This blog will chart my adventures learning to fly and finally, share video's from the air...of various Maui, Hawaii and other locations. I hope you enjoy this blog and find it educational and entertaining. Thanks for being here! And for being responsive. On these pages will be featuring links to galleries of videos and photos taken with a RunCam2 attached to a Syma 8C drone. A companion blog that is mostly about learning to fly is at http://syma8c.blogspot.com
I made a valiant effort to repair my second Sima 8C Quadra copter. I took all of the legs off I disassembled the body parts and separated to have us replace the motors although I put them in backwards so all I did was replace the props template the props on their respective motors even though they were in the wrong position it might've confused the brains of the operation but the brains weren't functioning right anyhow.
What would happen is I'd be in control all of a sudden I would lose control in the chopper would fly down on able to recover in the last case it flew backwards dropping out of the sky with the force onto a concrete parking lot it was the end
Yup, my Syma 8C Quadracopter got away from me again. The wind picked up suddenly and big trees in Kilohana Park blocked my view as it sailed out of sight.
That taught me a lesson about sight lines. I usually walk to the middle of the field to fly and keep my sight lines open. This time the gate that is usually closed and locked was open - so I walked in.
For whatever reason, I did not walk to the center of the field where I would have had clear sightlines no matter which direction the drone flew in. I was too anxious and didn't exercise proper caution given the wind direction and speed and making sure radio contact was solid by flying low and hovering before increasing throttle. I launched the Quadracopter and immediately had a problem kicking it into high power mode. When I did manage to get a response, it suddenly sailed higher than I would've liked... I was unable to bring it down in time before a gust of wind quickly took it up over the trees behind my head, blocking my view, and causing me to lose sight of it!
Last seen it was confirmed to have passed over the Fire station. A fireman was unable to see it from the tower at the station. I hiked in the underbrush behind there, for an hour, looking for the tell tale glow of its red and green LEDs; THAT WOULD HAVE FLASHED for at least an hour...no luck.
It was now getting very dark. I had trouble staying on the trail, the footpath in the thick underbrush that led to several haeou's (Hawaiian ceremonial & burial sites) meandered back to the Highway.
I crossed the HWY and checked up on the fire road adjacent to Maui Meadows...nope not there...not that I could see at any rate? Maybe It crossed the highway and into Maui Meadows?
Its black with a spray painted fluorescent orange underbelly. It has an orange RUNCAM camera attached. My name & number are clearly printed on the body. A Cash Reward is offered for its return. Mahalo for any information. Pictured is a SIMILAR DRONE with a different camera (the RUNCAM is rectangular)
I was lucky because I was at the right time in the right place to see a white truck pull up with a pod on the top that look like it might contain windsurfers poles. As the gentleman got out of his van, I went from the lifeguard station who offered no assistance, to speak with the van owner about what was in the pod and if I might borrow two poles.
He open the pod and took out too longplastic pipes which were better! In the maui fashion he said feel free to use them just put them under the truck when you're done and went on his way.
I had some nylon rope that I used to lash the two poles together making about 16 we're actually 14 feet of pole just long enough I was hoping to reach the Quadra copter which I gotten trapped in a nearby tree, Thanks to both my inexperience and the strong winds I was flying in. Even with this rig I was unable to reach the Quadra copter and Justin as luck would have it, a very tall gentleman with his child came out of the path.
I asked if you might assist and it was successful! In short order he was able to knock the bird out of the drain for the tree branch were trapped and I was able to recover all of the course of 20 minutes.
I'm Getting the Hang of flying the drone manually. It really helps to have painted half the underside bright fluorescent orange, in determining which way the drone is facing - especially in daylight. My favorite time to fly is just at sunset and immediately thereafter. Mostly because the lights and therefore direction is more easily seen.
I have just started to try my hand at loops and figure eights. My favorite thing to do is maintain position in strong winds and gusts that come and go here on Maui. There aren't that many "still" days. When there are, that's when I head to the expansive fields of the nearby golf course to take her higher and higher, again, using the wind as a measure of control so I don't lose her again. I think those days of learning what to NOT DO are done.
I have posted a bunch of my early video's some made with the stock video camera, but most with the Runcam 2. Have a look. If any are locked out, that's because they were uploaded by mistake and will soon be removed. What you will see are many crashes and experiments. The latest being hanging an RGB LED light strip from the drone and flying over my Canon Camera laying on the grass nearby. Here's the result of the first ever LIGHT PAINTING WITH A DRONE:
15 second exposure with the shutter locked open - over which the Syma8C
with Runcam2 was flown. That's the moon in the center of the image.
