My first drone was one of the early Parrot ones that had a protective ring of Styrofoam around it and was painted in garish colours. On its very first flight, by a qualified pilot no less, it decided to try and escape over the side fence, over two backyards and ended up in a swimming pool.
At 10pm at night.
In other words, it was a bitch to fly. But it could do flips on demand as long as you could hold it in level flight.
Swann
Next was a hybrid unit, ostensibly sold by Swann in Australia, but really just a rebadged Chinese knock off. The first one I sent back as once in the air – at best a metre off the ground, it would suddenly skid sideways at a huge rate of knots and crash.
As did its replacement, but my partner Jacqui persevered and has since managed to get a reasonable semblance of flight out of it. On a calm day that is.
Parrot Bebop 2
Another Parrot followed, a Bebop 2 this time and here we had much more success. In fact, 2 years later, I still fly it quite often. The Skycontroller system which hangs around your neck while functional, is very clumsy and well, heavy, and the alternative, smartphone controlling via the FreeFlight app is less than perfect with a lack of real precision in my opinion, but for its time it was quite advanced and still has a place in my drone collection.
GoPro Karma
Towards the latter part of 2017, I was introduced to the GoPro Karma. Sadly, Karma number one is at the bottom of Hervey Bay as we speak, a result of the now known battery issues that caused them to fall out of the sky prematurely – in this case only about a metre from the boat we were shooting a TV commercial and whale watching footage for John and Peta Haenke from Guided Fishing Down Under.
Thankfully, this was the second flight and the majority of the footage had already been secured with a 64GB microSD chip swap in the on-board GoPro 5, but a blow nonetheless as we discovered the GoPro Karma has all the floating characteristics of a paving slab.
A replacement Karma has since proven to be far more reliable, and indeed even a joy to fly, but I have been hesitant to let it loose over water as yet, I admit.
Oh and GoPro have got right out of the drone business now following the Karma debacle.
DJI MAVIC Air
Which brings me to the latest unit in my possession, the DJI MAVIC Air. And this is a whole new ballgame.
Supplied by the D1 Store (they are in both QLD and Vic by the way as well as doing mail / online orders), the MAVIC Air brings a whole new world to the drone experience.
In the past, it has been a case of rip open the packaging, charge the batteries, read a quick Getting Started manual and away you go.
Not with the MAVIC Air you don’t.
Not because it is hard you understand, oh no. It’s that there is so much to absorb that the wise will spend some time getting familiar with the controls and all the functions of the MAVIC Air to get the very best from it.
Components
There are two main components when you unpack the surprisingly, very small (and exquisite) packaging. These are of course the drone itself, which in comparison to the GoPro Karma and the Parrot Bebop 2, is tiny (see video below) and of course the controller.
Video Showing Relative Sizes Between MAVIC Air, GoPro Karma and Parrot Bebop 2
There are also assorted small packages containing supplementary cables (more on this in a second), chargers, instruction manuals and a brace of propeller protectors that need to be assembled and added to the drone’s main body.
The “arms” that contain the motors and propellers of the MAVIC Air are of an ingenious design that twist and swivel to minimise the “footprint” of the unit when folded up. I have seen it written that it can fit in a pocket. Well yes, if it is a big pocket, but nonetheless, in terms of the size of the drone compared to others on the market in the pro and semi-pro range, it is astonishing how the engineers at DJI have managed to so beautifully miniaturise everything but still make it so functional.
Video Showing the Folding Arms of the MAVIC Air
Onto the controller. And this is a marvel unto itself in my opinion.
Many years ago, on impulse, I bought myself one of the multiple tool devices that Maxwell Smart or James Bond might use. You know, if you opened it one way it was a laser gun and yet another it was an Aston Martin.
Well not quite, but you get what I mean – inside a small form factor container were screwdrivers, spanners, hammer, flashlight, compass, drill and other goodies. There were myriad little compartments you to open that hid something new every time you looked.
The MAVIC Air controller reminds me very much of this long since lost tool kit.
Tucked away in its very compact body are levers to screw into the ball joint controllers for height and direction, USB cables to connect your smartphone and a mounting system to attach the smartphone to the controller itself, plus ports for charging, getting video feeds out and more.
DJI actually package a bundle of USB and Thurderbolt cables so that unlike other devices you may purchase, you don’t need to go to the nearest Jaycar or wherever when, invariably, the one you need is not supplied.
Bravo DJI!
This is micro engineering at its very, very best in my humble opinion.
Learning how all these connectors and ancillary bits go together and work is why I didn’t immediately go to the nearest park (right across the road!) and have a fly of the MAVIC Air. Instead I studied the manuals closely – more closely than I would have liked as they do fall into that recent unwelcome phenomenon of the “Too Small Type and Diagrams” variety so spent a lot of time squinting, and spent the time familiarising myself with them all.
Mind you, I FAR prefer even a small manual to a PDF any day/ Or worse, having to go online.
There is also the software to come to grips with, the DJI Go 4 app, and this is what I am in the middle of as we speak. Additionally, some online research led me to a number of very useful sites that gave me further insight into the operation of the MAVIC Air and possibly thus avoid pitfalls others have found. Of particular interest was a site by one Korey Smith entitled “10 Steps For Getting Started With The DJI MAVIC PRO”, which whilst not addressing the MAVIC Air directly, has some valuable tips.
So far I am to Step 6 …
Hopefully the weather (and unbelievably, a March fly infestation in plague proportions currently in progress making going outside to even put the bins out a perilous undertaking) will hold off today and tomorrow, and we can have a serious fly of the MAVIC Air.
I’ll keep you posted as we go. But I have a very, very good feeling about this!
Australian Drones 
Leave a comment