of a sub-set
of their primary qualifications. So I can see in the future
that all engineers, architects and surveyors would know
how to fly a drone as part of their training, so we see this
being integrated into things like university courses for those
kinds of professionals. It is clearly going to be an important
industry so we need this amount of professionalism in the
training of the operatives.
To find out more about the courses currently available,
or to enquire about becoming an instructor yourself,
head over to abjacademy.global.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 61
 dji Mavic Air
Reviewer: Adam Juniper
Out of the Box
REVIEW • street price: £769
The Mavic Air looks more like, and has a few things in
common with, the Spark, DJI’s excellent “selfie drone” –
• Dimensions: 168 x 184 x 64mm (168 x 83 x 49mm folded)
this being the term we’ll use to describe a craft built to track
• camera: ½.3” CMOS, 4K @ 30fps / 12MP
its owner, even as they engage in action sports and other
• weight: 430g
fun activities. This ‘cheap’ (£449) predecessor is available in
• battery type: 3S 2375mAh LiPo
more than one colour, but you need to invest an extra £129
• flight time: 21 minutes
to get the remote controller that allows flight beyond the
• range: 2.5m (4km)
• top speed: 42mph (68kph)
• Website: www.dji.com

T
he DJI Mavic Air seems a curious addition to the
dominant manufacturer’s range, with it seemingly
free to cannibalise sales of the well-established
and much-loved DJI Mavic Pro. If anything it is
an admission that the times they are a-changing and the
technology needs to move with it, bringing with it a wave of
new software features and the sensors that support them.
This has certainly has been the focus of this new arrival’s
promotion to date.
It’s not all good news, though, at least for those who
had anticipated a replacement to the Mavic Pro and Mavic
Pro Platinum. Both remain on the shelves and in some
very significant respects offer more than Mavic Air – for
example a much better battery life. Nonetheless retailers
seem compelled to offer discounts in acknowledgement of
the perceived age; the Mavic Pro was launched in October
2016, with the Platinum option following in August 2017 so
they’re hardly long in the tooth.
This does raise the questions for previous Mavic owners
considering acquiring a Mavic Air over what it offers above
the current Pro, whether that is of use to them and how
long it will be before a replacement for the Mavic Pro range
comes along. As for those not so familiar with DJI’s earlier
models, can the Mavic Air really offer a side door into the
prosumer market at a slightly more affordable price?

62 DRONE MAGAZINE
All photos by Adam Juniper, except where stated
“You do get a considerably more elegant solution than the Mavic Pro offers
when it comes to gimbal protection”
cripplingly limited range of your phone’s Wi-Fi. It keeps
things robust using a solid plastic X-frame, but keeps trim
for travel with foldable propellers.
Since the Mavic Pro also had folding props (admittedly
slightly fiddly to fold and unfold at times), I’d started to
think the inflexible kind were a thing of the past. Not
so. The real surprise, though, was how strikingly little
difference this actually made to the unfolding.
If anything the Mavic Air is even harder, since the props
need to be aligned in the correct position – as two take a
vertical path while the others fold horizontally and the
order is critical. In addition, the front feet also fold out, so
these need to be remembered, too.
In exchange for all of this you do get a considerably more
elegant solution than the Mavic Pro offers when it comes to
gimbal protection. Rather than the awkward two separate
plastic pieces it is very refreshing to find that these have
been combined into a single one that serves both to restrict
vibration and to shield the lens (in-flight shielding via the
Pro’s dome, admittedly, is no longer an option, but then that
was tiresome and led to reflections). Even those folding feet
look a lot better.
The intelligent batteries – another new size so you can’t
re-use your old ones – are otherwise very much what long-
time DJI customers are used to, with four lights to give
an immediate power reading. The controller continues to
bridge the Spark and Pro themes, dropping the built-in
display that the Mavic Pro had – which, if I’m honest, I refer
to fairly rarely in flight.
On-board there’s clearly a lot of processing power
to support the various tracking technology and Tapfly
systems, though the practical use of all of these still seems
open to some debate. Undoubtedly the fact the downward-
facing sensors can handle landing, and a combination of
them and the upward facing ones make unwanted drift all
but impossible, is great. It’s liberating to be able to just let go
of the sticks when you want and feel nothing will go wrong,
but really that’s nothing new.
The addition of rear-facing sensors seems exciting, but it
still leaves either side unmonitored; in other words if you’re
going to crash into an obstacle you need to be strafing left or
right (which is quite a common camera angle), so to my mind
until every angle is covered then it’s just a matter of improving
the odds rather than making the drone crash-proof.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 63
 “An amazing and elegant piece of tech… this is potentially all you’ll need for
photography and video for some time”
Tech Savvy
In terms of useful technology I was far more impressed
by the addition of 8GB of on-board storage. Admittedly it
seems a paltry amount, but there are few times I’ve been
out only to find I forgot a memory card, so this option is
definitely a huge improvement over nothing!
The switch to USB-C, in line with the newer GoPros
and, of course, Apple’s overpriced MacBooks, feels nice.
Unlike the MicroSD card, it’s impossible to put the cable in
the wrong way up. Ironically, I actually downloaded some
of the sample images seen on these pages over a USB-C
to USB-3 cable, which was in itself plugged into a dongle
because I’ve yet to build a collection of USB-C cables despite
grudgingly following wherever Apple have led me.
The camera offers some improvement in video quality
thanks to the bump up to a very impressive 100Mbps for
video (rather than the more usual 60). As with the Pro,
12MP stills look good, though there is a tendency to deepen
shadows and exaggerate or lose highlights altogether,
64 DRONE MAGAZINE
although that is often inevitable in a camera of this size.
Perhaps the Mavic Pro 2, or whatever it is called, will offer a
more Phantom-like sensor size?
The automated features remain very impressive,
although the use of things like ActiveTrack feel somewhat
unnecessary when the finger-wheel gimbal control and
sticks are so easy to use and make composing your shot very
natural. Personally I find that the size of a mobile phone – as
the compact Spark and Mavic controllers seem to suggest –
means that you’re already asking a lot of what is also meant
to be your first-person view and the screen that the DJI Go
app (and your phone) keep sending notifications to. As a side
note, iPhone X users do face a special little irritation as the
clamps around the phone make it hard to swipe up if you’ve
not already switched to horizontal view.
Air Support
Despite my reservations about the need for the systems, I
did do my best to pilot the craft into some groynes on the
seafront (in forward and backward flight) with no success
– the obstacle avoidance tech in the Mavic Air just flew over
them with a gentle ascent and subsequent descent that did
Firmware Updates
little to spoil the lusciously sharp 4K video I was capturing Although a perennial issue with most new tech, I did find myself
at the time especially irritated by the firmware that was supplied. Initially, the Mavic
Wrapping up the package as a whole, DJI has taken Air wasn’t able to perform one of its signature features as supplied – the
accessories more and more seriously as time has gone on Asteroid Quickshot. Even panoramas didn’t seem to be available on the
and the Mavic Air is no exception. The ‘Fly More Combo’ kit menu with the default software. Worse still, the updating seemed to
includes a very well realised bag with soft but rigid bays for cause the camera gimbal motors to push against their limits and get
your controller, the aircraft, three additional batteries and disturbingly warm.
accessories. It is considerably better than the Mavic Pro’s This was all a bit disappointing given I’d travelled a fair way to go flight
bag on which the controller sticks would often get caught. testing, but on the other hand I was at least able to perform the update
If you are looking at picking up a Mavic Air, the Fly More using the app and downloaded it over 4G, which is impressive. That said,
kit should be seen as almost compulsory here anyway, a few weeks later I needed to do so again while trying to give a talk, which
since the extra two batteries included will be a must. The grounded me at an awkward moment – so you might want to run a quick
additional multi-charger, enabling you to charge up to four check before you fly!
batteries sequentially, is also well realised and folds up very
neatly, too. The tide comes in fast when you’re trying
Folding, then, is the story here. I always tell people that a to download a firmware update!
drone that they can fold up will get more use and ultimately
be of more use than one they cannot fit in as many places.
At the end of the day the Mavic Air pulls this off very well
in almost every respect. This is portability perfected and is
how drones should have been from day one, with the slight
reservations that the battery life could be better and there
was some occasionally odd gimbal behaviour, especially
during updates.
However, at £769, or £949 with the Fly More Combo that
goes a long way to mitigating those battery issues, this is an
amazing and elegant piece of tech. In fact, for those without
more professional requirements, this is potentially all you’ll
need for photography and video for some time. However,
image quality obsessives and those with more demanding
requirements will probably want to look to the likes of the
Phantom 4 Pro as a minimum.

