EyeStation
Well-Known Member
Agreed Stambo.
And in the past couple days at work I got a chance to get in 2 full batteries of complete FPV flights in that factory area.
There were two other batteries that had broken flights. Not the kind of broken that ends your flight. These were broken by two different people coming into the area to see what the "Buzz" was about. Both the guys heard the quad and stood quietly behind me when I was manning the gogles. I landed, and after answering a few questions , passed the goggles on over and let them see what I was. The first guy said "Cool Drone" to which I quickly corrected him and said, "no, it's a quadcopter", and then stressed the negative reaction the word "Drone" in public. The second guy is a seasoned RC pilot who got his start flying with his dad in the mid '70's.
He did speak as he walked up behind me, but in a way not to startle me. "Flying POV, Huh?" was his querry. I flew back around towards me, pointed the camera at us, and then said, "Oh, it's you George." And he chuckled.
I let him don the goggles and he responded, "I gotta get back into this!" That's how addictive this stuff can be.
Back to the two batteries of full flights. Day one was in a different area of the vacant factory. There were still Power drops hanging from the ceiling, some safety guards that used to be around the grinding machines, two desks, and two metal structures that reached from floor to ceiling that used to support welding gas tanks. The room had windows on two walls, an opening to a garage/dock area, and then the walkway where I pulled up a chair was the fourth corner.
The floor had walkways painted on it which made for a nice "track" to follow throughout the room. So I am sitting in let's say the lower right side corner of the room. I would take off forward following the Right side wall. In front of me, a window with a 5 foot tall machine guard panel just before it to the left. This is my first corner, turning left.
At that point I am following the far wall going left with the painted walkway making a left turn at the midway point of the room. It is before, through, and after this left turn that I have at least 6 different power cords hanging from the ceiling dropping to about 7 ft above the floor. And there is a solid Fire Exit sign at the inside corner of that left. That's turn 2.
I continue heading back opposite the way I started and now have two options ahead of me. Another left would put me between the welding tank structure to my left and a desk on the floor to my right. Plenty of room up and down, minimal forgiveness to the left and 3/4 of my airspace to the right. That's turn 3A.
If I would continue forward choosing turn 3b, that would lead me to the 2nd welding tank fixture on the inside of the turn and the opening to the dock on my right. Here again, no clearance to the left, comfortable room on the right. Up and down limited by floor and a few network cables and power drops, but mostly close to the fixture on the left or higher to the ceiling than I plan to go. A swift left in this turn 3b will put me on a diagonal path in front of my flying seat.
From the exit of either 3a of 3b is a clear opening in front of my chair and a a a touch left points me towards the window and Machine Guard of turn 1.
First two laps were 1, 2, 3a, diagonal, 1..... The next lap I took the 3b turn and had a quick little run to turn 1. Was cool to hear the quad from across the room approach me on the left and go zipping by in my stereo headset, i.e. my natural hearing. Exciting parts were the power cords and sign of turn 2, and the zipping by after t-3b. Evasive actions were needed a few times. making me chuckle inside and changing my posture in the chair more than once.
I did find a short video "Tour", seems my inside view did not match up with my description, too much info coming at you at once I guess.
[video=youtube_share;JFkKBAT68QA]http://youtu.be/JFkKBAT68QA[/video]
The next day was in the area of the first factory floor video I shot. A bit more confident and a clearer space made for a bit quicker forward flight. No floor markers to go by on this one. Flying out forward I would mentally follow the same ccw path as I did in the other room. Turn 1 was the area of 5 power cord drops. diagonal across the room over scrap and debris to the center Post in the room. Here I keep the post as my inside and have to navigate through about 25 ft of power cord and network cable drops. Making it through those, I can make that turrn 2 left and diagonally pass myself and head back to Turn 1 again.
This room is more fun than I thought, The maze of drops around that turn 2 made for some surprising "non-crashes". I did hear a network cable get hit a couple of times. Did not take me out, but I could see and feel the twitch it produced.
After each battery I took off the goggles, unarmed the quad through the tx and said " Holy Crap! This is a blast! "
I really should have been wearing the FPV when trying to get those snow shots. But I fear if I did and still put it into the snow, it would still be buried today.
