05/12/2026
This is a re-post from November 2025. I would like to reiterate this. I think this is very important and everybody should do this.
Tips for more enjoyable flying,
I have been advocating using Google overhead Satellite view for a long time. Just as a small Cessna pilot plans out his flight route, we drone pilots should study ahead of time the area that we are going to be flying next. Using Google Satellite View is a great way of doing that. Studying the area gets you familiar with landmarks so that you know where you are at any point in your flight. Also, by studying the surrounding area, you can spot possible points of interest that you can fly to and get pictures of, and to assure you are far enough from any airports. With the Satellite View you can measure distances to these points of interest to make sure they are reachable by your drone. In this way you will have “goals” to reach and you get a feeling of accomplishment rather than just zooming around haphazardly. I suggest using a computer monitor when viewing.
I spend many hours studying the areas we are going to fly just for those reasons, even if it’s an area that I have flown many times before. Looking overhead, you can spot things that you missed when flying there in the past and get general directions/distances to these points. When looking for places to fly, I use a combination of Satellite view and Google Street View to check out the area. In some rural areas, Street View may not be available and you will have to rely on the Overhead View only. Remember, Google views can get a bit old at times so what you see overhead may not be 100% exactly as you see in real life, but it will be close enough.
Now that you have studied the area, there is another thing you should do and that is “Cache the Map”. Take out your tablet/phone at home, make sure you have internet access and open your “Maps” app. Find the area you will be flying. Using a medium zoom, zoom in on that area, moving around the whole area, pausing a second between each screen movement. Make sure the map is in the Satellite view and not the map view. This will put the map into cache memory. Now when you fly the map area will be in that small box in the lower right of your flying screen. By tapping that box it will enlarge that map and you will see where you are in relation to the Overhead View. Tap the small box again to return to your main flying screen. Do not attempt to fly using the map screen as you can’t tell height of things and the accuracy of the map isn’t that fine. One other thing, if you didn’t cache the map ahead of time, you can do it afterwards so you can see where you went when checking out your flight logs. (Flight log tips, another time)
In doing these things you will be a more informed flyer and have a better time, a more productive time flying and maybe get better pics to post on BWR Phantoms FB page.
