New Wirrabara Silo Art

Hi DickyBeach

You are not wrong there, it is just unreal and so life like.


Cheers


Stephen

Hi Les

It sure is and one day we hope to visit them all.


Cheers


Stephen

A nice 3 state tour.

In about 7 days time I will be doing a silo trail trip here in W.A.
It will encompass 7 towns including Northam (start), Meredin, Katanning, Pingrup, Newdegate, Ravensthorpe and Albany.
I've created a trek file which currently is marked "private" but my plan is once I've done it, and shaken out any blips, I will change its status to 'public'
Really looking forward to it and doing some geocaching and detecting along the way - can't be getting bored ??
https://www.publicsilotrail.com/

Hi KiwiAngler

You will have a very enjoyable time and I hope you can share those sites here on EO.

I hope you do what I do, take a GPS waypoint of those special places.

Enjoy your trip.


Cheers


Stephen

Hi OBJ

Yes it is a good way of seeing many great parts of Australia that you would not usually visit.

When we were ip in Queensland in August, I had to make a detour to the small town of Thallon, yes just to see their new Silo Art.





Cheers


Stephen

Hi Ron

The more the word gets out there, let’s hope they will all improve.

They guy that did the silo in Wirrabara was a graffiti artist and this was his greatest challenge.

All the tones on the painted face, the axe over his shoulder and the bird on this shoulder are all so life life, they are such gifted people to be able to do that from a bucket of a cherry picker perched many metres from the ground.

South Australia still has a long way to get to catch up to the other states, but we will get there.


Cheers


Stephen

.
Stephen, It is one art-form that is unwise to step back to appraise your work, isn't it?

Hi Allan


You know us boys with our toys.....lol

Yes have been wanting one for a long time and went for the DJI Mavic Air.

Dead easy to use, ultra stable in strong winds and packs down to almost nothing.

I can not wait to get some desert shots from the air.


Cheers and Thanks



Stephen

.
I look forward to your "desert shots" Stephen.

I once produced good photos in B&W and in my own darkroom, but I seem to have lost my 'mojo' in later years.

I am certainly not going down (or up) the drone path to underline my ineptitude!

The Mavic Air has better in machine photo and video processing than other DJI drones like my Mavic Pro.
Less mucking about later if you want to tidy them up, but good filters make a big difference with video too.

Learn to fly it well first and foremost, also, some of the mavic forums will quickly show how MANY people lose their drones, often on maiden flights which would break your spirit a little.
Return to home (settings, affect of moderate to strong wind), bird strikes, thin foliage / branches, loss of wireless,

They are a lot of fun, as well as capturing some very unique views for pics and video, plus you can scout out desert tracks pretty easy from above, looking over dunes for passages through muddy corridors etc would be handy too !

Hi Les

With the sensors on the Mavic Air, I find I hard to see how people crash them.

I have tried many times to see if I can hit myself, or straight into a large gum treee, but the sensors kick in well before come close to hitting an object, it just makes a beep, and stops dead.

When in the RTH, it is just unreal and in almost every landing, will land within 20cm of its takeoff point.

I am well careful of bird strikes, and one time when I was flying it, it was dive bombed by a small bird. I hit down at full speed and it did not let up until about 30m above the ground. When I got home and looked at the data on the computer....it was a small swallow that did not like this intruder in his territory.

I am now very cautious when I see birds coming close and if larger ones like Kites, hawks or eagles are around, I do not launch it.


Cheers



Stephen

Have a read of some Mavic forums (Mavic Pilots is probably the best of them), there are many ways to lose even the stable DJI drones.
Fine leaves / branches, electric overhead cables, etc often aren't seen by the sensors.
Pretty sure Air has just the forward sensors, some DJI (new Mavics) have side and rear sensors too, as the creative circling / rearward shots have been a danger time to watch also.

RTH is great yes.
Once home is logged and you elevate up to record TOP (take off point), it is amazing how they can land within inches :)
RTH is fraught with wind direction / speed (which varies greatly at height !), I try and take off into the wind, so manually flying back (most often) or RTH doesn't see a drain on battery, and very common auto landing . . . many times this happens with ocean flights, and that is not a happy ending.

Pre flight checks and good individual flight management = generally getting it back, but there are always things to monitor.

Youtube has some awesome training vids / reviews for pretty much anything on the market . . . also loads of 'what happened to my drone' videos to learn from.

Happy flying.

Hi Les

The Mavic Air has front, real and side sensors.

The GPS system works well, as when you go to an area from where you last took off, you have to calibrate the drone, which is a simple process.