Photo by DJI

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 65
 ViFly X150
Reviewer: Lee Schofield
REVIEW • street price: $189 (BNF), $249 (RTF)
• camera: Foxeer Arrow Micro CCD (600TVL)
• Dimensions: 125 x 125 x 50mm
• weight: 174g (without battery)
• battery type: 3S 850mAh LiPo / 4S 550mAh
recommended
• receiver: FrSky, DSMX and FlySky compatible
(RadioLink T8FB with RTF)
• Website: www.viflydrone.com
66 DRONE MAGAZINE
Photo by ViFly
W
hen most of us think about ‘mini-quads’, we
imagine models with little 3-inch, 5-bladed
props and flight times of less than four
minutes. Until recently there has been a
choice: go for a ‘standard’ 5-inch, 220-250mm frame and
expect an all-up flying weight of around 480-580g with
all of the technical bells, whistles and performance you’d
expect – or buy a mini-quad.
I’ve flown lots of mini-quads; capable compact Tiny
Whoop-style indoor models or ones with those 3-inch
props. However, for me, there have always been too
many compromises for those of us who are used to flying
more powerful 5-inch models. These smaller models can
feel underpowered, or they have enough power but by
sacrificing longer flight times. Many are basic or the parts
they use are very proprietary, making replacement parts
tricky to find.
The ViFly X150 is the first mini-quad that manages to
deliver on performance without any of these compromises
and even sneaks under the 250g weight limit if you’re smart
with your battery selection. And it might just be the perfect
choice for those who need a compact, powerful model
below that 250g barrier.
All photos by Lee Schofield, except where stated
On the Fly
As the name suggests, the X150 uses a symmetrical
X-style frame with a central tower hosting the camera and
antennas at the top to make room for those 4-inch props.
The carbon fibre arms are all separate pieces, made out of
5mm CF stock and are well finished.
Inside that little central tower is the F4-based flight
controller that includes an OSD, an FPV transmitter
that can support from 25-600mW, a Foxeer camera and
a receiver of your choice. I ordered mine with the FrSky
receiver and I was pleased to see a ‘real’ FrSky micro
receiver installed on the top of the model.
At the base of the stack are the ESCs. This is a 4-in-1 unit
that features 20A BLHeli_S speed controllers that can easily
handle the 1406/3300KV motors out on the arms. Under
the frame is the space for the battery, and the battery strap
includes a carbon fibre plate to protect it in the event of a
crash. It also has little foam feet so it will stand up straight
and the props will be clear of the grass, even if it’s not been
cut for a week or two!
Outside of the main features there are a few other pieces
that you start to notice that show that the ViFly team has
put some thought into this model. Firstly, there are bright
white LEDs at the front of the model and the rear includes
the status LEDs.
Also at the back you’ll find a three-digit seven-segment
display that shows the battery voltage and FPV band you’re
using, as well as the power setting for the FPV transmitter.
These LEDs provide handy line-of-sight references when
flying in lower light as the model does become small quickly
if you let it get too far away.
The model also includes a buzzer, too. For some this may
seem like an insignificant extra but anyone who’s ever tried
to find a model like this in a field with long grass will know
why a buzzer is an essential piece of equipment!
In the Box
There are two versions of the model available: a bind and
fly (BNF) version that can be ordered with a FrSky, DSMX
or FlySky receiver. You can also order a ready to fly (RTF)
version that comes with a radio and battery charger
included in the package.
The model for our test flights was the BNF version, so be
careful if you’re ordering one as you’ll need to order a couple
of batteries, too. The model supports both 3S and 4S packs
with the recommended size being 850mAh 3S or 550mAh
4S pack. In the BNF bundle the model comes with the props
attached, a basic set of tools to remove the prop nuts and
tighten any loose bolts, and a spare pair of props.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 67
 Photo by ViFly
The set-up and installation is easy. The only thing you
need to be careful of is that the receiver is only powered by
the main battery so you’ll need to plug in a LiPo to bind it.
Be careful here and always remove the props first for safety.
So what’s the big deal about the 4-inch props on a 150mm
model? I’ve had several people ask me this as they are more
used to ‘full size’ 5-inch models or mini 3-inch quadcopters.
The answer is just one word: efficiency.
By using those 4-inch, 3-bladed props this model
performs exceptionally well but also does so pulling much
lower amperages from the battery. As you add more blades
to a prop they become less efficient. Those little 5-bladed,
3-inch props you see on the smaller models are horribly
inefficient in order to get the lift needed with such a small
propeller. A battery that would last less than four minutes
on a 3-inch quadcopter will last around six minutes here.
In The Air
Enough about all of that, though: what does it actually fly
like? To offer up another single word answer: wonderfully.
68 DRONE MAGAZINE
Speaking to ViFly, the team says it put this model into the
hands of some professional pilots out in China to help them
get a good tune and setup in Betaflight – and it shows.
The model has bags of power and I’m now flying it on
3S only as, even on that less powerful battery, it hovers at
just above a quarter throttle. On 4S it’s a speed machine.
That power and speed make this a fun model to fly and it
performs great, thanks to that pro tuning.
It’s docile and manageable in Angle and Horizon modes
but can flip, roll and perform all the freestyle moves you
want in Acro mode. It’s a true all-rounder. It’s quiet, too.
You could fly this little chap in places where larger models
would draw unwanted attention.
The OSD and camera work as you’d expect. The Foxeer
model is a great little micro camera and it’s nice to see ViFly
using it here. The dynamic range is excellent with the only
downside that we found being the vertical smearing of
the sun on clear days. There can also be a small amount of
prop visible in the bottom of the screen if you’re using a low
camera angle.
 After flying this model for less than 30 seconds I’d
forgotten it wasn’t a full-sized, well-specified 5-inch
quadcopter and had a ball flying it. That’s praise indeed as
normally I’m aware of the model’s size and limited power or
range, but here I just flew with a huge grin on my face. I don’t
think anyone told this model that it’s not a 5-inch quad!
Summary
I probably wouldn’t recommend this as a first quadcopter,
as I’d always suggest a cheap indoor model and a decent
simulator to get the basics down first. Once you’ve mastered
the fundamentals of flying and are ready for something
more capable then the X150 is a fun and portable choice.
That tune is very good and not too aggressive so it will suit a
wide range of pilots.
It’s a tough little guy, too. I’ve had a few tumbles and the
lack of weight means that the energy it’s dealing with is a
lot less than a larger model. If you fly it into a wall you will
break something, though, so the ready availability of spares
is welcome! It is worth acknowledging that this isn’t cheap,
but then quality products rarely are. In the UK you can
expect to pay around £160 for the BNF model and around
£210 for the ready to fly package.
There are also a few things to consider if you’re looking at
this model. I’d advise replacing the supplied VTX antenna:
it’s heavy and a stubby or pagoda antenna will be a lot
lighter. Be aware that the FPV bands on the VTX are not
arranged traditionally. I normally fly Fat Shark Band F,
Channel 1 and on this model that equates to setting B1, so
keep the manual handy if you want to change channels and
bands for FPV.
The last thing of note is that the model comes with an
XT30 battery connecter attached. I replaced it with an XT60
as I have lots of batteries that have this connector from my
smaller planes and wings. Remember to order batteries
with the right connector for this little guy!
But with that said, if you’re looking for a compact ‘mini-
quad’ that flies and performs like a well-designed 5-inch
model but weighs less then 250g with a battery, then this is
my number one pick.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 69
 GepRC MX3 sparrow
Reviewer: Wayne Andrews
REVIEW • street price: $249 (BNF), Also $35 (frame only), $239 (PNF)
• camera: Runcam Micro Swift 2, 600TVL
• Dimensions: 139 x 139 x 100mm
• weight: 145g (no battery, with receiver)
• battery type: 3S / 4S 550-800mAh LiPo recommended
• receiver: FrSky R-XSR (BNF only)
• Website: www.geprc.com
T
he MX3 Sparrow from GepRC is a 139mm sized
action/racing quad which spins 3-inch props – with
an MSX variant for those looking to focus purely
on speed. It’s available without a receiver, or, as in
the case of our review model, as a bind-and-fly package
(although this is only available with a FrSky receiver).
It comes in a handy semi-rigid case with cut away foam
to safely house the model and some of the accessories.
Although it’s great to have a case like this, the quad will
only fit inside if the props are removed.
Lifting the quad from its case, the first thing that
strikes you is just how good it looks. Two curved anodised
aluminium side-plates safely sandwich in all of the
electronics and sit on top of a 3mm carbon unibody frame.
It’s not only lovely to look at but also provides an excellent
70 DRONE MAGAZINE
means of impact protection for the components housed
within. Power is provided from the four 1408-3500kv
motors (3750 and 4100kv alternatives are optional) which
have a standard 5mm shaft and are supplied with five
complete sets of 3042 sized tri-bladed props.
Nestled inside the aluminium is the electronics stack
based around the micro-standard 20mm mounting holes.
Starting at the bottom, we have a 4-in-1 28A ESC board
which supports BLHeli_S and DShot, in the middle a
Pico Blx F3 flight controller and, on the top of the stack, a
72-channel VTX where power output can be configured to
operate at 0, 25, 100 or 250mW.
The bind-and-fly version has the tiny FrSky R-XSR
receiver pre-installed, which provides an RSSI telemetry
signal back to your transmitter, but any SBUS or PPM
compatible receiver (as long as it’s small enough) could
be used. The included CCD-based camera is the excellent
RunCam Micro Swift 2 with a wide-angle 2.1mm lens.
This camera has its own on-board OSD that can show
battery voltage, time powered on and a pilot name. It’s
particularly useful in this case as the Pico Blx doesn’t have
its own OSD, and keeping track of your battery voltage
is fairly critical. 2-4S LiPos are supported via an XT30
connector, but to get the best out of it you will want to use
a 4S 650-850mAh battery, with 3S for more of a casual
cruise around.
All photos by Wayne Andrews

