[Video] Willard Canyon by Drone

This was my first successful flight in a canyon with my new drone, I bought the DJI Phantom 4 a couple of weeks ago, and this thing is rock solid compared to my other 3DR Iris+ drone. As the summer approaches, I hope to start shooting more canyons and peaks.

I've had Willard Canyon on my list ever since i drove up there in my Jeep 14 years ago and had to turn around before really checking out the waterfalls, and then the Trip Report by @jman reminded me I want to get back up there, http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...earsons-Canyon

This drone sure makes it nice if you want to go scope something out after work, but you don't have the time to hike up/down and explore.

I may be asking around for ideas regarding certain canyons that would look interesting from the air. I will avoid flying "inside" the skinnier slot canyons for multiple reasons, but I would like to get some panning shots.

Here's the video I shot, I still have a lot of fine tuning to accomplish on my panning shots, keeping constant speed on the straightaways, and the camera settings for various lighting conditions, but this video turned out satisfactory for the time invested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpzOI...ature=youtu.be

Right on! I've been flying rc aircraft since the early '90's, but have never quite made the change to drones yet. I've certainly been thinking about getting one, for the very reasons you cite - surveying possible hiking/canyoneering/backcountry skiing opportunities. As you mention, loosing the control signal in a slot canyon is a very real possibility. A "return to home" autopilot unit would be essential. However, autopilots depend on gps satellites, which are also easy to loose contact with in a slot canyon. Willard Canyon holds a special interest for me - thanks for posting.

Thanks @Canyon_Cal yes even with a good GPS lock, a lot of things can still go wrong. I learned a lot of lessons with my first drone, so I'm much more conservative and careful now.

Very true. My only two experiences with outdoor FPV were with fixed wing, and both got away from me. A Slow Stick got out of range because of a low power video transmitter, and a big Radian XL motor glider that got away from me on second flight because the antenna on my goggles was loose (high winds didn't help). Both went down in residential areas and I was lucky no property was destroyed other than my air frames. I do have a tiny Inductrix quadcopter that I fly indoors fpv mode - figured that one can't get me in trouble! Its too small for any outdoor canyoneering recon, though.