flying a golf course

greytail · Sep 3, 2016

Hi:
I was asked today to fly approx 450 yards in a straight line over a golf course. I have never flown my drone this distance and found it very difficult to keep the drone in sight, keep it straight, maintain its height and keep away from trees. I also found it hard to control both direction and height while watching the my inspire from a great distance. My client wanted me to fly the 450 yards of the course, keeping close to the fairway and then land the drone on the green as if it were a ball. Then take off again and fly back. Well I tried, and tried, and eventually hit the branches of a tree. The Inspire landed upside down, two broken props, but this appears all the damage. I did have to disconnect and then reconnect the gimbal again when I fired it up and got no picture. Guess I am lucky eh! Anyway, am looking for tips on how to do a flight like this. The course is surrounded on either side by trees, so I have to fly in a corridor. My eye site must be failing because when it is at a distance I can't see exactly where I am, how close I am to the trees and how close I am to the ground.
Advise please!!!

IrishSights · Sep 3, 2016

Any of the waypoints apps will do this. The easiest to use for your purpose i think is Airnest. Just draw the path on the map. Litchi and Autopilot will also do it with more control options at each waypoint.

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greytail · Sep 3, 2016

Am new to this. Where do get the map? Can you be sure of not hitting a tree branch? what altitude do you fly at? I am thinking it would bee best if I were at 150 feet to be sure if abiding trees.
Or should I get it to simply follow golf cart?

AeroMirage · Sep 3, 2016

Take your time and set many waypoints. They only need to be 5m apart. The more, the smoother the flight will be. You can set up to 100 on a mission. Then re-fly it at whatever speed you choose. You will not hit anything as long as you did not when setting up the points. Waypoints can also be a simple change of altitude. On re-flying, you can devote all of your attention to operating the camera. I am a sole operator and get my best shots this way. Experiment, and be careful. Safety first!!

greytail · Sep 3, 2016

Could I use follow me mode? Would this be simpler? Get in the golf cart, set the inspire to 100 feet to avoid trees, and point the camera forward, so the golf cart is out of frame, but the aircraft is moving with the cart forward down the course. Just reading up on follow me. Will it stay a certain distance from the moving object and can you set that distance?

greytail · Sep 3, 2016

If i use waypoints, it is going to take at least one battery to make them all. Will the way points be available after I change batteries for the real flight?

DesertWindAero · Sep 4, 2016

greytail said:
If i use waypoints, it is going to take at least one battery to make them all. Will the way points be available after I change batteries for the real flight?

To use waypoints in the DJI GO app, you have to fly the intended path first, establishing waypoints as you go. Then, you can save the mission as a favorite, then re-fly it by telling it to fly that specific mission at whatever speed you wish...but, as one other poster said, program many waypoints will make for a smoother flight.

Jamie Japp · Sep 4, 2016

Good morning. I suspect the reason you are asked to fly the hole in such a manner is to make your flight look as though it were a golf ball being struck off the tea and transmitting to the hole in a smooth trajectory. The reversal of that would be so the club can offer it to members and more than likely embed the footage on a link within their website. This would be so the members could rewind and fast forward any part of that particular hole when reviewing the hole layout. I am doing something similar in my area but it is for the whole course. I would agree with IrishSights and AeroMirage in that setting waypoints will not only be safer (as that is the most important part) less commercially impacting (as you have already found to your cost) but also provide a more realistic shot simulation from the tee! Check out some Golf Open footage on you tube of tee off aerial shots. Bound to be some so you know what the expectation is. I have test flown my club and club house so know the pit falls. It's a links course by the coast so not many issues with trees for me but for realism then flying waypoints will allow for a better shot otherwise you will need an observer / camera op to take the shots whilst you stay away from obstacles. Hope this helps and best of luck. Jamie

IrishSights · Sep 4, 2016

greytail said:
Am new to this. Where do get the map? Can you be sure of not hitting a tree branch? what altitude do you fly at? I am thinking it would bee best if I were at 150 feet to be sure if abiding trees.
Or should I get it to simply follow golf cart?

Just search the app store for them. The built into GOs waypoint function is not the best. For this sort of work you will definitely need more than one battery. The other apps you do not have to fly the mission first but what the others have said is very true...careful planning.

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Jamie Japp · Sep 4, 2016

IrishSights said:
Any of the waypoints apps will do this. The easiest to use for your purpose i think is Airnest. Just draw the path on the map. Litchi and Autopilot will also do it with more control options at each waypoint.

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Good morning IrishSights. Quick question as I see you are online. Hope that's ok. Are you using AirNest. I am undecided between AirNest or Autopilot. Done some research on both this morning and viewed a lot of tutorials and You Tube footage but still can't decide. Are you in a position to recommend at all? Thanks. Jamie - HELIUS UAV

IrishSights · Sep 4, 2016

I recommended in this case Airnest for its simplicity as you basically draw the flight path. Personally I do not use Airnest, but have done, I use Autopilot mainly in Focus and Orbit modes. In my line of work I don't have much use for waypoints (mainly mapping and 3D models). Autopilot is not really for beginners, it has a lot of features and can take a while to get comfortable with. It also has different ability levels depending on how much control you want over each function.

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Jamie Japp · Sep 4, 2016

IrishSights said:
I recommended in this case Airnest for its simplicity as you basically draw the flight path. Personally I do not use Airnest, but have done, I use Autopilot mainly in Focus and Orbit modes. In my line of work I don't have much use for waypoints (mainly mapping and 3D models). Autopilot is not really for beginners, it has a lot of features and can take a while to get comfortable with. It also has different ability levels depending on how much control you want over each function.

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Thank you very much for your quick response. Really appreciated and makes a lot of sense. On that basis, I will be trial long the AirNest app and go from there. Best regards for now. Jamie

greytail · Sep 4, 2016

okay, thanks for the advise...So if i use waypoints, would be okay to fly the course, slowly wth the cart very close driving along with the aircraft. Occasionally would stop the drone to reposition, make a point then go on again. When finished, save all the points, go back tot he start, change batteries and fly the waypoints. Since I haven't done this before, I want to know if when you save the way points, they are still available after a battery change and you just load them from a file.

greytail · Sep 4, 2016

When you say many waypoints...how many waypoints would I need for 450 yards.....20?

greytail · Sep 4, 2016

I assume I could program the drone to land at the end on the last hole?

Hugh4G · Sep 4, 2016

Autopilot is the one for this.... I'm learning it at the moment...hate the learning, but essential. Auto Pilot is an extensive and comprehensive piece of software..... Its a question of experiment and experiment... and gradually increasing your knowledge depth....

Good luck

AeroMirage · Sep 4, 2016

Once you set the waypoints, you save the mission and give it a name. It can be flied as often as you want. I am setting up such a mission for a construction project and will fly the mission weekly to show the progress of the building in time lapse fashion.
Again, I would set as many as you can along the route. If you set one every 10 yards, that would be 45 points.
I have never used the follow me mode so I can't speak on that. But, yes, progressing along the course in golf cart to set your waypoints makes good sense so you can see every angle and not hit any trees. Nick one tiny branch and you could crash.
I don't think you can program in a landing to the end of the mission. But that may be possible. Again, experiment with it.
Again, take your time. Even if it takes an entire battery to map out the course, it will be worth it in the end. If you have only one battery, I strongly suggest you get some more. I have 5 and typically go through 4 on my average shoot.
Hope this helps..... Be safe!!!