Elsewhere in the box, there is silicon pad to stick on the

bottom of the frame to help secure your battery of choice,
a cable to connect to the camera in order to change the
settings and configure the OSD, several battery straps and
some stickers.

Getting Connected
I bound the receiver to my FrSky Taranis radio and connected
the quad up to Betaflight to see what was already configured,
and what would need to be done. What stood out is that this
quad was running quite an early version of the firmware –
3.1.5 – so I decided to update to the latest 3.2.5 level.
The rest of the quad was actually set up well which
shouldn’t be a surprise, but the amount of “bind-and-fly”
quads I’ve flown which need a lot more work is shocking.
It’s always nice to find one that’s been properly configured.
The only change I made was to the flight mode and the aux
switches which control them.
I did note that the PIDs had been tuned quite aggressively
for this quad, with roll and pitch rates of 1100 deg/s (or just
over three rolls per second with the stick held all the way
over). It was slightly higher than I’d normally fly with, but I
decided to use it as I was keen to see how well it was tuned
for the quad.
There was also a connector hidden in the frame that the
camera cable plugged into, so I double-checked the camera
configuration and then made a few changes to the camera’s
OSD. Once this was done I was ready for my maiden flight,
so I put the props on and charged up some 4S 850mAh LiPos
– which looked huge against the quad but were also the
smallest 4S batteries I had at hand!
I had a quick line-of-sight hover to see how it felt and to
check for any obvious problems. It felt great, with a good
response to the throttle and very smooth in the air. I was
really excited to get the first-person view experience with
this quad, so wasted no time in bringing it back down and
putting my goggles on.

Bird’s Eye View
Flying this quad in FPV was very satisfying. It launched
easily into the air and immediately felt smooth and
responsive. It does seem like those PID values were well
thought out. Roll and pitch controls, as expected, were
explosive when you wanted them to be but also very
precise. I went straight into some rolls, flips, power loops,
and inverted yaw spins without thinking about it – and as I
came out of the manoeuvre the quad stopped perfectly with
no bounce-back.
It was incredibly fast as well, which you could make
feel even faster by hurtling along as close to the ground as
possible. The manufacturers are even claiming a top test
speed of 170kph (105mph) which seems unlikely with any
standard set-up, but any worry that the larger batteries
might be weighing it down too much soon vanished.
I had been a little worried about the camera angle to start
with. The minimum angle it could be set to was around 35
degrees, but fortunately the 2.1mm lens meant it was still
relatively easy to come in slow and see enough ground detail
to land comfortably. This wide angle won’t be to everyone’s
taste, though, as it does produce some fish-eye effect.
The camera’s CCD sensor and wide dynamic range
handled the tricky British winter conditions admirably,

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 71
 “I wouldn’t have known I was flying a 3-inch quad… It had the agility of a micro
with the raw speed of a more powerful set-up”
with the sun low in the sky it was still able to expose
the ground details correctly instead of causing them to
black-out as a CMOS sensor will typically do. I was also
pleasantly surprised with the flight times I was getting out
of my batteries. I expected around three minutes, but I was
getting over four minutes with some fairly intense speed
runs and punch-outs.
72 DRONE MAGAZINE
I wouldn’t have known I was flying a 3-inch quad; it felt
very much like flying one of its bigger 5-inch cousins. It had
the agility of a micro with the raw speed of a more powerful
set-up. The only point I picked up on is that it didn’t quite
have that explosive vertical punch-out that a 5-inch model
can give you.
I was also able to mount a GoPro session on board, as
there was the space to do so, and while it carried it around
the field, it did impact on the performance too much to be
seriously considered. If you really want to use an HD camera
on this quad, it probably needs to a more lightweight design.
Summary
The Sparrow is a stunning looking little quad which
performs fantastically out of the box. Our test unit weighed
in at just 248g with the 4S 850mAh LiPo, making it quite
friendly against the impending drone restrictions. On the
critical side, it is a fairly expensive model and lacks the
Betaflight OSD that many BNF models include.
Beginners may also struggle with the aggressive
camera angle and will most certainly need to tune down
the included rates. Overall though, the Sparrow is huge
amounts of fun to fly and should definitely be considered
if you’re on the lookout for a good 3-inch quad to race or
freestyle with.
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 All photos by Rowan Bailey

Rank and File

Choosing the right video format
After a reader posed a query about the different
types of video files for aerial footage, Rowan Bailey
was on hand with some high-quality answers…

E
ven if you’re new to video editing and posting film
content online, you’re bound to have already come
across the hurdle of video formats and been faced
by a mountain of options in terms of codecs and
file types. It can be somewhat daunting at first and it’s easy
to just stick to the same export settings and hope for the best.
One thing you’ve probably also noticed is that a video
you post to YouTube may look completely different in terms
of quality when the same footage is posted on Facebook or
Instagram. To help clarify your options, in this article I’ll
break down why that is and how to get the best out of your
drone footage every time!
The first step is to look at how the footage is captured in
the first place; this being by your drone of choice. Typically as a general rule of thumb if you have the space on your
speaking you’ll have a few options to choose from in the SD cards or HDDs then try and shoot 4K. Even if you’re
settings menus and the changes you make can depend on a planning on exporting to 1080p, 4K footage will typically
few different things, such as file size, whether you want to have more information to play with during the editing
colour grade to get the best out of your footage and whether process. There are times where this can be overkill, such as
you want to be editing to 1080p or 4K. if you’re only wanting to upload a quick video to Instagram
It’s hard to summarise the precise best settings here where it will make a minimal difference so use your own
as these vary from drone to drone (and user to user) but judgement here.

74 DRONE MAGAZINE
 For the sake of this article let’s say you want to edit
a highlights video of some drone footage you took over
the weekend and plan to share it on the likes of YouTube,
Facebook, Vimeo and Instagram, as well as keeping a high
resolution master copy for your own archive. In this case set
your footage to the best quality setting your drone allows
you to. Then shoot to your heart’s content, making sure that
you stick to this setting throughout for continuity in terms
of file handling and overall quality.

