Looking out of my office window this afternoon I noticed some rather rare air traffic approaching from North. It then did a turn Eastwards and flew around our building to turn back Westwards sending the clear message to DHL headquarters (which is located near my workplace) that they should speed up even more their DJI shipments to us ;-) After some research later I found that this special airship (many years ago I had visited the factory) is on a promotion tour for a few days in our region before it will return to its home point in the very South of Germany close to the Swiss border. If you want to learn more about this aircraft, you can find the information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT
But seeing this rare and unexpected opportunity I could have slapped myself for not having brought the MA or the M2P with me to work for taking some potentially great footage. Hoping that it will come along again tomorrow or the day after I shall of course be appropriately equipped. The following pictures are taken with my mobile phone through windows of our building.
P.S. For unknown reason the pictures are in reverse order of how I intended to post them, apologies for that.

That is the reason I carry my Mavic every where I go, the Mrs thinks I am mad for doing this but we know better

Agreed, I take mine everywhere even to work. Just in case of a one in a chance shot.

My wife always tell me to buckle up my baby .

Woe Posted at 2018-9-26 21:35
Agreed, I take mine everywhere even to work. Just in case of a one in a chance shot.

My wife always tell me to buckle up my baby .

funny that you say that, my wife also calls my MP  my baby.

Derselbe Zepellin ist letztens bei uns herumgeflogen.

Picanoc Jack Posted at 2018-9-26 23:44
funny that you say that, my wife also calls my MP  my baby.

my wife found out on Youtube that i have another drone

nice pictures!
   

see.think.act ... should have been - think.see.act?

This morning I have missed it again. M2P is with me but I was stuck in a meeting that I couldn't leave. Now I hope that it will do another flight this afternoon.

Picanoc Jack Posted at 2018-9-26 23:44
funny that you say that, my wife also calls my MP  my baby.

My wife calls mine "the other woman"

Picanoc Jack Posted at 2018-9-26 23:44
funny that you say that, my wife also calls my MP  my baby.

I also told her no one puts baby in the corner

In the USA we have to give way to manned AC so we would have had to land and not fly while this AC/blimp? was flying and in sight. What i am getting at is there would be NO drone flying while this AC was in sight. Unless you wanted to take a chance and break the law here in the US lol You have to use your head on opportunities like this.

rolling56 Posted at 2018-9-27 07:11
In the USA we have to give way to manned AC so we would have had to land and not fly while this AC/blimp? was flying and in sight. What i am getting at is there would be NO drone flying while this AC was in sight. Unless you wanted to take a chance and break the law here in the US lol You have to use your head on opportunities like this.

Thank you very much for your well meant advice. It is a matter of course also in my country that we have to give way to manned aircraft at all times but that does not mean that we have to land. First of all I of course would have kept safe distance and more importantly this aircraft is also abiding to the rules and flies at the regular minimum height of 150 meters AGL while I am bound to max. 100 meters. Consequently I also could only have taken footage from distance with the gimbal tilted upwards in order to get it into the range of the camera lens.
I hope this explanation is acceptable for you. And the biggest relief should be that my flight has not materialised ;-)

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 08:47
Thank you very much for your well meant advice. It is a matter of course also in my country that we have to give way to manned aircraft at all times but that does not mean that we have to land. First of all I of course would have kept safe distance and more importantly this aircraft is also abiding to the rules and flies at the regular minimum height of 150 meters AGL while I am bound to max. 100 meters. Consequently I also could only have taken footage from distance with the gimbal tilted upwards in order to get it into the range of the camera lens.
I hope this explanation is acceptable for you. And the biggest relief should be that my flight has not materialised ;-)

I believe here in the USA "give way" means land and not just lower altitude. I'll have to do some research of course but i always land. I wish all the rules were the same everywhere. I get mixed up at times when i see someone mention a rule/law i have to look at the country. Just like i asked in my PM about the country name under members names and avatar lol

Nice story. Thanks for sharing this information with us. If there's any other concern or inquiries, feel free to contact us back. Thanks for choosing DJI.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2018-9-27 09:37
Nice story. Thanks for sharing this information with us. If there's any other concern or inquiries, feel free to contact us back. Thanks for choosing DJI.

Thank you very much Natalia, all is well both with my Mavic Air and my Mavic 2 Pro.

Yes, that would have been some footage.
Maybe next next time. .

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-9-27 11:08
Yes, that would have been some footage.
Maybe next next time. .

We'll see, in the afternoon I have missed it one more time because it had taken a different route that I cannot see from my office. I only saw it from distance heading back to its provisional home point (a not very far away airfield for small private planes) when I left work. But when I arrived back home my wife told me that it had been in our area outside the city while she had a walk with our dog who is unfortunately strongly opposed to anything that flies and had sent a clear message in this regard to the airship ;-) I am not sure that the airship will be still flying around here tomorrow and the weather forecast is not good either, but just in case I'll take my M2P with me again.