As if learning the fly and maneuver a quadracopter without GPS is challenging enough, I tied a smoke bomb to a rubber band and affixed that to the quad landing gear. I lit the fuse, launched the quad and much to my surprise, the prop wind blew the fuse out!
Second attempt! I put a length of string, about 8 inches, between the smoke bomb and the rubber band. I rigged that onto back two legs of the drone. I put Dronie on a picnic table near my Canon Video camera set to record video. I lit the fuse, rolled the video and when the first sign of smoke appeared, I hit the throttle and off she went....
It looked great, even though the video is out of focus, you still can get the idea that at the right time of day, it would make for quite a show...especially if several different colors of smoking balls were dangling behind this super sailing ship!
I wrecked my first Syma8C after too many "Learning Curves" not well navigated - until finally a motor gave way. We won't mention the irate homeowner who's house it came down on, after its third major escape! let's just say I really abused the bird but the plastic never cracked. This time I got a call from a cop who returned it; sharing the temper of the "abused" homeowner. It obviously was put thru a thrashing in order for the plastic on two motor pods to be cracked and broken beyond repair. But at $80 for "quadracopter flying lessons" and the fun of seeing one's very first aerial videos.... just can't be beat at any price!
I hope you enjoy some of these posted videos; the high flying escapes
and other early flights from Dec 2015 thru March 2016
I'm getting pretty good at flying now - three months in. I still get confused as to which is the front and which is the back? This even after I sprayed half the underside of my black Syma 8, bright fluorescent orange -- to be able to better tell which way the drone is facing? Trying to see the lights in the arms, especially in daylight at a distance is not possible. The bright orange really helps.
From a distance this fantastic bargain of a bird, can get so high and so far away, so fast, that you really can't see which direction the drone is facing. So you have two choices, maybe three. Fly local, in other words, if you begin to find it challenging to see, bring it in. You could also try to determine how your stick movements are affecting the flight, to try and figure out which way its going and or facing. At the distance the Syma 8C can be flown and controlled, its easy to have problems determining if its flying toward you or away from you. The saving grace is using HEADLESS MODE. If you have the presence of mind to hold the left hand switch at top of transmitter for three seconds, you will be able to steer the bird back, no matter what direction its facing. There are some great tutorial videos on Youtube.
I'm finding that this "deal-of-a-drone" likes being in the air so much, it's difficult to get it down! Often I would have to cut the throttle completely...and let it drop say 10 feet, before punching the throttle back up to recover flight, in order to quickly bring down the quad if it seems like its getting too far away. I repeat these maneuvers until the drone is close enough to better see and therefore better control.
The other options to quickly bring the drone down, is to put it into an extreme backward dive (toward you) and then reversing direction to stop decent and "flatten out." Its a real trip learning and trying these maneuvers. The other thing you need to be aware of is INERTIA. This is no lightweight. You MUST take into consideration, velocity verses height with all these "diving" kind of moves.
I've had many a bounce on the pavement or grass - the latter of which I highly recommend for your learning curves. i.e. fly on a grassy park, golf course, or field where a crash landing won't do much damage.
I went over to Lipoa Street to film the crew making a new Kihei bike path. Here are some of the images. There's a video too. If you click the link below, it will take you to more aerial shots, including the video these images were lifted from.
I was flying twice today and both sessions lost control because of the wind taking the drone out of sight, totally hampering my ability to direct it back to where I launched from. In the first case I raced to where I thought it was in a neighborhood behind the Kihei, HI Safeway. While searching I got a phone call. Somebody said they found my drone - on which i had printed my number! Good move that! Make sure you do it too if you fly. They asked if I would like them to bring it to me. YES! They did - three young kids --- the lights were still blinking. I tested, since they said it landed in a tree and then fell to the ground. It still works!
Later in the day I was flying over Kilohana Park in Wailea. The plane got too high as the wind took it. I tried to control but it was too far and I couldn't make out how the drone was responding to my command transmissions. I was unable to see which direction it was face, i.e. orientation front to back... to control it responsibly. It just flew and flew and flew. Tree's blocked my view, I ran to the end of the flying field trying to track it visually until I lost sight of it.