Post-Production
Once you’ve finished filming and you’ve backed your
footage up you have two options: Either stick with the files
in the format that they are or process them in something
such as ProRes to make them easier to edit and handle in
post-production. ProRes, as one example, works natively
within Premiere Pro on OSX and makes the editing process
a lot more efficient as well as the time spent when exporting
the files.
You don’t have to do this but if you’re editing a lot of
content then you will notice the benefits of this approach.
It’s now part of my workflow routine, where I backup
my footage and then set it up to convert as a batch into a
separate folder. If I’ve shot a large amount of content I can
let this run autonomously the night before an edit so it’s
ready to go the next day.
The editing process is the same as usual for the most part.
One thing I would point out is that there are varying ways
in which you can set up your software that will make it
easier for you to handle the footage. This depends on what
software you’re using – and in this instance I’ll be using
terms that refer to Adobe Premiere Pro. However, the
concepts apply to most editing packages out there even if
the terminology may differ slightly.
A mistake I notice a lot of people making in Premiere
Pro is setting up their sequence settings manually and

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 75
 inputting it as they see fit. For example, setting it up as
1080p, 25fps, DSLR footage. Yes, it will be the right size
and play back correctly but your footage will still need to
conform to the codec for this set up, making your software
slightly less efficient. In Premiere Pro the best way to set up
your sequence is to right-click one of your drone clips and
“Create New Sequence From Clip”. This means that it’s using
exactly the right settings for your footage from the get-go
and will make things run smoother.
If you’re also looking to create a version for Instagram
where the aspect ratio will be slightly different, just make
an additional sequence in the same manner and then adjust
the aspect ratio to fit afterwards.

“Even if you’re planning on

exporting to 1080p, 4K footage will
typically have more information to
play with”
Export Business
Okay, so you’ve smashed out your edit and you’re eager to
get sharing, what do you do next? Remember you want
to share your footage across multiple platforms and this
means you’re going to want to export multiple versions
of your footage. Upon inspection on your computer you
probably won’t notice any difference between the versions
I’m suggesting here but there is method to the madness.
When you’re uploading to Facebook, YouTube or Vimeo
they compress or encode your video and they all do so in a
slightly different manner. This is why you will sometimes
notice a major drop in quality when uploading footage, even
though the original file was a crisp 1080p masterpiece.
Essentially what’s happening is there are conflicting
settings between how you’re exporting your file and what
each platform’s software then does to process it. This can
result in blocky, low bitrate-looking footage with grain and
a low dynamic range, despite the fact that it does this to
‘optimise’ the footage for the platform.
Exporting multiple versions can be a pain on some
software as you have to return to the computer when it’s
finished one export and initiate the next version to start.
Adobe has a handy solution to this where you can queue
your exports and even save these pre-sets to make it easier
each time you edit to set them all to export.
Furthermore, with Adobe you can also set it to
automatically upload your content once exported as well.
So, in theory, once you’ve finished an edit you can set it all
up, enter your title, info and any tags you want to use and
then set it all to queue – and it will work its way through all
the different versions and upload them one by one.

76 DRONE MAGAZINE
 The Tech Specs
Here are some of the settings you might want to
aim for when exporting your drone footage for
different platforms or uses:

General Use / Archiving

Format: H.264 / MP4
Resolution: 1080p / 4K
Frame Rate: Constant frame rate (not variable)
VBR: 1 pass
Aspect Ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
Bitrate: Target 10Mbps, Max 12Mbps
AAC, Bitrate 320kbps, Sample Rate 48kHz, Stereo

NOTE: These settings apply to a smaller file, one

that’s more manageable on storage and will
maintain a decent quality. For a larger (or master)
file things can remain much the same, with the
exception being primarily bitrate and format. This
will be specific to the footage you’re working with,
but typically adjust the bitrate target to 20-25 for
1080p and 60 for 4K. You can opt for H264 High
Profile as the format or export to the original
format that your footage was recorded in.

YouTube
Format: H.264 / MP4
Resolution: 1080x1920 (1080p) or 3840x2160 (4K)
Frame Rate: Constant frame rate (not variable)
VBR: 2 Pass
Aspect Ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
Bitrate: Target 20Mbps, Max 25Mbps (1080p) /
Target 60Mbps, Max 60Mbps (4K)
AAC, Bitrate 320kbps, Sample Rate 48kHz, Stereo

Vimeo
Format: H.264 / MP4 (High Profile H.264 rather
than Main Profile)
Resolution: 1080x1920 (1080p) or 3840x2160 (4K)
Frame Rate: Constant frame rate (not variable)
VBR: 2 Pass
Aspect Ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
Bitrate: Target 10-20Mbps, Max 25Mbps (1080p) /
Target 30-60Mbps, Max 60Mbps (4K)
AAC, Bitrate 320kbps, Sample Rate 48kHz, Stereo

Instagram
Format: H.264 / MP4
Resolution: 1080x1920 (1080p, no need to exceed
You can use the pre-sets built into software when this)
exporting. Some may have settings specifically for YouTube, Frame Rate: Constant frame rate (not variable)
Facebook and Instagram and there’s absolutely nothing VBR: 2 Pass
wrong with using these. One thing to bear in mind is that Aspect Ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
these platforms change regularly so there may be slight Bitrate: Target 5Mbps, Max 7Mbps
tweaks in the way they encode their footage so it’s always AAC, Bitrate 128kbps, Sample Rate 48kHz, Mono
worth looking into this from time to time to make sure
you’re up to date. Facebook
A good example of this is when I exported some content Format: H.264 / MP4
for Vimeo using pre-sets made specifically for high quality Resolution: 1080x1920 (1080p)
Vimeo uploads. After I uploaded it I received a warning Frame Rate: Constant frame rate (not variable)
message stating that I could have exported it in a better VBR: 2 Pass
format for Vimeo. So don’t always take the pre-sets for Aspect Ratio: Square pixels (1.0)
granted, much like if you’re referring back to this article in Bitrate: Target 20Mbps Max 25Mbps
six months’ time – it may be worth checking online to see if AAC, Bitrate 192kbps, Sample Rate 44kHz, Stereo
there have been any major updates!

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 77
Ba Be Lake, Vietnam
Photo by Damian Sadowski
www.dronestagr.am/author/falconmx
 interview

A Walk on
the Wild Side
Fresh from his success in

All photos by Florian Ledoux

winning the SkyPixel Photo
Contest of 2017, intrepid
photographer Florian Ledoux
spoke to Ian Collen about his
Arctic expeditions…
can you tell us how your passions for
travel and photography grew into a
fully-fledged career?
I got into photography when I was 12 years old as a simple Getting up close with one of
pleasure while traveling with my family. I could scarcely these “majestic animals” would
certainly be an emotional
imagine that I would find my life power in it. I was self-
experience for anyone.
taught and developed this passion until it became strong
enough for me to become a photo-journalist in the French
Navy. At the same I also started my own project by doing Brian Skerry. Although there were no drones in their work
reportage on Greenland. There is no doubt that the beauty at that time, their photos blew my mind, feeding my desire
of nature and the search for isolated and wild places in the to encounter this wildlife.
Arctic led me to photography. Since then I’ve always been in search of places where
Later, a new project took me closer to the Arctic wildlife; nature reigns; where the colours of the earth are never
it was so intense that I had this desire to become a wildlife the same, where men and animals have a history, where
photographer and to spend more time close to the different experiences forge the spirit, alone or accompanied. I travel
species. On my way to becoming a wildlife photographer I the world to share this passion with
was inspired by many great photographers, such as Vincent all of you and, above all, to make
Munier, Paul Nicklen, Sebastião Salgado, Paul Souders and you aware of nature’s fragility.

80 DRONE MAGAZINE
 interview

When did you first become aware of the

Florian’s beautiful photo of a polar bear jumping across the ice took the Grand
potential for using drones on your trips
Prize in SkyPixel’s Photo Contest 2017 – as seen in our previous issue!
– and are there any benefits beyond the
obvious aerial perspective?
I started to dream about having a drone in 2015, but it
wasn’t until around one year later that I had saved up
enough money to buy one. Since then I’ve been using a
drone to capture aerials, which are a strong theme in my
work as I aspire to bring a new perspective on wildlife to
that we already know well from traditional photography.
The new technology of drones is a big plus for me as it
complements my ground photography. Drones allow me
to reach new heights and to fly into a zone a helicopter
could not.

Was there much of a learning curve in

getting used to using the drone and the
different options it can provide?
Even if drones for photography are now really good and
easy to pilot, it still takes a bit of time to get used to and to be
able to shoot really smooth footage. I am a self-taught ‘drone
pilot’. I mainly learned from practice, mistakes and crashes.