It happened, though there is no video to show for it.
And in the past couple days at work I got a chance to get in 2 full batteries of complete FPV flights in that factory area.
There were two other batteries that had broken flights. Not the kind of broken that ends your flight. These were broken by two different people coming into the area to see what the "Buzz" was about. Both the guys heard the quad and stood quietly behind me when I was manning the gogles. I landed, and after answering a few questions , passed the goggles on over and let them see what I was. The first guy said "Cool Drone" to which I quickly corrected him and said, "no, it's a quadcopter", and then stressed the negative reaction the word "Drone" in public. The second guy is a seasoned RC pilot who got his start flying with his dad in the mid '70's.
He did speak as he walked up behind me, but in a way not to startle me. "Flying POV, Huh?" was his querry. I flew back around towards me, pointed the camera at us, and then said, "Oh, it's you George." And he chuckled.
I let him don the goggles and he responded, "I gotta get back into this!" That's how addictive this stuff can be.
Back to the two batteries of full flights. Day one was in a different area of the vacant factory. There were still Power drops hanging from the ceiling, some safety guards that used to be around the grinding machines, two desks, and two metal structures that reached from floor to ceiling that used to support welding gas tanks. The room had windows on two walls, an opening to a garage/dock area, and then the walkway where I pulled up a chair was the fourth corner.
The floor had walkways painted on it which made for a nice "track" to follow throughout the room. So I am sitting in let's say the lower right side corner of the room. I would take off forward following the Right side wall. In front of me, a window with a 5 foot tall machine guard panel just before it to the left. This is my first corner, turning left.
At that point I am following the far wall going left with the painted walkway making a left turn at the midway point of the room. It is before, through, and after this left turn that I have at least 6 different power cords hanging from the ceiling dropping to about 7 ft above the floor. And there is a solid Fire Exit sign at the inside corner of that left. That's turn 2.
I continue heading back opposite the way I started and now have two options ahead of me. Another left would put me between the welding tank structure to my left and a desk on the floor to my right. Plenty of room up and down, minimal forgiveness to the left and 3/4 of my airspace to the right. That's turn 3A.
If I would continue forward choosing turn 3b, that would lead me to the 2nd welding tank fixture on the inside of the turn and the opening to the dock on my right. Here again, no clearance to the left, comfortable room on the right. Up and down limited by floor and a few network cables and power drops, but mostly close to the fixture on the left or higher to the ceiling than I plan to go. A swift left in this turn 3b will put me on a diagonal path in front of my flying seat.
From the exit of either 3a of 3b is a clear opening in front of my chair and a a a touch left points me towards the window and Machine Guard of turn 1.
First two laps were 1, 2, 3a, diagonal, 1..... The next lap I took the 3b turn and had a quick little run to turn 1. Was cool to hear the quad from across the room approach me on the left and go zipping by in my stereo headset, i.e. my natural hearing. Exciting parts were the power cords and sign of turn 2, and the zipping by after t-3b. Evasive actions were needed a few times. making me chuckle inside and changing my posture in the chair more than once.
I did find a short video "Tour", seems my inside view did not match up with my description, too much info coming at you at once I guess.
[video=youtube_share;JFkKBAT68QA]http://youtu.be/JFkKBAT68QA[/video]
The next day was in the area of the first factory floor video I shot. A bit more confident and a clearer space made for a bit quicker forward flight. No floor markers to go by on this one. Flying out forward I would mentally follow the same ccw path as I did in the other room. Turn 1 was the area of 5 power cord drops. diagonal across the room over scrap and debris to the center Post in the room. Here I keep the post as my inside and have to navigate through about 25 ft of power cord and network cable drops. Making it through those, I can make that turrn 2 left and diagonally pass myself and head back to Turn 1 again.
This room is more fun than I thought, The maze of drops around that turn 2 made for some surprising "non-crashes". I did hear a network cable get hit a couple of times. Did not take me out, but I could see and feel the twitch it produced.
After each battery I took off the goggles, unarmed the quad through the tx and said " Holy Crap! This is a blast! "
I really should have been wearing the FPV when trying to get those snow shots. But I fear if I did and still put it into the snow, it would still be buried today.
It happened, though there is no video to show for it.
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