Good Things Come to Those Who Wait…..

Posted on by Tim Olohan

Saturday was a sad day for me. I had to put TWO brand new drones back into the mail. One back to Amazon, one to DJI. I’d been watching for a sale on A Mini 3 Pro. The sale showed up on Amazon, so I coiled myself up like a spring and launched into action. Halfway to my shopping cart, I remembered that a buddy got a great deal on an “open box” drone so clicked over and found the Mini 3 with the Fly More package (extra props and batteries) for nearly half off ! I couldn’t “buy it now” fast enough !!😃 30 minutes later, wallowing in my buyer remorse, I though to myself “self, that deal was too good to be true” So, I logged back on and of course I’d purchased the wrong drone. I’d clicked on Mini 3, not Mini 3 Pro. KHAAAAAAAN !!! And, of course, after only half an hour, my purchase had already been pulled and was too late to cancel the order. So, in my panic, I did what any red blooded man would do, I ordered another drone 🙄 Prime had the 3 Pro at my doorstep the next day, the 3 would take a few days to make the trek.

Saturday finally rolls around, it’s a bright sunny day and I’m ready to fly ! I had a few domestic duties to attend to including putting the Mini 3 in the mail back to Amazon. I rushed home pulled the Pro out, ran my checklist, started the motors AND …… only 3 of them turn on. Guh !!!! Yep, motor seized. I logged on to DJI customer service, but there was nothing to be done. Alas, it went back into the mail. I went from two new drones to none in amazingly short order.

My work drone, Mavic Air 2, still travels with me and after a fresh snow fall, I was still able to get a fly in today. No telling when the replacement 3 Pro will come, but this will be DJI’s customer service test.

Boundary Bay on a cloudy day….

Posted on by Tim Olohan

Today was my first fly as an Advanced Pilot. Strangely, though it didn’t feel any different, it’s nice to have that extra certificate in the binder though. I’m fortunate in that I was able to sweet talk my boss into paying for my course. So now that I’ve passed, I get my tuition reimbursed and I’m pretty sure I remember my sweet, supportive, beautiful wife saying that I could spend DOUBLE my tuition on a new drone. Right ? Yeah, I’m sure of it…..

This Sunday morning finds me on the dike near the Delta Heritage Air Park. It was a bit of a trek east on the dike to get outside of the control zone, but I didn’t feel like a walk was going to hurt me. Probably. I stepped off of the bike path, got unpacked, set up the controller and removed the gimble guard. Butterfingers Tim dropped the guard into the weeds. As I reach down to grab it, I see a hornets nest the size of a football embedded in the rocks. Ever the coward, I quietly packed up and stepped back onto the path, out of a potentially deadly situation. Not that I’m allergic , I was worried that running down the dike waving my arms and screaming like a little girl would give me a heart attack !!

In the end, I launched, I flew, I landed (caught by hand for the first time).

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I need waaaaaaay more batteries !

Posted on by Tim Olohan

Most days, I’m up long before the sun is. Which is to say, I’m up every morning before the sun is. Most days I feel that it’s a curse. Sitting around literally for HOURS before I can go to work. This is NOT to say that I’m bright eyed and or bushy tailed. It’s coffee #3 that finally gets my rump in gear. On the weekends, not a lot different. I wait for my Love to awaken and send her sweet “Good Morning, My Love” text so I know that it’s safe to deliver her coffee bedside.

Of late, however, my weekend mornings find me out and about, coffee #3 in a travel cup, in search of safe and legal launch and recover areas. I’m getting to know the side streets and industrial areas pretty well, I must say. Saturday morning found me at the foot of the Port Mann Bridge in Coquitlam, BC. It was a stellar morning for flying. Here’s how 48 minutes of battery turns into 3:58 of video. And Babe, you’re still number 1 in my heart, and I won’t be tardy with coffee again. Most likely……..

Up Up and Away !

Posted on by Tim Olohan

I’ve started this page as a means not only to drive interest in my business ( upcoming ), but also to proclaim my love of flying. As a boy I tore through world war two paperbacks of the brave men and women defending the British coastline in Mosquitos, or advancing waves of Hurricanes and Spitfires clearing the path for the Lancaster bombers to find their mark. I built models too. Plastic Revell models, balsa wood and tissue paper rubber band fliers, up to large scale styrofoam Cessnas. I never thought that I had it in me to ever achieve a pilots licence, and only just barely passed my basic drone pilot certification, but I’ve held on to the dream. So here we are, dear reader, at the christening of my business, my hobby, my job. Even as i hunt and peck on this keyboard, I have no idea what’s coming next. Not the next post, not even the next line. But join me, if you will, and we’ll find out together.