These expeditions take you to some pretty

extreme places, so have you had to adapt
even more to flying in the cold, SNOW and
strong winds?
Every time I fly a drone in the Arctic I am super-stressed.
Indeed, flying in the Arctic can create lot of trouble for
the drone; it is really tricky and risky, and I’ve crashed a
few drones to produce these images! Because the Arctic is
so remote, so close to the magnetic pole and experiences
extremely cold temperatures, drones will encounter a lot of
trouble while flying.
There’s a lot of interference and the compass errors that
so often come with it. Every flight is intense, something that
I made even greater by flying from a sailboat, which became an ND filter when sun is too strong. I also work in manual or
a non-static reference point for the operating system! Plus, ‘speed priority’ and shoot in RAW.
depending on your drone model, you might even have to
keep your batteries warm before you fly. You still shoot a lot from the ground,
so have you found an instinctive balance
What do you fly these days? And are you between where the handheld camera or
using any additional equipment with your the drone will get you the best shots?
drone or camera? Of course I still shoot a lot from the ground. As mentioned,
I started with a Phantom 3 Pro; after I crashed it I upgraded the drone provides a complementary view. I wish I could
to the Phantom 4 Pro+ which took around 90% of my fly and shoot from the ground at the same time; to do photo
photos. I am now equipped with a brand new Inspire 2 with and video together… but I cannot and so I need to choose –
a 16mm lens mounted on the X7 Zenmuse camera. I do use and that can lead me to miss something. But usually I make

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 81
 interview
the right choice. If the subject is far away I will send up the
drone. If there’s a polar bear standing six metres away from
me I will use my tele-photo lens.
There are stories to be told from these
expeditions, so how much has this aerial
view offered by drones helped you to
show people what’s happening?
With drones we can observe and document the behaviour
of animals from a new angle; we can approach and follow
the wildlife in a way not before possible. One of the most
symbolic photos [the SkyPixel-winning image seen on the
previous page] is the polar bear leaping between two pieces
of ice. I believe these pictures show the animals in a new
perspective; showing them in their entirety as well as in a
wider habitat and landscape.
82 DRONE MAGAZINE
What have been your most memorable
moments so far?
All of the encounters with Arctic wildlife have been a strong
moment in my life, including narwhals, belugas, walruses,
arctic foxes and humpback whales. However, above all, the
most memorable moment was to encounter the majestic
beast of the Arctic – and the highlight of my expedition was
most definitely the encounter with the polar bear standing
six metres from us.
For me there is no better feeling than being close to
those majestic animals, to be sharing space with them. I
will always remember the moment when I saw my first
polar bear; I cried during the three hours that we stayed
close to them. I discovered it swimming and when I put
down my binoculars to announce it to our captain, I was
already crying.

You recently won the SkyPixel Photo
Contest 2017 and you’ve had other
successes as well. How much satisfaction
does it give you to see your work
recognised in this way?
Before the expedition, I was super-excited to have received
third place from Dronestagram and National Geographic
at the International Drone Photography contest [with the
photo below to the right]. The SkyPixel Photo Contest is a
great achievement, although I never thought the polar bear
would travel so much around the world!
But I can clearly remember when I was sat on board
the sailing boat last summer, just after I had captured
these photographs. I wanted them to been seen by a large
audience as, for me, they were magnificent but it has gone
way beyond my expectations!
My favourite honour came when I was featured in
National Geographic magazine in a triple page article called
interview
“Last Ice”, alongside Paul Nicklen who was one of my great
photography mentors and co-founder of the Sea Legacy.
Does this kind of recognition help with
your future plans and ambitions?
For sure this polar bear and the Grand Prize have kicked
off my photography career. I hope it will help in many ways
with future projects, collaborations, sponsorship and so on.
What are your future hopes or plans? Any
dream expeditions, or animals and places
you’d love to shoot?
Without hesitation, I’d have to say Antarctica and South
Georgia! From orca hunting on the beaches in Patagonia to
the grizzly in Kamchatka, the list of dream projects is long
and very exciting. I dream of bringing back testimonial
images that will help to better understand and protect
species on Earth.
This shot of an ice flow in Greenland took third
prize in the Nature section of Dronestagram’s 2017
International Drone Photography Contest.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 83
 interview
“These pictures show the animals in a new perspective; showing them
in their entirety as well as in a wider habitat and landscape”
I will also be appearing in the new book called Masters of
Drones Photography and in the near future I would love to
publish a full book about Arctic wildlife from above.
Do you find yourself flying outside of
these expeditions, either for fun or a
little extra work?
It is important to keep flying so that you don’t lose those
habits and skills. I can fly from time to time in Iceland
84 DRONE MAGAZINE
where I now live. I also fly for some smaller projects or just
for fun while we go for an ice climbing session on a glacier.
You must see a big future for drones, both
in your work and in the wider world?
We have already reached a level with some incredible
images and accessory quality! I think these will only
become more and more reliable and solid. It could be useful
in the future to be able to record everything on the ground
while you’re flying – so that if happen to lose your drone at
the sea you don’t lose your images…
After all the vibes and emotion I got from wildlife this
summer, I have a strong and burning desire to go back at
different times of the year to create new drone wildlife
images. When I find myself in the remote Arctic and
encounter and engage with the people and wildlife that call
it home, I know that this is the moment where everything
makes sense for me because I feel it deeply within myself.
It is a deep feeling that takes all of body and soul. In this
moment, the urge to create an image that I would remember
for the rest of my life with a strong message comes naturally
to me. Those moments are incredible as something is
happening within me. It’s what I live for. When I photograph,
I’m somewhere else. This is, I guess, passion.
You can see lots more of Florian’s amazing work over on
his website www.florian-ledoux.com.
A Reader’s View
Tweed Valley Mountain
Rescue Team
Photo by Thomas Nash
Although the ‘Beast from the East’ storm front that hit the UK wasn’t
good news for most pilots, it did offer up some great snowy vistas
for many an aerial photographer. However, for Thomas Nash it also
provided a more serious test of his flying skills as part of his work
with the Scottish Mountain Rescue service and a feasibility test for its
potential introduction of drones.
“Many voluntary rescue services put in hundreds of hours helping
communities and rescuing stranded or injured people,” Thomas
explained. “This is what this photo is about; this picture captures
members of the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team doing what
they do best. It was taken using a DJI Mavic Pro that could be used
for scouting, checking difficult-to-access areas, snow lines, cornices
and so on.” An excellent photo and an equally excellent cause – keep
up the great work!

If you’d like to get one of your own photos into the magazine – and by
submitting a shot for us to use, you are acknowledging that it is your own
work and property – please email us at dronemaguk@gmail.com, along
with the image (the highest resolution would be great) and maybe a few
background details about what, why and how you got the shot. Maybe you
could find your latest and greatest pic gracing these pages in our next issue!
 Next Issue

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WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 91
 Buyer’s guide
our comprehensive round-up of
some of the top drones around.
find the perfect model to suit
all tastes and budgets!

Skeye Hexa Drone

Category: Toy, Indoor, Compact
Street Price: £39.92
Camera: None
Weight: 30g
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 130mm
Battery Type: LiPo
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 50m
Best Feature: Great for beginners

Revell Control
VR-Quadcopter
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun Flyer
Street Price: £99.00
Camera: 720p, 2MP Revell Control GPS Pulse Parrot Mambo
Weight: 100g Quadcopter Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 280mm Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun Flyer
Street Price: £99
Battery Type: 500mAh, 3.7v LiPo Street Price: £109.00
Camera: 3MP / 60fps
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 50m Camera: 720p, 2MP
Weight: 63g
Best Feature: Good introduction to FPV flying Weight: 152g
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 180mm
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 185mm
Battery Type: 550mAh LiPo
Battery Type: 610mAh, 7.4v LiPo
Control / Range: iOS or Android / 20m
Revell Demon Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 50m
Best Feature: Ideal for office hi-jinks!
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun Best Feature: Great stability for its size
Street Price: €69.99
Camera: 720p HD
BLADE INDUCTRIX FPV BNF
Weight: 224g Revell Multicopter Category: Indoor, Racer, FPV
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 270mm Hexatron Street Price: £85.99 (£164 for the
Battery Type: 1500mAh LiPo Category: Outdoor
Ready-to-Fly version)
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 30m Street Price: £100.00
Camera: Integrated FPV
£150

Best Feature: Great flight times Camera: Optional FPV version

Weight: 24g
Weight: 1200g
Diagonal motor spacing: 83mm
Diagonal motor spacing: 114mm
Battery type: 200mAh LiPo
Battery type: LiPo
Control / Range: 2.4GHz RF / 100m
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 100m
under

