Loopy lightning today!

9.9 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 2:59pm

Loopy lightning today! I took this image with my drone today at around 13:15. I am over the Atascocita Shores/Pinehurst neighborhood at about 400 ft. The camera is facing W. The loops aren't real loops. The lightning bolt just looks that way because of the perspective of the camera. It's a really long bolt that started fairly close in the cloud and connected with the ground far away to the west. So it was kind of a lucky shot to really see the squiggly nature of the lightning seemingly make 'loops'.

BuckWild : That's a great shot!

How difficult is it to get Drone clearance in the IAH prohibition airspace?

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15.5 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 3:02pm

Loopy lightning today! I took this image with my drone today at around 13:15. I am over the Atascocita Shores/Pinehurst neighborhood at about 400 ft. The camera is facing W. The loops aren't real loops. The lightning bolt just looks that way because of the perspective of the camera. It's a really long bolt that started fairly close in the cloud and connected with the ground far away to the west. So it was kind of a lucky shot to really see the squiggly nature of the lightning seemingly make 'loops'.

BuckWild :

Wow! Thanks for sharing!

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8.2 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 3:07pm

ParksideRes : I am just outside of the area that requires clearance. The restricted zone is blue on the map. If you're in the blue zone you can still fly, you just have to request clearance (which is automated and easy).

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9.9 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 3:18pm

ParksideRes : I am just outside of the area that requires clearance. The restricted zone is blue on the map. If you're in the blue zone you can still fly, you just have to request clearance (which is automated and easy).

BuckWild : Sweet! Changed a bit since I last checked. Might look into drones now for myself!

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8.2 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 3:27pm

ParksideRes : The new system is called LAANC. As long as it's a typical flight request, it gets instantly approved. So it's less like asking permission and more like just saying, "Hey FAA - be aware that I'm flying my drone in this area at this time today".

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10.7 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 4:17pm

BuckWild :
Is there a place that you can go to learn to fly droans ? DW got me a small one for Xmas a couple years ago got it charged and tried to fly it in master bedroom it started ok, I got it to go up and down no problem then I tried to move around room and crashed into the tv and broke the screen on tv.

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8.2 yrs
~ 1 year, 3 mos ago Jul 11, '25 6:03pm

bodyboy : Ouch! That's no good.

The drone that I have is the DJI Mini 4 Pro. I'm an idiot and the drone is pretty much idiot proof. It can see in every direction including up and down and is smart enough not to hit anything (well, most anything). The tech is called obstacle avoidance. It is great as long as you're outside and in daylight. I, too, tried flying it in the house once. There wasn't enough light for obstacle avoidance to work and I quickly flew it into a wall. That was idiotic of me. Emoticon

Otherwise, there is great documentation with this thing. DJI has videos on every aspect of what the drone can do from beginner level to advanced. There are also drone pilot schools online with their own videos and courses, many of which are free. And of course, there are YouTube videos with all sorts of great information. For instance, YouTube taught me how to do small repairs on my own without having to send it back to the manufacturer.

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