Drones

I've been interested in RC airplanes (and real, or rather, 1:1 scale airplanes) since I was a kid. When I was young a neighbor buddy of mine (I think it was Scott Burnside) got a cheap RC that we immediately crashed in a field, utterly destroying it - it was hard to fly and underpowered. Anyway, as quads got cheaper and more advanced, a good friend of mine (Kent Forsythe) was big into RC and kind of encouragedme to take the leap. So, I think it was for my birthday in 2014 I got the Blade 350 QX below and I've been flying some off-and-on ever since.

Here are the RC models/drones I've bought (and some even flown) since... in reverse chronological order...

DJI Mavic Pro 2

A badass new quad, with a gyro-stabilized 1" Hasselblad-sensored 4k, 10 bit color high-dynamic-range, 20MP camera! It weights 907g at take-off and has a 76kph top speed with 30 minute flight times. It's controlled by smartphone with an HD downlink connected to the basic flight controller, with a bunch of smart modes including hyperlapse and active tracking.

Still Image Resolution: 5472×3648

Video Modes

• 4K: 3840×2160 24/25/30p
• 2.7K: 2688x1512 24/25/30/48/50/60p
• FHD: 1920×1080 24/25/30/48/50/60/120p

Blade 350 QX

My first quad copter.

80" Predator Drone

I've always liked these, so I picked up a kit but I haven't assembled it yet. Purchased somewhere in the mid-2000's probably.

EAM Velocity XL/FG

We got this one really just because we had the full-scale kit airplane N44VF. I wanted to get one for static display and one to fly (which I bought), but they were too expensive. By the time I could afford a second one, EAM (the Experimental Aircraft Model Company) was out of business. Fortunately, my friends Jerry and Linda Brainard had also bought a kit, and by mid 2020 had decided that they were not going to complete it and let me have it!