Best feature: Perfect for rookie racers

Best feature: It’s just monstrously big

Syma 4 Channel 2.4Ghz

TrndLabs Fader Quadcopter with Camera
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun Flyer
Category: Indoor, Outdoor
Street Price: £99
Street Price: £45
Camera: 720p, 1MP
Camera: Front-facing, 0.3MP
GestureBotics Aura Weight: 55g
Weight: 590g
Category: Toy, Fun Flyer Diagonal Motor Spacing: 175mm
Diagonal motor spacing: 300mm
Street Price: £99.99 Battery Type: 520mAh LiPo
Battery type: LiPo
Camera: None Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 50m
Control / Range: 2.4GHz RF / 500m
Weight: 54g Best Feature: Good starter model
Best feature: Lightweight prop guards
Diagonal motor spacing: 85mm
(without cage)
Battery type: 500mAh LiPo
Control / Range: Glove / 7 metres Top 5 Revell Control
Mini Charger
Budget Drones
Best feature: Fully gesture controlled
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Fun Flyer
Street Price: £34.99
UDI U818A FPV 1 Hubsan X4 Camera: None
Weight: 15g
Category: Camera drone
Street price: £130
2 Parrot Rolling Spider Diagonal Motor Spacing: 95mm
Size: 250mm 3 Syma X5SC-1 Battery Type: 250mAh Li-Po
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 20m
Weight: 140g
Best Feature: Live-view in App
4 UDI U818A FPV Best Feature: Protective cage
5 Blade Glimpse FPV

92 DRONE MAGAZINE
 Cameras
Not every drone comes with a
camera attached
Best Feature: Combines speed with freestyle flair
GoPro Hero 5 Session
Street Price: £180
The GoPro Hero, now up to version 6,
has established itself as the adventurous
professionals’ friend, able to record 4K at
60fps and 1080p at 240fps for stunning
slow-mo. The tiny cubic Session is still
4K-capable but sacrifices on the framerate
(30 or 90fps respectively) for a more FPV-
friendly form at just 74g. The GoPro app
will also download wirelessly and create a
quick edit for you on the move.
Hawkeye Firefly Q6 4K
Street Price: £47
Rather less financially troubling than the
GoPro, the reliable 43g also has an OLED
display so you can see the settings. You can
record 4K at cinema-friendly 24fps and
720p at 120fps, among others, to a MicroSD
card. It also includes a dash-cam mode that
records five-minute blocks, deleting the
oldest as needed.
DJI Zenmuse Series
Street Price: Up to £2,700
DJI’s Inspire 2 has a detachable camera
which has allowed the company to keep
a steady stream of new gear flowing. That
includes fixed focal length cameras with
built-in lenses (X4S) and cameras with
detachable lenses (X5S, X7). The X5S uses
the popular Micro 4/3rds system making
numerous non-DJI lenses, including some
zoom ones, also compatible, while DJI offers
four of their own for the top-end X7.
immersionrc vortex 230 Propel Star Wars
Category: FPV Racer, Freestyle Collection
Street Price: £284 Category: Fun Flyer, Air Combat, Collectible
Camera: None Street Price: £190
Weight: 349g (without battery) Camera: None
Battery Type: Not included Weight: Varied
flight time: Variable (3-4 minutes typical) Diagonal Motor Spacing: Varied
Control / Range: Not included Battery Type: 800mAh Li-Po
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 100m
Best Feature: Too cool to fly!
Yuneec Breeze
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Flying Camera
Street Price: £439
ImmersionRC Vortex 285
Category: Racer
Camera: 4K / 13MP
Street Price: £300
Weight: 385g (inc. battery)
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 196mm Camera: Fit your FPV camera of choice
Battery Type: 1150mAh Li-Po Weight: 350g (no battery or camera)
Diagonal motor spacing: 285mm
Control / Range: 5GHz Wi-Fi / 100m
Best Feature: Great for aerial selfies Battery type: 3S/4S Li-Po
Control / Range: RF
Best feature: Foldable
Xiro Xplorer Mini
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Flying Camera
Street Price: £429 / €499
Camera: 1080p, 13MP
Weight: 431g (inc. battery)
Diagonal motor spacing: 310mm
Battery type: 1650mAh, 3S Li-Po
DJI Spark Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 100m
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Flying Camera Best feature: Portable AND powerful
Street Price: £519
Camera: 1080p, 12MP
Weight: 300g
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 143mm
Battery Type: 1480mAh, 3S LiPo
Control / Range: Wi-Fi / 100m
Best Feature: Great tech in a small package
Xiro Xplorer
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Flying Camera
Street Price: From £315
Camera: 1080p, 30fps
£150-£600
Weight: 410g (inc. battery)
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 225mm
Battery Type: 3S Li-Po, 1300mAh
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 500m
Best Feature: Great price
The Beast 280 MK2
Racing Drone
Category: Racer
Street Price: £350
Camera: Sony 700TVL
Weight: 30g
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 280mm
Battery Type: Li-Po
Control / Range: Optional
Best Feature: Very, very fast
Accessory: B&W Type 1000
DJI Spark case
Price: £40.91
Top 5 Dimensions: 270 x 215 x 105mm
weight: 1.7lbs (1.9lbs with packaging)
Beginner Drones volume: 4.1 litres
Designed as an entry level case for the aspiring
1 DJI Spark Spark pilot, this offering from B&W boasts all of
2 Fat Shark 101 the features that we have come to expect when
looking for a rugged storage and transport
3 Makeblock Airblock solution for your quad. It makes for a solid,
4 Parrot Bebop 2 lightweight, durable travel system that feels
5 DJI Phantom 4 like it could take a real beating and still protect
the equipment inside.
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 93
 Software
Accessories
If you’re going to take drones
seriously, then expect software to
become a big part of your life, too!
Adobe Lightroom
£6.98 per month
Easily the most capable image cataloging
and editing program to emerge in the
era of ‘RAW’ image files. What makes
RAW files such a leap forward is that they
record as much of the dynamic range as
the camera is capable of recording. This
Category: Commercial, Professional, Flying Camera
effectively means that even if something
is way too dark or too light there is a
decent chance of recovering it – and
Lightroom is the place to do it.
Pix4Dmapper Mesh
£320 per year
If you’re interested in landing work with
£600+
quantity surveyors, or perhaps have an
architectural scheme to pitch, this will
allow you to turn a grid of photos into a
photorealistic 3D model. In turn you can
also do great things from spectacular
special effects to digital volumetrics.
Liftoff
£14.99 on Mac or PC
Liftoff isn’t the only FPV sim out there, but
it’s the one the community seems to talk
about the most. You can fly a virtual Vortex
250 or 285 using a Spektrum or FRSky
Taranis controller (or a PS4 pad). Pricier
simulators like DroneSimPro or RealFlight
might make more sense if you’re looking to
master more than just FPV.
94 DRONE MAGAZINE
DJI Phantom 4 Advanced
Category: Commercial, Flying Camera
Street Price: £1,469
Camera: 4K, 20MP
Weight: 1,368g
Diagonal motor spacing: 350mm
Battery type: 5870mAh, 4S LiPo
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 4.3 miles (7km)
Best feature: Excellent camera
DJI Inspire 2
Street Price: £3,059
Camera: None (X4S and X5S compatible)
Weight: 3,920g (with batteries, without camera/
gimbal)
Diagonal motor spacing: 605mm
Battery type: 4280mAh Li-Po (dual system)
Control / Range: 2.4/5.8GHz / 4.3 miles
Best feature: Top of the line technology
DJI Matrice 600
Category: Commercial, Professional Rig
Street Price: £3,999
Camera: Not included
Weight: 9.1kg
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 1668mm
Battery Type: 4500mAh Li-Po (5700mAh
optional)
Control / Range: 2.4/5.8GHz / 3.1 miles (5km)
Best Feature: Highly versatile
PowerVision PowerEye
Category: Commercial, Flying Camera
Street Price: £3,999
Camera: 4K, 16.1MP
Weight: 3.9Kg
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 315mm
Battery Type: Dual 9000mAh LiPo
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 3.1 miles (5km)
Best Feature: Intelligent design
DJI Mavic Pro
Category: Indoor, Outdoor, Flying Camera
Street Price: £1,089
Camera: 4K/1080p, 12.7MP
Weight: 743g
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 198mm
Battery Type: 3830mAh, 3S Li- Po
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 4.3 miles (7km)
Best Feature: Great tech in a portable package
DJI Matrice 200
Category: Professional, Flying Rig
Street Price: From £5,899
Camera: None (X4S, X5S, Z30 and XT compatible)
Weight: 3.8kg
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 887mm
Battery type: 4280mAh Li-Po
Control / Range: 2.4/5.8GHz / 4.3 miles (7km)
Best feature: Brilliant with the Z30 camera
PowerVision PowerEgg
Category: Outdoor, Flying Camera
Street Price: £1,399
Camera: 4K, 13.8MP
Weight: 2.1kg
Diagonal Motor Spacing: 476mm
Battery Type: 6400mAh Li-Po
Control / Range: 2.4GHz / 3.1 miles (5km)
Best Feature: Unique stylish design
Top 5
All-Time Greats
1 DJI Mavic Air
2 Parrot AR.Drone
3 Yuneec Typhoon H
4 Walkera Rodeo 110
5 DJI Phantom Series
Accessory: Epson
Moverio BT-300
Price: £719
operating system: Android 5.1
Transmission Delay: Less than 9msec
display: Silicone (Si) OLED
Resolution: 1280 x 720
Epson has come up with a system that
allows you to see your drone’s camera
view and flight data, whilst keeping
an eye on the drone through a semi-
transparent display embedded in a pair
of glasses.
There is certainly some room for
improvement and hopefully this can
be achieved with firmware upgrades
over time. However, we should still give
Epson top marks for boldly striding into
a rapidly evolving field.
 Gear up for FPV
Even if you’re getting a pre-built
racer, make sure you’ve got (or
are getting) everything you need.
RC Controller
and Receiver
It should be obvious, but you’ll need
something to control your craft and
communicate via the transmitter (TX),
and your craft will need the means to hear
it (RX). The pair will need to work together
(so use the same manufacturer). The big
brands are Spektrum, Turnigy and FRSky,
and more expensive models offer the
ability to store settings for multiple craft
and possibly even to display telemetry
data like battery health (assuming the
aircraft can transmit it).
Goggles (or monitor)
and Camera
FPV is defined by the ability to see that
‘first person’ view. The company Fat Shark
is almost synonymous with these goggles,
although alternatives can be found (some
find the bigger Quanum screen-in-a-box
more comfortable). Some feature built-in
receivers and might be bundled with a
camera and transmitter, too. FPV racers
see a lot of static, so look out for a ‘non-
blue screen’ monitor which won’t revert
to a blank ‘no signal’ screen in tough
conditions.
Batteries
and charger
If you’re not going down
the DJI route (and few
people would purely for
FPV flying), then charging
batteries, or Lithium-ion Polymer batteries
(better known as Li-Po), while still not
exactly art, are a little further from science
than you might hope for. A good charger
and a charging/discharging regimen is
important; always make sure you look
after your batteries!
GPC Inspire 2 Backpack
Price: $299 (£228)
dimensions: 610 x 520 x 254mm
weight: 363g (544g shipping)
At $299 this isn’t cheap, but then quality cases
aren’t and this definitely offers more than just
another solid box to move your drone around
in. If you’re prepared to ‘shell’ out even more
to protect your Inspire 2, then you can add a
hard case to store the backpack in for a further
$295. Alternatively, GPC also offers a hard-shell Travel
Mode Case for $469 and the top-end Landing Mode
Case for $549.
Fossils stuff revo ImpulseRC Alien 5”
Category: Bind-n-Fly FPV
Street price: $288 (£219)
Category: FPV Frame
Street price (frame only): £110
Size (motor-to-motor): 180-240mm Size (motor-to-motor): 225mm
Weight (frame only): 115g Weight (frame only): 135g
Best feature: Super rigid design Best feature: Replaceable arms
Holybro Kopis 1
Category: Ready-to-Fly FPV
Street Price: £175
Size (motor-to-motor): 230mm
Weight (with battery!): 300g
Best feature: Beautiful carbon fibre finish
ViFly R130
Category: Bind and Fly FPV
Street Price: $189 (£143)
Size (motor-to-motor): 130mm
Armattan Rooster
Weight (frame only): 165g
Category: Bind and Fly FPV
Best feature: Good all-round FPV model
Street price: $349 (£247)
Size (motor-to-motor): 230mm
Top 5
FPV frames
Weight (frame only): 125g
Best feature: Excellent build quality
Flying Cameras
Fat Shark 101 1 DJI Inspire 2
Category: FPV Training Kit 2 DJI Phantom 4
Street Price: $249 3 Yuneec Typhoon H Plus
Size (motor-to-motor): 105mm
Weight (drone with battery): 69g
4 DJI Mavic Pro
Best feature: Perfect for new pilots 5 DJI Phantom 4 Pro
Accessory:
FrSky Taranis Q X7S
Price: £164
Channels: 16 (up to 32)
lcd screen: 128 x 64 outdoor readable LCD
model memories: 60 (extendable via
MicroSD (TF) card)
Compatibility: FrSky receivers in
D16/LR12 mode
We could still happily recommend the original Q X7
as an entry-level radio but with upgraded gimbals,
new switches and several added features (such as the
wireless trainer function), the Q X7S offers that little
bit more. Although if you don’t need the upgrades or
the extra expense, you should now be able to pick up
the older model at a knock-down price!
WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 95

