New Zealand Pilots?

Tim Whittaker · Mar 17, 2015

Hi there.. just a shout out to other NZ pilots. Im based in Hawkes Bay. www.photodrone.co.nz
Cheers!

Brin Hitchens · Mar 23, 2015

Hi Tim - I'm in Ngaruawahia

Tim Whittaker · Mar 23, 2015

Hey Brin Taken any nice footage or pix yet?.. Im just getting my courage up to get more adventuresome

PetePerrim · Mar 23, 2015

Tim Whittaker said:
Hi there.. just a shout out to other NZ pilots. Im based in Hawkes Bay. www.photodrone.co.nz
Cheers!

Hey Tim,
Shout-out from the shaky city of Christchurch here. Beautiful day down in Chch today, 26 degrees and not a breath of wind. Ideal day for flying but stuck to a desk!

Tim Whittaker · Mar 23, 2015

PetePerrim said:
Hey Tim,
Shout-out from the shaky city of Christchurch here. Beautiful day down in Chch today, 26 degrees and not a breath of wind. Ideal day for flying but stuck to a desk!

Hey Pete, good to hear.. great day here also.. some nice vineyard shots . Will follow yr youtube channel !.. You obviously have great faith in your Inspire!.. great distances! I guess I was a little "weirded-out" over my dodgy GPS/COMPASS issue.. seems though once its sorted itself its fine for the rest of the flight.. Im relaxing a bit more now. But love to hear how you "manage" your long flights (mentally). Cheers, Tim

Walksalot · Mar 28, 2015

Hey Guys I'm in Tairua, east coast Coromandel . Just got the Inspire yesterday, after Phantom 2 vision, and hoping that firmware upgrading won't be an issue. Just about to do it now.

aknauer · May 15, 2015

Hi Tim,

Done the latest FW Update yet???

nzcjs · May 22, 2015

Hello Tim, Brin, Pete and others. I'm a new owner based in Auckland. Just tried a few short flights ... flock of about 20 seagulls circling and squaking at the drone whilst about 40m up had me seriously worried yesterday I have to say!! Flying on the latest firmware and, apart from savage seagulls, all good so far ;-)

Tim Whittaker · May 23, 2015

nzcjs said:
Hello Tim, Brin, Pete and others. I'm a new owner based in Auckland. Just tried a few short flights ... flock of about 20 seagulls circling and squaking at the drone whilst about 40m up had me seriously worried yesterday I have to say!! Flying on the latest firmware and, apart from savage seagulls, all good so far ;-)

Good stuff, gulls, magpies and swallows all give me grief.

nzcjs · May 23, 2015

What type of grief Tim? No collisions yet I hope? Magpies can be quite aggressive though, especially at breeding times!!

BroxAg · May 23, 2015

Hi all, new to the scene, from Palmerston north but currently in Canada - returning home in August. Have had my I1 a couple of weeks now and love it! Will mainly be using it in the agricultural industry when I get home, contractor advertising, some crop surveying etc.

Tim Whittaker · May 23, 2015

nzcjs said:
What type of grief Tim? No collisions yet I hope? Magpies can be quite aggressive though, especially at breeding times!!

ah no real incidents.. just that they squawk their heads off and get REAL close..

aknauer · May 24, 2015

All with Android devices:

Updated to latest Firmware: all went well.
Test flights with all batteries without incidents.
Android devices don't seem to have the Youtube streaming - at least haven't found it.
RTH tested without issues - no reset of altitude to 0 noticed.
Inspire position on Radar seems offset by ~180°.
Camera settings seem to have changed again. Sharpness negative range appears to be softer over all with smaller increments between steps. Sharpness -1 now similar to -3 on previous Firmware.
AEB bug not bracketing when triggered from controller still not fixed.
Voice announcements have gone (good or bad???)
However, the uncertainty remains!!! What if this bird suddenly goes bad? What if I have a service situation???
These are the questions that make me feel very uneasy about this product, respectively DJI.
I will never buy another product off them, unless there was a dramatic improvement of the customers service.

Since it is certain that DJI is aware of the very negative reputation they are building, the total lack of improvement indicates that they simply don't care. As long as the money is flowing in, it's all good Feng Shui!

kiwidrone · Jun 6, 2015

Hi guys,

I'm a new Inspire 1 pilot based in Feilding (near Palmerston North). Previously had Parrot ARDrone2 and Bebop drones but the Inspire is in another class completely!

Still getting the hang of the Inspire and have taken it out to just short of 1km before started losing signal. Wouldn't have dreamed of trying this with my previous drones!!

Tim Whittaker · Jun 6, 2015

kiwidrone said:
Hi guys,

I'm a new Inspire 1 pilot based in Feilding (near Palmerston North). Previously had Parrot ARDrone2 and Bebop drones but the Inspire is in another class completely!

Still getting the hang of the Inspire and have taken it out to just short of 1km before started losing signal. Wouldn't have dreamed of trying this with my previous drones!!

Hi kiwidrone, good to hear it's all going well but before it doesn't I suggest you join and login to airshare.co.nz and check out the rules. You must stay within line off site during all of your flight in New Zealand. Stay safe

KiwiNed · Jun 10, 2015

Another Kiwi here, Remuera (Auckland) based. Bought Phantom 2 Vision + when I decided to have a go with drones, bought it, put it together, and it sat on the living room floor for about two months and then the Inspire came out so bought one of them and P2 has been gathering dust since then

So basically learnt to fly on the Inspire and its awesome. Today I went and picked up a new Phantom 3 Professional for the hell of it. Gives me two toys to play with.

I publish bunch of different magazines so will be using them just for our own little projects, not for outside work.

Ned

Steve Domigan · Jun 21, 2015

I have had an Inspire in Auckland for a couple of weeks now and so far no issues....touch wood. An absolutely amazing piece of machinery to fly.

adamb · Jul 18, 2015

Another NZ Inspire 1 pilot here. I'm in Tauranga.

I had a little speed wobble learning to fly, but have had a good run until last week end when the r/c disconnected from my iPad. Landed fine using the hardware RTH button. Might be a failed USB port??
DJI have asked me to send the R/c back to the retailer for forwarding back to base for service. Sounds like it's going to be a while before i'm flying again...

anyway, i think it's a great machine, and i've had some fun with it so far!

cheers,
Adam

Robert1973 · Aug 13, 2015

HI Guys
Tim, Just had a look at your web page. - Wow very impressive and you guys really have some beautiful scenery in NZ. In South Africa the governing bodies are starting to crack down on us drone pilots. They are proposing a Pilots license for us. (I'm really in favor of this as it promotes responsible flying) but I suspect that someone is going to try to make a quick buck out of the process. At the moment it looks as if the license is just shy of a full PPL.....
My question really is around the flying regulations in NZ, do you have to have a certification before you can fly?
Cheers
Rob

Walksalot · Aug 13, 2015

Robert1973 said:
HI Guys
Tim, Just had a look at your web page. - Wow very impressive and you guys really have some beautiful scenery in NZ. In South Africa the governing bodies are starting to crack down on us drone pilots. They are proposing a Pilots license for us. (I'm really in favor of this as it promotes responsible flying) but I suspect that someone is going to try to make a quick buck out of the process. At the moment it looks as if the license is just shy of a full PPL.....
My question really is around the flying regulations in NZ, do you have to have a certification before you can fly?
Cheers
Rob

Hi Rob
This link basically outlines where we are here with rules in NZ. http://www.caa.govt.nz/rpas/. Not too onerous so far. Ex Cape Towner here.