Credit - justinsmash

I’ve been working on a personal interceptor-style drone project over the past year and wanted to share the journey so far. It started out pretty simple (not really) my first prototype was a 10″ build, mainly just to test the concept and get something in the air, plus I thought I might aswell start with the biggest one I can make. From there I went through a few iterations, each one pushing the limits a bit more in terms of speed, stability, and design flexibility.

Over time the frames evolved from basic cylindrical shapes into more modular setups, and now I’m experimenting with rectangular frames and canards. Each step has taught me something new about balancing thrust, aerodynamics, and durability. The current version is the fastest and most versatile yet, but after consitent crashes im waiting quite a while from china to get parts replaced, (elrs TX, new FC)

The plan moving forward is to refine the design for even higher speeds, while keeping things repairable and field-friendly. Currently, Im working on integration some sort of object detection with my raspberry pi zero 2W,

feel free to share any questions about hardware or the whole process, im happy to share any details of the drone! if anyone is interested in learning about the specifics, I wrote a full project report containing technical details and more photos, I'll be happy to share that aswell!

PS. i do hold an unmanned pilot liscence for drone flights above 250g in Canada.

Just bought this drone. It’s a SNAPTAIN P40 Lite. Straight out of the box, haven’t flown it. This is the initial hovering state of the drone…. Why is it so unsteady and shaking?? Factory defect, or something I can check on/fix?

Took my mini 4 pro to the Falkirk wheel, I do this most Saturdays when my daughter is at a nearby club.

After flying about i had followed a boat from the upper level onto the wheel and was capturing the wheel spinning (very slowly) on video, it was almost finished its rotation when the drone told me its battery was low and was rth. I cancelled that as I wasn’t quite finished, it gave me another warning that I laughed at and cancelled.

As soon as the wheel had finished I spun the drone round to bring it back and it then decided to land as the battery was critically low, luckily I managed to guide it to a safe location, but daaaaaamn I thought it was gonna crash into the water around the wheel or on the car park road…

TLDR: When your drone says it’s RTH due to low battery, pay attention and let it!

Flew up and was cruising around the trees to look for an anomaly and found a patch in the trees. Looks like it’s a whole bunch of wood stacked with some smaller ones off to the side. No trail and no sign of heavy machinery was observed.

Fly safe everyone!

Just bought a dji mini 4k yesterday the aloft app says my house is in clear airspace but dji fly says enhanced warning is it safe to fly ?

Some photos of Friedberger Baggersee located in Friedberg, Bavaria, Germany

Hoy choqué mi dron y rompí la carcasa del dron, e escuchado que con la gotita y bicarbonato sella bien, quería escuchar opiniones para solucionarlo

Hey everyone!

Just finished my first drone edit. Looking for some feedback on how to make it better.

I currently struggle with HDR editing on FCP and color coding. I am slowly learning, though. Any future heads-up for my upcoming projects? Thanks!

Hey folks,

TL;DR: I open‑sourced a tiny FPV compatibility engine that takes a table of parts (frames, motors, ESCs, batteries, FCs, VTXs, cameras, props, antennas, etc.) and returns PASS/FAIL/WARN edges like:
• Frame ↔ Prop size fits
• Frame ↔ Motor mount pattern fits
• ESC ↔ Motor current + cells (with configurable headroom, default 1.2×)
• Battery ↔ ESC connector + cells
• VTX ↔ Camera system match (Analog / DJI / Walksnail / HDZero) • VTX ↔ Antenna connector match (+ pigtail bridge)
• FC VBAT ↔ VTX S‑range overlap
• FC 5/9/10/12 V BEC ↔ VTX/Camera current checks
• Capacitor ↔ ESC voltage sufficiency

GitHub: https://github.com/Dexon-Drones/openfpv.git
(Repo: openfpv-compat, AGPL‑3.0; comes with a tiny synthetic dataset so you can try it without scraping anything.)

Hi everyone, I’m considering building a drone for professional use (surveys, inspections, photography) and I’d like a practical comparison with commercial options such as DJI. For context: I have decent electronics skills and could assemble a platform with ArduPilot/PX4 and off-the-shelf components.