RE GUL AT IONS :UK
If you’re still new to the world of drones and flying, or perhaps
looking to make the step up into a professional career, then
you should make yourself fully aware of the key rules and
regulations for doing so safely and within the law…
THE LEGAL POSITION
The operation of multirotors for sport and
recreational purposes is covered by the same
legal considerations as other model aircraft;
the law makes no specific distinction on types
of aircraft other than weight limits.
The overriding consideration is compliance
with the relevant articles of the Civil
Aviation Air Navigation Order; the primary
“endangering” provisions are addressed by
Articles 241 and 240 which are reproduced
here:
Article 241;
“A person must not recklessly or negligently
cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any
person or property.”
Article 240;
“A person must not recklessly or negligently
act in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft,
or any person in an aircraft.”
These apply to all model aircraft at all times,
whatever their weight or size.
Article 94 (set out here) covers the general
principles that again apply to all model aircraft.
However, only the provisions that specifically
apply to the activity we are discussing here are
included. Aircraft weighing in excess of 7kg
have other, additional legislation, but these are
fairly specialized pieces of equipment more
usually employed in commercial operations.
Article 94; (Small Unmanned Aircraft)
2) The person in charge of a small unmanned
aircraft may only fly the aircraft if reasonably
satisfied that the flight can safely be made.
3) The person in charge of a small unmanned
aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual
96 DRONE MAGAZINE
contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor
its flight path in relation to other aircraft,
persons, vehicles, vessels and structures for the
purpose of avoiding collisions.
5) The person in charge of a small unmanned
aircraft must not fly the aircraft for the
purposes of commercial operations except in
accordance with a permission granted by the
CAA.
Perhaps the most relevant provisions in
terms of photography / filming with model
aircraft as a sport and recreational activity are
covered within Article 95 below, which sets
out the basic conditions of operation, as well as
specifying exact distances.
Article 95; (Small unmanned surveillance
aircraft)
1) The person in charge of a small unmanned
surveillance aircraft must not fly the aircraft
in any of the circumstances described in
paragraph 2) except in accordance with a
permission issued by the CAA.
2) The circumstances referred to in paragraph
1) are:-
(a) over or within 150 metres of any congested
area;
(b) over or within 150 metres of an organised
open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons;
(c) within 50 metres of any vessel, vehicle or
structure which is not under the control of the
person in charge of the aircraft; or
(d) subject to paragraphs 3) and 4), within 50
metres of any person.
3) Subject to paragraph 4), during take-off or
landing, a small unmanned surveillance
aircraft must not be flown within 30 metres of
any person.
4) Paragraphs 2) d) and 3) do not apply to
the person in charge of the small unmanned
surveillance aircraft or a person under the
control of the person in charge of the aircraft.
5) In this article ‘a small unmanned
surveillance aircraft’ means a small
unmanned aircraft which is equipped to
undertake any form of surveillance or data
acquisition.
These regulations are only concerned
with models equipped with cameras, video
equipment etc that have the potential to be
used for surveillance purposes, either visual
or electronic. It should also be noted that the
above legislation (Articles 94 and 95) does NOT
prohibit you from flying a camera or video
equipped model for recreational purposes.
The person in charge of the model must
retain direct visual contact with the model
(Article 94) and there are some restrictions as
to where you can fly (Article 95). Probably the
most important of these restrictions are the
limits of not flying within 50 metres of any
person or 30 metres from any person during
take-off and landing, and these are exactly the
same as for any model over 7 kg.
THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION
As ever, a little common sense goes a long way
towards interpreting and complying with the
relevant legal requirements. The primary aim
of the various Air Navigation Order provisions
is to prevent members of the public being
endangered, and full-size aviation being
endangered. To a lesser degree, these
provisions also help to limit the potential
for dribe operators causing nuisance and for
invading privacy.
In terms of filming or image capturing, this
limits how close we can get to people and
structures that are nothing to do with us (i.e.
not under the control of the pilot); however,
the positive aspect is that the wording of 95(c)
permits closer operations where it is with the
consent and knowledge of all parties involved
(notwithstanding the primary endangering
considerations, of course).
commerical operations OR
SPORT AND RECREATION?
Another primary consideration is the purpose
of the flight. The flying of a model aircraft with
a camera on board is recognised as a sport and
recreational activity by the CAA, and therefore
covered under the terms of the insurance
provided as part of the BMFA membership
package (provided that the activity is legal in
respect of the Air Navigation Order).
However, where a flight is made for payment
or the purpose is in any way commercial, i.e.
not as a sport and recreational activity, then it
becomes classed as ‘commercial operations’ by
the CAA and requires an exemption to the Air
Navigation Order to be issued in order to take
place lawfully. Details of this and exemption
application information can be obtained
through the CAA website www.caa.co.uk.
 It should be noted that “commercial
operations” are an entirely separate activity
to model flying and, as such, must be
If intending to fly on private land, then the
permission of the landowner should be sought.
SUMMARY
If flying on public land such as a park or open n Be familiar with the legal requirements relating to

