Скачать или смотреть Drone Monkey (v2) - A Day in the Life of a Drone Man

Aborted a mission to fly inspections of two cell towers and a shed near a mountain peak. Companies were having difficulty with road access, as ranchers often lock gates without any utility company coordination. Said I'd try to get up there by motorcycle. Kept trying to be heroic. Kept going down the path of classic Aviation "Destinationitis" -- most accidents resulting from a series of bad signs ignored and increasing series of bad events until trapped in an overwhelming situation.

First somewhat bad decision: Venturing deep behind locked gates making non-emergency rescue difficult. Continued trying to beat the afternoon winds for close proximity drone flight. Time crunch for customer and on weather. Dealt with each gate blockade until meeting my match. Judgement fading fast among frustration.

Big Bad Decision: Opted to make an Evel Kneivel run around the gate -- little injury risk, but probability of botching the run, damaging bike, or losing over the ledge. Would have to be a perfect run and I was already worn down. Fatigued somewhat wrestling a street bike out of a crag in the road. Headed downhill to make my fast run uphill around a narrow area left of the gate -- slight ditch and rocks to get over. Mostly risk of gravel induced fishtailing and insufficient speed on the way up. Entering into soft ground left of the post just narrow enough for the bike to fit. Failing could lead to lost left footing and tumble down the hill. I was prepared to bail and not get a broken leg trapped under the bike, but still hellbent on taking the unnecessary risk. Far from civilization with having to call 911 to rescue me if botched.

While heading down the steep driveway, rather than going further down to a better turnout I made a stupid U-turn going slightly uphill and lost footing. Dropped the bike. Difficult position, footing, and angles for lifting back up. Struggled a long time before thinking well. Sapped energy. Old injuries hurting. Pieced bike back together and considered resuming my Evel Knievel run but then felt the winds picking up too strongly over the hills. The minor mishap made it more probable of botching the run on the gate. Even if past the gate, wind conditions would make flying so close to the towers all the more difficult while my performance was already hugely degraded. It was time to admit defeat for the day, re-think the plan, check on status of gate codes again, and explore other options. If having the codes and keys, all would have been easy.

I decided to listen to the bad signs and interrupt the progress of Destinationitis before worsening everything -- such as being stranded miles from the main road, no tow trucks able to come up, most friends unable to get past gates. Would have a long walk of shame down. If injured, a long wait for the fire department to cut through gates to rescue me. Best to at least return refreshed with a safety assistant if trying the gate bypass.

Need my nerve for flying a few feet from towers. Though using propeller guards, it just felt like going up the hill would only lead to more bad. Potential drone loss. Potentially slight tower hardware damage which can be costly. My insurance rates would go up. FAA incident report could result, etc. Challenging flying to do behind the gate in good conditions. Need bypass the gate once on the way up and down. Just too many risk areas compounding and easily mitigated by aborting for the day and working to better conditions.

Was more like my guardian angel kicked the bike over and said: "Hey Stupid! Wake up! Bad drone monkey. Baaaaaad!" And so, I listened which prevented further bad.

Lesson for student and other pilots in all aircraft: These are typical issues of operational pressure between commercial flying demands and casual hobby flying. Hobby flying isn't trying to heroically get the job done. There are hundreds of other issues surrounding safe drone flight beyond just the flying itself. One of the first considerations is pilot condition and performance erosion under stress while egos typically delude us (FAA I'm SAFE lesson). If you're trying to be heroic, it's usually because the risks are higher and tend to compound along the way. Especially with flight, it is often good to be the chicken and do it right another time. That's how you stay alive in manned aircraft and prevent costly damages with drones.

Motocross riders out there may look at the gate run and laugh at how easy it seems, but flying safe in aviation also requires separation from our Evel Knievel ego and listening to the warning signs early on. My motorcycle is not a dirt bike but does pretty well since lighter than most cruisers. It is more like riding an old WW1 to WW2 era army motorcycle over terrain and requires more caution. Street tires, less clearance, less suspension, heavier. She's a tough little bike on and off road, though. Just can't do all the motocross maneuvers.