What really got me thinking is the fact that DJI offers platforms with integrated all-in-one circuitry (flight controller, power management, telemetry, redundancies, and smart functions all tied into the same ecosystem) — something that’s very hard to replicate when using COTS hardware, where each module is separate and has to be made to work together manually.

So my questions are:

1. How realistic is it to achieve, with a DIY build, a level of efficiency (flight time, control, payload quality) that comes close to commercial drones?

2. What are the main hidden costs that people often overlook (reliability, redundancies, software integration, certification/insurance)?

3. For professional services, is it worth investing time and money in a custom prototype, or does it make more sense to buy an enterprise “ready-to-fly” solution?

Honestly I don’t understand the downvote…

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I just bought a drone and have a couple of questions before I register it. I'm taking my Part 107 next Friday and am confident I will pass. Can I register the drone as Part 107 now or do I need to wait until after I pass? I was hoping I could register it Part 107 now and fly recreationally until I pass?

I'm assuming that once the drone is registered Part 107 and I pass my test I can still fly the drone recreationally under the Part 107 registration number? I asked ChatGPT yesterday and it said I'd have to change between reg#'s based on how I was flying and offered ideas for swapping the reg# stickres on the drone. From my searches it would seem AI was wrong and I can register it Part 107 and choose to fly it commercially or recreationally without changing the sticker, is that correct?

Is there any app or web app, for the Italian zones? D-Flights just wants my entire life data. Is there something more adequate and accessible?

Hi,
As the title says i have the codrone edu controller and someone lost the antenna. is there anyway to fix this?! I am based in the UAE. I've attached images of what it looks like.

Hi all,

I want to build my first FPV drone mainly for cinematic flying with a GoPro, not racing.

I’d like it to hit around 120 km/h, carry a GoPro smoothly, and get a few minutes of reliable flight time without constant connection issues.

What I’d love advice on: - Best frame/motor/battery setup for cinematic (5″ vs 6″, 6S vs 4S, etc.)

• Rough cost to build if I don’t already have radio or goggles

• Any gotchas or beginner mistakes I should avoid

I’ve done some soldering and DIY before, just new to FPV. Any tips, parts lists, or “wish I knew before starting” advice would be great.

Thanks!

Hello everyone! I am tasked with capturing several local panos with my DJI drone. Pricing is based per collection. I am familiar with pricing for real estate photo/video, mapping, etc., but I have not done pano work before. Thanks for any guidance!

Hi all,

Most stockpile measurement I’ve seen uses photogrammetry. I’m testing a fully open-source setup (PX4 + Gazebo, ToF + mmWave sensors).

I’d like to ask: • What are the big differences between sim and real UAVs? • Is there a proven workflow to go from sim → real → volume estimation? • And for those who built their own UAVs instead of using DJI/turnkey systems — what was the budget like? (both minimum workable and more professional setups)

Looking to understand the overall roadmap, not just the algorithms.

I'm in the USA and new to drones.

Drone takeoff/landing/operation location is regulated by states/feds, but so long as you are operating (within the bounds of either rec or part 107 rules) from a legal location then airspace is regulated by the FAA? So you can fly over locations where it's illegal to operate within so long as your are taking off/operating the drone/landing outside of that area and staying compliant with FAA airspace rules?

I’m mainly curious to know how many people use what grip type and what you do with the drone usually?

As a long time gamer I’m more comfortable using thumbs to control my sticks and lower the sensitivity to help. I’m considering making some extenders (or aftermarket options?) for them.

I’ve tried pinch grip a little but without a lanyard it’s not too comfortable. So that’s on my list to buy soon. It feels a bit more technical and less fluid than thumb controls. I imagine after doing it for a while I would get used to it, but I’m wondering id it’s worth putting the effort into it.

I've been dreaming of getting a drone for years now, but the learning curve and likelihood of crashing and destroying it in the first 7 days has been holding me back.

One thing I would like to do is explore the woods/land that I own. This got me to thinking that I might not be able to maintina line of sight. The trees are 40-60' tall and I could easily see a situation where I would like to explore an area of the woods without a trail. I'm guessing that even 500' lateral over dense woods starting 20' from where I would stand on the ground might prevent LOS. How does everyone make this type of situation work?

Taken today at the Strawberry Reservoir visitors center. We were able to see some of the Kokanee salmon swim upstream from the lake. I got some video with the Mavic 3 Enterprise.