The sun was an hour from setting. I went hiking in the bushes for about an hour and a half trying to find my missing "baby" drone. It was nowhere to be found. Even if had landed in the field of underbrush and dried tall grass, it would've dropped out of sight. I got home figuring I now had encountered an expensive lesson, $180 to be exact - including the RunCam2 that is SO MUCH BETTER than the crappy camera that ships with the Syma 8C.
I said to myself, I will take Michael C's advice and PAINT THE UNDERSIDE of the white quadracopter to be better able to see which way its facing against the blue-white sky. Just then my phone rang. T'was the police! The drone had dropped onto someones home and fell to the ground by their front door... a quarter of a mile away! No wonder I couldn't find it in the underbrush. I even waited until dusk to try and see the flashing green and red running lights.
The cops said they have my drone. It had landed in a neighborhood and slid down the roof of a house. "The homeowner was irate," really angry that the drone had crashed into his house, said the cop who called, suggesting I meet him at the police station to recover it in about an hour. I got there and was asked for ID and told there might be harassment charges?! WTF!
The plastic is broken on two of the motor mounting pods, in such a way that somebody had to intentionally smash it! Nobody was seen approaching the drone in the ten minutes of recording AFTER it "landed." The camera continued rolling and caught the errant flight. It was still attached to the quad after the crash, so I have a recording and could even determine what house it "landed" on.
I've crashed this drone plenty! It never met with the kind of harm that cracked the very strong plastic where two of the four motors mount. Seems like someone's anger was vented on the machine. I'm about to view, perhaps it captured more than the quads escape and shows somebody manhandling the drone? Stay tuned I can't wait for see it myself!
In fact, here's the link:
(PS: since this episode, I have painted the underside black and fluorescent orange.)
It was too late to strap the new Runcam2 Camera on my Syma 8C. In fact, the first thing after learning how to operate the camera, will be to fashion some kind of vibration proof mount, to attach it to the quadracopter. I bought the orange version to aid in keeping an eye on the drone when flying high against a blue sky. My intent is to capture amazing Maui sunsets from the air.
---- A Stereo Pair: Two Of My First Syma Camera Images From Video ---
Seeing this virtual 3D, REQUIRES A CROSS EYED VIEWING TECHNIQUE
Two relatively clear video frames from slightly different vantage points enable the Stereo Pair to be "seen" as virtual 3D - if you know how to look for it!?
Another NEW BEGINNING - ACTUALLY, back in 2012 is when my flying fun began. I purchased the Syma X1 (and gave a few as gifts) and learned to fly with many, many crashes before gaining pretty good control. With the Syma 8C's arrival, it became a whole new ball game. This is truly a CAMERA PLATFORM, with really good lifting power, range and handling once you learn a few things.
I hope this blog will be informative and entertaining. If something is helpful, let me know? If I make an erroneous statement, let me know? If you'd like more details, let me know? If you think its boring... well after all, IT IS a personal journal; a saga of my experiences.
Its always more fun to have the experience yourself, rather than read about the life of someone else...unless it stimulates you in some way? I hope this blog will do exactly that. If you're interested at all, I urge you to get your own quadracopter (Syma's are notoriously inexpensive and deliver lots of bang for the buck), a great investment in your own fun future. The Syma 8C Venture in white I purchased for under $90 on Amazon.It was delivered the day before Christmas.
I got in about twenty flights before a rather damaging crash (video above) made the first significant dent's. I lost control when a gust of wind carried the bird up, up and away, over the Kihei Public Pool complex and toward Pi'ilani Hwy. I feared I would lose the Quad to a soaking - if it dropped into the pool, or worse, crashed on the highway; possibly causing serious interference with traffic -if not causing an accident or damage to someone's vehicle.
Lucky Me! None of that came to pass. I put the bird into a spin to keep it hovering above the pool parking lot and cut the throttle, causing the drone to drop. I've not seen anyone mentioning this technique. Granted it was a desperate move to try and regain control and prevent harm.
I let it drop only 10 feet or so, before I gave it gas again - to recover from its "forced decent" so it wouldn't keep drifting toward danger. I kept it dropping straight down, repeating the throttle killing tactic and recovering flight, until I could see which way the quad was facing and land it. A building blocked my view so I had to time a fall and give it throttle to hopefully make for a softer landing. I had yet to learn how to control in Headless Mode. In fact I still have to practice that part of the learning curves.
My first Flight in Syma 8C
Unfortunately, you can't view this in iOS and you may not want to. Lots of false takeoff's and landing tests. Finally I get it up for a bit.