As for power lines, yes you must be very carefull, but I like to fly way out in the open or over water.


Cheers



Stephen

Cool, didn't know the Air had those extra sensors, very handy when you start flying directions others than forwards, ha ha.

A good area recce to spot possible probs is prudent, height of trees etc for RTH settings, all part of pre flight checks.

Test some light foliage Stephen, fine leaves, twigs etc, they probably won't be visible to the Air sensors when 'thin' in body.

Oh yeah, Golden Orb spider webs are also not visible to sensors . . . as I discovered up at Desert Queen Baths in July.

That was great Les, that web caught the drone like it was wire....lol the poor old spider did not look impressed.

I have RTH altitude set to 70m, high enough to avoid the tallest of gums around the area where we live.


Cheers


Stephen

I have generally had no issues with mine however, it has just been sent to Melbourne for major rebuild due to serious crash - not operator error either.

Had been on a flight and was bring drone home under pilot control. Low battery warning sounded (set at 30%) and drone went into RTH. As I could see it, less than 200m from me, I cancelled and continued to fly it home. Less than 10 secs later, critical low battery warning sounded (showed as 15%) drone less than 100m from me. Attempted to cancel RTH Override and was unable. Drone entered RTH mode and started to ascend to safe flight height and got entangled in overhead gums. It flipped 180 degrees and flew at full speed into the ground - upside down!

I didn't think they would fly upside down but apparently, the service agent has had several drones come in that have done similar to mine.

Expensive toy, but well worth it once mastered (of which I still have a while to go obviously)

Cheers

Anthony

Hi Anthony

Are you aware you can change the % for your low battery warning?

I am sure out of the bos they are set at 35% which depending how far from home you are, should get you home safely.

That is strange that it flew upside down, as I have never heard of that before. I have tried a couple of hand catching when down low and the moment that I flip it over, it shuts all motors down and turns off.

I found an oval a great place to get the hang of using it, and when in the middle give you a well cleared area to try out your special moves.



Cheers



Stephen

Yes - I know what your saying with the hand catch - quite torquee (new word) if you don't catch them squarely as they try to stay upright. I think that this is what actually happened - falling rather than flying (or as Rodney Rude used to say "It Glud!") You could really hear the motors and props revving and cutting the air.

The big issue is I couldn't cancel the Critically Low Battery RTH. The C R Kennedy (service agent in WA - and bloody fantastic too BTW) said they have had a few in with the same/similar issue. Have you seen the YouTube video of the guy how does aerobatics with his drone?

I set the Low battery at 30% because I have 6 batteries total so I don't mind wasting a bit. One of the guys I fly with has his set at 10% which is cutting it too fine IMO. Besides that sort of bravado makes my bum twitch like a rabbits nose LOL.

Anyway, hopefully it isn't a fatal crash - just have to look at the viability of repair or replacement cost.

Cheers

Anthony

Stephen, yes, it was very tough to break through, and the threads were wrapped around the prop spindles pretty well, had to remove props and unwind like a cotton reel !!
It wasn't flying too well on the return, in hindsight I should have edged over to above ground and perhaps taken my chances over land rather than water.
Then I may well have hit foliage though, so better the clear view straihgt back I guess.

Anthony, lots lose their drones on RTH for sure.
At critical level tha battery can just expire anytime and it will drop like a rock.
I always aim to land with 20%, or more, always.

And you have to watch that wind !!!
Just 10m higher and the wind can be going 10, 20, or more km/hr higher and fighting that will drain your battery so fast.
(Stephens 70m RTH might just be a bad choice in some conditions . . . why a pre flight plan / routine is so important for every flight.)

In some cases, best to cancel RTH (manual or auto) and fly it home low and fast in sports mode to beat the wind, OR in some cases best to aim camera down, look for a flat, clear spot to land, and do so there and then.

So many people have hard lessons with their drones, especially early flights where the great forums and videos on youtube are so educational.

Good to see the video Les. God knows those webs can drag you of a quad they're that strong.

The other thing to be cautious of is the low temperature warning, particularly on those cold desert mornings. One of our number on this yeats expeditions had the warning but still flew. Bird did well for a while then plummeted from the sky after 45 seconds of operation to be badly damaged.

Don't ignore the warnings. If you get one after takeoff get it back to home or landed quickly.

Mick

Hi Rod

Thanks for that and I see that they are doing one in the Riverland at Wakerie.

The more that get done, the better insentives for people to visit those towns.


Cheers



Stephen

Yep thanks Ron, a great resource there.