insured under the terms of an appropriate access site, then you must ensure that there are your chosen activity.
commercial policy. no bylaws in place specifically prohibiting or n Do not endanger person or property.

The standard policy provided to BMFA
members does not provide cover for aerial
photography on a commercial basis.
FLYING LOCATIONS
Whilst the overall considerations are the same
as for any other model aircraft, there is no
doubt that multirotors open up new areas for
flying due to their ability to operate in
restricting model flying.
The other main consideration is the overall
suitability of the location for the activity, and
that all flying can take place in compliance
with the primary “endangering” provisions
of the ANO (Articles 240 and 241) and also in
accordance with the distances set out in Article
95 above.
n Ensure that the proposed flying location is
appropriate and safe.
n Maintain line of sight for the purposes of control at
all times (see CAA Exemption for specific details of
FPV flight permissions).
n Charging for flights renders it a commercial operation.
n Do not constitute a nuisance.
n Do not invade privacy.

relatively small spaces. This does however Text provided by www.bmfa.org. Visit the site n Ensure that appropriate liability insurance cover is
mean that careful consideration is required for more information on all aspects of model in place to protect you in the event of an incident
before flying in order to remain lawful. flying, including membership and insurance. leading to a claim against you.

Drone Glossary : Learn the Lingo!

types of drones
Drone: A popularised term for all
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
Camera Drone: A drone (usually
a quadcopter) with a camera
attached
Radio Controlled / RC:
Drones and model vehicles of all
sorts that are controlled remotely
Multirotor: A drone with
several motors, or props
Tricopter: A drone with three
motors, or props
Quadcopter: A drone with four
motors, or props
Hexacopter: A drone with six
motors, or props
Octocopter: A drone with eight
motors, or props
Nanocopter: An exceptionally
small drone
Ready To Fly / RTF: A drone
supplied with all parts, ready to go
from the box
Bind ‘n’ Fly / BNF: Ready to be
bound to a transmitter and flown
Almost Ready To Fly / ARF: A
partially built drone
UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
associations and
organisations
ARPAS UK: Association of
Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems
BFPVRA: National association for
FPV racing in the UK
BMFA: British Model Flying
Association
CAA: Civil Aviation Authority
DRONE SAFE REGISTER: UK
database of trained pilots and
commercial UAV services
FAA: Federal Aviation
Administration
FPVUK: A non-profit organistion
for FPV flying in the UK
IAA: Irish Aviation Authority
jargon
Autonomous: A pre-
programmed flight mode for a
drone with no live input from pilot
Altitude Hold: Maintaining
height in flight mode
Bind: Connecting a controller to
the drone so it can pick up signals
Build: A completed, usually DIY,
drone built from parts or a kit
First person view / FPV:
Viewing the drone’s flight via
a camera mount to goggles or a
monitor, usually for racing
Line of Sight / LOS: Maintaining
visual contact with your drone at all
times: a legal requirement
Payload: The amount a drone can
lift, aside from its own weight and
batteries
PfCO: Permission for Commercial
Operations. The certification
required to fly for work in UK.
Pitch: Front/back movement or tilt
Return to home / RTH: A
failsafe GPS option
Roll: Rotation left or right without
other movement
Yaw: Rotation around a central
point
parts
Accelerometer / ACC:
Component that measures the G
force/acceleration
Battery Eliminator Circuit /
BEC: Device to allow the battery to
power multiple components
Electronic
Speed Controller /
ESC: Conveys the signal from a
controller to the motors
Flight Controller: Controls
the movement of the drone
Gimbal: Mount that steadies the
camera’s movement relative to the
ground
Gyroscope: Device to allow the
drone to maintain its level
Lithium Polymer
battery / LiPo: Powerful,
popular energy source for UAVs and
RC aircraft
Props: Short for propeller, the
rotating motor that the blades are
fitted to
Power distribution board
/ PDB: Divides electrical power to
the circuits
Receiver: Device that receives
signals from the transmitter and
sends them to the flight controller
Transmitter: The control device
that sends pilot commands to the
drone’s receiver
Useful links
www.arpas.uk
www.bfpvra.org
www.bmfa.org
www.caa.co.uk
www.dronesaferegister.org.uk
www.faa.gov
www.fpvuk.org
www.iaa.ie

WWW.DRONEMAGAZINE.UK 97
Krabi, Thailand
Photo by Damian Sadowski
www.dronestagr.am/author/falconmx
 flYBY

Your future as
a drone pilot
starts Here
With Flyby Technology’s unique training system, we will teach you to think like

neW!
professional pilots and equip you with the confidence to excel in any situation.
All Flyby Technology instructors are ex-military pilots with extensive experience of
training today’s fighter and helicopter pilots. We want to share that expertise
with you to give you the professional and practical skills you need. ONE-WEEK FAST
Whether you wish to be a professional pilot to land your dream job, are wishing to TRACK COURSES
add to or start a business, or are looking for the best training for you and your AVAILABLE NOW
organisation, the team at Flyby Technology are here to make that happen.
Visit the website and book on a course today! BooK online

www.flyby-technology.com

Flyby Technology Pilotwise International Ltd | Marlborough House | York Business Park | Nether Poppleton | York | YO26 6RW
FREEPHONE 08081 680626 | admin@flyby.technology
 The new Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera is the first
Super 16 digital film camera designed for remote use!
The Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera is a miniaturized Super 16mm digital film
camera featuring a revolutionary expansion port with PWM and S.Bus inputs.
You can operate Micro Cinema Camera remotely and capture the action
anywhere by using commonly available model airplane remote controllers and
video transmitters! Imagine adjusting focus, iris and zoom wirelessly!
Micro Cinema Camera is a true digital film quality with 13 stops of dynamic
range, an MFT lens mount and built in RAW and ProRes recording!
Remote Camera Management
Micro Cinema Camera is the world’s first action-cam style digital film camera
that can be completely controlled using radio remote airplane controls!
You even get HDMI and NTSC/PAL video out for remote monitoring using
wireless transmitters to see framing, plus overlays for adjusting settings like
start/stop, focus, iris, audio and more!
Designed for Action
Micro Cinema Camera is the only digital film camera designed specifically for
capturing impossible action shots! Unlike regular cameras, the controls are on
the front so you can start recording when the camera is mounted in tight spots
plus confirm it’s recording using the front record indicator light. Even your actors
can start the camera recording!
www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk
True Digital Film Quality
The Super 16 sensor gives you full 1080 HD up to 60fps with an incredible 13
stops of dynamic range and an ISO up to 1600 so you can shoot in both bright
and low light. Unlike other action-cams, you get a true digital film camera with
wide dynamic range for digital film quality results!
Built In RAW & ProRes Recorder
The built in SD card recorder captures the wide dynamic range from the
camera’s sensor into 12-bit RAW files or when you need longer recording times,
you can record ProRes files! Unlike regular action-cams, you get cinematic
images that are beyond broadcast quality so it’s possible to use the shots in
high end feature films!
Blackmagic
Micro Cinema Camera £789*
Includes DaVinci Resolve 14
*SRP is Exclusive of VAT. Lens and accessories shown are not included.