Flash must be used when inserting video via Blogger, preventing iOS rendering.
I got lucky alright with the roughest landing on Jan 5, 2015 - only 9 flights into my new hobby. I found the quad, safely doing a "handstand" with two feet up in the air, in the middle of the parking lot. There were solar panels that it might have landed on, but lucky me, the Quad missed them and landed in between.
The bird suffered a cracked landing gear, another was bent; but neither was put out of commission (video above). However the pod case protecting the cheap camera took a major beating. It was bent and broken so only one little "nipple" would fit in the "locking" mechanism on the bottom of the bird. the cracked case caused a camera tilt. I tried to fix with GOOP. Then later after another hard crash, the camera became inoperable, or rather, the remote would not keep it recording. Not sure why?
I've been trying to find out if there's a fix for the camera, which still worked well (I had mastered the "jello" wavering video effect with masking tape between the camera and its protecting pod). But now, the remote now only "pulses" the green light to red recording which should stay lit, but doesn't. The camera light snaps back to green and does not go into record mode.
I had to abandon the camera that came with this Quad, a great flyer at a fantastic price for those wanting to learn to fly. FYI, my ultimate intention: I plan to use this drone for skywriting with on-board Arduino and RGB LEDS (I plan to install).
To replace the camera, I had the 808 spycam left over from my Syma X-1 days. I used that to capture yesterday's last flight, almost out of control. I was nervous as can be! I began shaking uncontrollably as I tried to maneuver and remember which way to work the controls. I could hardly track which way the 8C was facing, taunted by the sunset winds up that high.
It was a trial by fire all right. My first flight was great. But when I got the drone back to the ground, walked back to my car, put my Mac on the roof to look at the recording on the Micro SD card, much to my disappointment, it didn't have the chip in the camera! I rushed home, just up the hill, fetched my rechargeable battery and charging cord for the 808, and rushed to get back to the park before the sunset. Then magic happened... everything for a reason.
I stopped at the end of the driveway to check the mail AND THERE WAS MY RUNCAM2 IN THE MAILBOX! I headed back down to the flying field and flew the almost fatal flight THIS TIME, WITH THE CHIP IN THE 808 Spycam. It had revived on the way down to my fly spot enough to make a recording. Here's that last video that the 808 captured, very poorly, during my highest and longest flight to date: 01/19/2016. Enter new camera and another NEW BEGINNING.
I was flying in my usual spot at the Wailea Kilohana Park Sunset spot! The quad kept getting higher and higher, up into the winds which I am becoming good at sensing. This is a very important consideration and part of keeping your bird safe and sound. The quad gets so high that it becomes hard to see which way its heading and subject to the unseen elements.
Should you rotate at all from the front and back alignment, you will have to really know your controls. I found this practice routine in this video (video) to be very good advice before you strap a $100 camera onto your drone.
I think I'm ready after a month of flying. I got the bird down safely banking left, right, spinning it until I had the lights lined up so the GREEN LIGHTS WERE FACING ***TOWARD*** ME and the RED LIGHTS ON FRONT, WERE FACING ***AWAY*** FROM ME. That "HOME POSITION" gave me a frame of reference for how to WORK THE CONTROLS to take into consideration the wind direction, to let the wind drift the quad back in the right direction; towards me where I finally got it to land.
But I was a nervous wreck. When it was way, way up there, I began shaking uncontrollably; trying to keep control and direct it safely back. I was under so much stress from arching my back and looking up, that the last mile - with my back hurting so much it was blocking my ability to think and concentrate, I fell to the ground to bring a bit of peace to my aching body and regain my concentration enough to fly the bird toward me and safely land. I had to lay flat out on the grass, rather than continue bending backwards trying to track the bird.
It came down to a perfect landing! It was the highest and longest flight yet! All captured in this crappy video (video). Now the next flight with a camera, will be with the Runcam2 I purchased for $94 APPROX. making my total investment around $180. I must say, I am having a whole lot of fun learning to fly and film. Flying my month old quadracopter is not yet second nature. But I can see how it soon will be. Until then, I will be very conservative in my flying with the high definition RUNCAM on board.
Have a fun and friendly day. Have any questions? Ask away!
Peter
PS: Here's my Runcam2 Photo Blog http://syma8c-maui.blogspot.com/ that will be more pictorial! However here is the actual beginning and where I'll often post my song and dance, telling it like it is: http://syma8c.blogspot.com
