Is it me, or does it seem like every time you turn around that a new startup, a new concept, or a new breakthrough is making waves in the drone world? Higher resolutions, longer (okay, usually only slightly longer…) flight times, and slightly tweaked bells and whistles are appearing with a steady regularity that just goes to underscore drones are going to become an ever more present and useful part of our lives.
We’ll continue to see product application specialization and task specific design efforts as new markets are discovered and are determined financially viable. We’ll continue to see entirely elective, but completely practical advances in the level of flying ease that soon will become the benchmark for drone operation, opening the doors to more and more flyers. And I’m still hoping that this will ultimately be a good thing….
One thing that hasn’t changed is that what goes up must come down. Preferably under your expert guidance and control, but too uncomfortably often, under the control of the sometimes mysterious ways of the wind along with our sometimes tenuous grasp of this ever-changing technology. The best way to avoid punishing your pride (along with your wallet) is to get a well-grounded understanding of just what it is that you are trying to do before you lift off.
I fly a number of platforms, including DJI Phantoms (1 and 2) and their S900 hex with all the extras. I also am unfortunately familiar with the DJI approach to instruction as provided with their delivered products.
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Maybe DJI figures that a lot of their customers are gamers and love the thrill of discovering the Easter Eggs hidden away in their products and that’s why a lot of the stuff you really need to know in order to successfully fly your DJI products is so, I don’t know… completely non-obvious, and not as well presented in their material as I think it should be presented.
So to where does this bring us? Advice on how to fly our drones is everywhere, but when I want expert advice, I search out people and businesses that can really show me that they are, in fact, expert.
I went down to an advanced flight school at DSLRPros in Fort Lauderdale a few months ago (which you can read about here) and confirmed what I had experienced through years of doing business with them, these guys give you the straight story and they actually know about the things they tell you.
So, I was pretty excited to see that their Drone Academy X series of video tutorials has moved on to cover the DJI Inspire, because the Inspire can certainly use it.
Here’s what I found:
Okay, for starters, it is a little odd to see a drone tutorial that starts the first chapters in a space station setting and one that features Cory Feldman as a co-presenter. But drones are supposed to be fun and Cory, like the rest of us, thinks drones are cool.
The DAX series for DJI Phantom instruction is rock-solid and the newly released series for the Inspire follows in the same fashion. Starting with the absolute basics that include everything from unboxing, a battery tutorial, and assembling the Inspire, the video lessons are laid out in an easily digestible format that does a nice job giving you a good understanding of the essentials.
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Just as importantly, the series takes it’s time reviewing a new array of transmitter functions, locations, and descriptions, something particularly important for those of us who are used to the Phantom layout (yes, someday it would be great if controls were somewhat standardized across all platforms…).
The tutorials also do a good job of running over the important pre-flight considerations for operating quads like the Inspire, along with Inspire-specific details. As much fun as the instructions for the first flight and overview of the basics of aerial video/photography is, the bonus Special Feature that has “Pro Tips” is actually quite informative and useful, especially to people who don’t have a lot of flying experience.
Accomplished media pros like Max Seigal (NatGeo and Lindblad Expeditions), Kike Calvo (NatGeo), and Leigh Huber (CBS, CNN) give some great tips for flyers of all levels. This is a well-done series and I imagine that we can look forward to the DAX folks keeping up their tutorial efforts as new drone platforms continue to be introduced to the market.
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