Dear friend i know how that feels to have the perfect shot in front of you and to dont be able to capture it it sucks

Jannistmb Posted at 2018-9-27 11:35
Dear friend i know how that feels to have the perfect shot in front of you and to dont be able to capture it it sucks

Ah, such things happen. There certainly will be other opportunities.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 11:32
We'll see, in the afternoon I have missed it one more time because it had taken a different route that I cannot see from my office. I only saw it from distance heading back to its provisional home point (a not very far away airfield for small private planes) when I left work. But when I arrived back home my wife told me that it had been in our area outside the city while she had a walk with our dog who is unfortunately strongly opposed to anything that flies and had sent a clear message in this regard to the airship ;-) I am not sure that the airship will be still flying around here tomorrow and the weather forecast is not good either, but just in case I'll take my M2P with me again.

Maybe one day.
I must admit I was a bit scared when I saw a couple of hot air balloons approaching while I was in the air.....

Montfrooij Posted at 2018-9-27 12:20
Maybe one day.
I must admit I was a bit scared when I saw a couple of hot air balloons approaching while I was in the air.....

As long as you keep safe distance and are flying either below them or above depending on their height it should be ok in my opinion. Safe distance is the most important part for sure though!

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 12:32
As long as you keep safe distance and are flying either below them or above depending on their height it should be ok in my opinion. Safe distance is the most important part for sure though!

Yes, it was just that they were descending and I was thinking about the fabric and my props.....

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 08:47
Thank you very much for your well meant advice. It is a matter of course also in my country that we have to give way to manned aircraft at all times but that does not mean that we have to land. First of all I of course would have kept safe distance and more importantly this aircraft is also abiding to the rules and flies at the regular minimum height of 150 meters AGL while I am bound to max. 100 meters. Consequently I also could only have taken footage from distance with the gimbal tilted upwards in order to get it into the range of the camera lens.
I hope this explanation is acceptable for you. And the biggest relief should be that my flight has not materialised ;-)

Hey my friend i just got a reply from a friend that works for the FAA here in the USA and he says and i quote "you may not delay or cause any manned aircraft to change course, altitude, or speed." so there you have it for us in the USA. I may start taking one of my Mavic Pro with me as often as i can. I thought we had to land and i am a 107 holder Have a great day and no more missed opportunities from you please lol

Andreas,
Sorry you didn't have either the MP or M2P. Would of gotten some cool shots.
The shots with the phone were pretty good.

Being that close to a blimp I am not sure how the laws apply but I am sure you would of obeyed them and given us some nifty videos.
John

rolling56 Posted at 2018-9-28 12:33
Hey my friend i just got a reply from a friend that works for the FAA here in the USA and he says and i quote "you may not delay or cause any manned aircraft to change course, altitude, or speed." so there you have it for us in the USA. I may start taking one of my Mavic Pro with me as often as i can. I thought we had to land and i am a 107 holder  Have a great day and no more missed opportunities from you please lol

Hi dear friend, thank you very much for this feedback! It certainly will help others as well in your country. :-) What unites us all is that when encountering manned air traffic, we have to take the perspective of the other pilot and take appropriate action. Safe distance and safe difference in height are key elements in this, as it applies also for all other air traffic. The big difference is that the remote pilot cannot communicate with us like he can with ATC and other manned aircraft. Thus it is our responsibility to ensure that our flight actions can never be perceived as a threat to manned air traffic.
And if one day we all manage to follow such fundamental rules (although stipulated by law already in more or less in all countries I would believe), drone flying will not be further restricted more than necessary. Very unfortunately there are persons out there who don't care about anything and this is what increasingly makes things more difficult for us.

B1houdini Posted at 2018-9-28 14:17
Andreas,
Sorry you didn't have either the MP or M2P. Would of gotten some cool shots.
The shots with the phone were pretty good.

Hi dear friend John, thank you very much for your feedback. As a matter of course I would have followed all the rules applicable first of all for safety reasons but also for not further damaging the already often bad reputation of drone pilots caused by just a few reckless pilots.
The pictures posted above might be somewhat misleading as well. They have been taken with maximum zoom and above the height that I would be allowed to fly (I was at bout 110 meters height on the top floor of our office building. The footage I might have been able to take in flight would certainly have been better, but definitely from more distance.

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 03:01
This morning I have missed it again. M2P is with me but I was stuck in a meeting that I couldn't leave. Now I hope that it will do another flight this afternoon.

Go to the "restroom" send out the drone and set the controller in your lap under the table. It will be the best meeting ever

Wachtberger Posted at 2018-9-27 03:01
This morning I have missed it again. M2P is with me but I was stuck in a meeting that I couldn't leave. Now I hope that it will do another flight this afternoon.

Go to the "restroom" send out the drone and set the controller in your lap under the table. It will be the best meeting ever