Carrying and Flying a Drone in the Wilderness for Epic Aerial Photos and Videos

Introduction to drone flights:

Let’s break down the main things to consider when preparing to fly a drone in a wilderness area, then we’ll give you quick bottom line answers and below that a full breakdown with resources and detailed information.

Flying a drone in a wilderness area is a way to capture stunning aerial shots of beautiful landscapes. It’s also a great way to lose your drone or get in trouble for flying it in a restricted zone. If you are nervous about getting your expensive aerial toy out there and potentially having something go very wrong, you’d be right to take caution and prepare before venturing out.

Overview of how to plan a drone flight:

Knowing where to start can be a daunting task, I’ve included my thoughts and reflections on a process that has proven successful when flying drones in public areas.

A good starting point is to identify where multi-rotor flights are acceptable, make sure you have a good pre-flight plan, make sure you have a secure way to carry your drone out in nature, be ready for what you can plan for, and think through how to quickly adapt to what might happen.

Let’s delve a little deeper to each of those points.

Choosing a location:

Honestly, in my experience, googling beautiful views to find a spot is a bad idea, these locations are likely to be overrun with everyone else who found the same spot on google and this leads to park rangers patrolling and signs posted with all sorts of rules including no fly zones. Even if no one else is flying a drone, you will be approached by curious onlookers wanting to ask questions or look at your screen.

Instead what I do is a few things:

1. I try to scout scenic areas via google earth, I can view in 3d and set the point of view similar to what the drone might see. I specifically look for areas that are not touristy or on any website and ensure to scout for properties or campsites nearby. I don’t want to fly in a remote area where a private landowner will want to take shots at my drone.
2. When I take scenic drives, I take note of areas that might be good for drone flights, I can drop a pin and do more research on google earth later and even try to identify a good parking spot and path for how to get to a launch site.
3. In a few cases I’ve had success asking locals for good private spots with beautiful views, this can be a bust, people usually know popular spots but it has helped in a few cases.

My general pre-flight plan:

Since my goal is to capture beautiful scenery in nature, I want to make sure I take note of a few details, weather conditions, especially wind speeds, high/low temperatures for the day of the flight, ensuring the drone’s software is up to date and the flight app is on the latest version as well. There is nothing worse than having enough cell signal for the drone app to detect it needs updates but not having fast enough data transfer to make the update possible. In some cases it will have a warning during flight, but other cases it can prevent launching or flying the drone all together.

Here is the full list of what I do to prepare before flying my drone:

1. Weather conditions
   1. Drones generally speaking shouldn’t be flown below 32°F or above 104°F. This is really about the battery, and if done properly you may be able to fly in more extreme conditions, but beware, exceeding the capabilities of your drone can cause you to lose your quad-copter due to error or loss of control.
   2. Cloudy day with a chance of rain? I have been caught in rain while the drone is a mile out, most drones can take a little rain but generally it’s not worth the risk considering the cost of losing one.
   3. Take note of the expected wind speeds, drones have a rating for what wind speeds they can fight, basically the bigger the drone the stronger the winds it can push through but make sure you know your drones rating and what conditions you will be flying in. I have lost drones to wind before, my advice is, if you can’t bring it back, just hover it over a safe spot and bring it down. You’re much better off hiking to get your drone back than watching it get pushed away in the wind further and further away (believe me, I’ve done it).
2. Make sure your firmware and phone app are up to date before flying.
   1. As mentioned above, attempting to fly when the app needs updating can be annoying or worse, it may not allow the drone to take flight and you will be stuck.
   2. Also make sure you have a memory card rated for the data transfer rates your drone requires. If the card is too slow you will not be able to capture footage. On that note, make sure you format the card in the drone, this will ensure you are able to write data to it without corruption or errors.
3. Check where drone flights are allowed, some restrictions include airports, national parks, state parks, fire or natural disaster zones or sensitive infrastructure. Also beware of temporary no fly zones which could include a festival (think mountain biking competition or ultra marathon).
   1. You can try an app that tells you where you can and can’t fly a drone. It’s very helpful especially when pursuing professional drone flying. There is no shortage of options available, but drone buddy commonly comes up as a highly rated app for this purpose.
4. Check the night before that your drone’s batteries are charged, that the drone will fire up and connect to the app. Warning: don’t try to fly your drone indoors, especially the bigger ones, it’s dangerous to have those blades spinning near family or friends or even just the risk of hitting yourself.
   1. Check the blades and make sure they are not bent, chipped or warped.
   2. Make sure the drones sensors and camera lens are clean and free of obstructions, a basic tip for ensuring your flight is as safe as possible.

How do you carry your drone out there?

In the old days of drone flying I had to carry the drone fully extended and ready to fly, the DJI phantom III was a beast, and the backpack to carry it was straight comical, I looked like a ninja turtle lugging that thing around on my back. Presuming you have a newer drone, the arms retract and you can fold in the blades. This allows for a much smaller carrying size. The main thing to worry about is ensuring it’s not under any pressure while hiking and that it has proper padding so other things in your bag don’t scratch or bang it up.

Additional considerations when flying a drone in nature.

Do you need a launching pad to fly a drone in nature? Well, it’s not required, but can help prevent dust from getting into your motors and delicate internals. I personally prefer to carry a folded tarp or cardboard piece around 4 feet squared. Buying a launching pad seems a bit silly when all you really need is a flat surface to launch from.

How to deal with curious onlookers? Make sure you are ready to tell people “I’m sorry, I have to focus on safely flying my drone right now.” Onlookers don’t seem to realize you could lose control of your quadcopter or miss a good shot. You might just drain battery talking to someone, either way, getting into a conversation about drones during flight is never a win for you.

A $10 orange vest goes a long way in communicating to onlookers that you’re doing something official, it really helps keep people at bay but can also draw attention to you so choose based on your needs.

Before you launch your drone on location. Ensure to set your camera's exposure, f-stop, iso and quality settings. It is not ideal to try and set those parameters while in flight, although it is necessary sometimes.

Consider using a polarizing filter when flying in sunny conditions, this makes a world of difference in capturing a stunning image.

Keep your eyes up, bring a friend to help with spotting or talking to people if necessary.

As you might have noticed, there is quite a lot that goes into safely flying a drone in nature. The rewards are pretty great and I’ve found it very enjoyable to explore the footage captured and share it with others.