The flight begins and ends just a little North of Franklin and Vine.   You can see three famous landmarks, The Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory and the iconic Capitol Records Building.   Spandau Ballet sings their hit True.   Please be sure to watch full screen and enjoy!    

Los Angeles, CA —We are now in a truly multimedia world.   TV and Newspapers are on life support because of declining viewers and readership.   Today’s people want news on their terms, instantly, short, sweet and with compelling video. People want to see news on the iPhones and IPads.   They want it while they are between tasks. They seek it out while in the grocery checkout line or when waiting at the barber’s office or hair salon. The opportunities for citizen journalists are starting to surface.   Today the pay may be low but now’s the time to prepare.   You can be creative and lead the pack or be left in the dirt. You need writing skills.   Hopefully you learned them in school. Multimedia is the venue.   That means writing, photography, video and video editing.   You must be a master of all media forms.   You also need to learn how to transfer your work to the Internet.   Most people have some of these skills right now. ...

I shot this on November 11 in L.A. near the 405 Freeway and The Getty Center.  This was done with a DJI Inspire 1.  The highest altitude achieved was 300 feet and the further distance traveled was only 500 feet.  This is so addicting!  Please enjoy!

Town of Paradise Valley, AZ —Some of this small but wealthy community’s politicians bought into the baseless idea that multi-rotor camera drones were a threat to safety and privacy.   Ignorance and the novelty of the drones themselves motivated politicians here to make an effort to ban drones. They thought that their residents would somehow appreciate their efforts. Things backfired when local relators complained that the use of drones showcased the homes and community like never before.   Banning or over-regulating them could damage property values and of course property tax collections. The Town Council considered the ban but cooler heads in that body tabled the idea at least until they had more valid guidance and information.   How they revisit this issue remains to be seen. As for the somewhat popular Drone Invasion, there were no less than 700 reports of near misses with conventional aircraf t investigated by the FAA . Not a s...

Van Nuys, CA —I’ve been hooked on camera drones for a while now and I very recently picked up a new addition to my five drone, air force.  My drone dealer of choice is Pirofliprc.com , which is also a brick and motor store located very close to the Apollo IX Model Aircraft Field  between Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks. This time it was the coveted DJI Inspire 1 with its dedicated 4K camera.  The Inspire I’s camera is distortion free unlike the GoPro cameras.  With the GoPro you can fix the distortion in postproduction but it’s a pain in the butt, at least for me. The Inspire 1 camera will also shoot 12 megapixel stills.  Previously I simply grabbed a frame from the Go Pro camera.  I can control the camera from the controller so this is literally just a snap now.  A12 megapixel photograph is a lot richer than any video grab.  This is a great drone for two.  You simply use two controllers with two monitors.  The pilot operates...

Los Angeles, CA —Yesterday I got a gentle safety reminder as I began to pick up my Phantom 2 .   The props suddenly began spinning on their own.   I thought I turned of the battery and then the radio controller.   I’m somewhat hearing impaired and did not hear those telltale sounds that the battery power was not actually shut off.   As I reached for the drone the plastic propellers really spanked my fingers.   I felt pain but suffered no visible injury beyond a little redness that quickly disappeared.   Had I been using carbon fiber props I would have definitely needed stiches and a trip to the ER.   I was lucky my negligence did not cause what may have been termed a minor injury.   Through negligence, I nearly suffered the only kind of injury that the small multi-rotor drones ever inflict.   Thankfully in my case, my precious fingers and the props were none the worse for wear.   To date, the smaller under 55 lbs. multi-rotors h...

Dragonfly Drone  Los Angeles, CA —Let me be the first to say that I find the increasing militarization and spying by police repugnant.  Government at every level is out-of-control. Today there is a demonstration in progress at City Hall protesting the use of two small multi-rotor drones in possession of the LAPD .  This group is uninformed and unfamiliar with the limitations of these devices also called unmanned aerial vehicles.  I suspect these demonstrators are confusing these drones with the much larger, multi-million dollar weaponized drones used by or military in combat zones. However there are substantial benefits of our first responders using multi-rotor drones to deal with instances such as common disasters, searches for lost people and potentially dangerous animals on the loose in neighborhoods.  The diminutive drones can more safely enter tighter spaces than any helicopter. As a camera drone pilot, former cop and licensed private inve...

Hollywood, CA —I have to blame my dear friend Pablo Lewin for my obsession with camera drones.  Lewin is a film director who discovered this marvelous and incredibly creative filmmaking tool and got me hooked and empowered with the latest high tech toy. I’ve done a number of drone stories but today I was going to film a scene for Lewin’s latest film offering. I thought I'd let you in on the experience. I can still remember that horrible accident in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, actor Vic Morrow along with two children, My-Ca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), died in a nasty helicopter crash during the filming of the Twilight Zone  movie.   We've taken any safety risk out of our production!  Helicopters can be deadly and they are too expensive for some filmmakers. Not to worry, the camera armed drones are here!  Today it was me and my drone that eliminated any dangers along with the impossible expense for a helic...

Los Angeles, CA —I thought I learned how to fly my new Blade 350 quadcopter very well.  It was now time to shoot some cool video over the trendy UCLA neighborhood of Westwood while I was in town.  I wanted video of the old movie houses and such from not so high above.  I carefully placed and set up a brand new GoPro 3+ camera on the gimbal and sent the drone all over the area for nearly 10 minutes.  I landed it perfectly and changed the battery sending it up to the Western sky.   I sent it up really high and unfortunately this time directly into the sun.  I was completely blinded and I maneuvered the control to the North.  However I completely lost sight of it and the advertised return home feature failed miserably.  It simply vanished from view. The little drone should have flown until the battery discharged and the thing would have slowly descended until it made a soft landing, but where?  I don’t have a clue!...