As drone technology gets cheaper, more and more New Zealanders are buying and launching their own little flying cameras.
RNZ tech correspondent Peter Griffin talks to a drone-dubious Jesse Mulligan about the ups and downs.
Peter Griffin Photo: supplied
Peter is quite new to drone flying – his first one crashed after a day and now he's flying a DJ1 Mavic Pro he bought secondhand from a friend.
So how does it work?
When your drone is flying you see what it's seeing on the screen of your smartphone, which is plugged into a controller similar in size and design to a PlayStation controller, Peter says.
You can also see the drone's altitude and battery life and the strength of the GPS signal.
Peter says there are two things he loves about flying his drone – the footage and the fun.
"I'm just hypnotised by the aerial footage.
"If you go on YouTube now and type 'nature 4k drone' you just see the most stunning high-definition footage from all over the world. All the worlds wonders have been filmed with drones."
A DJI Mavic Pro drone like the one Peter Griffin has. Photo: DJI
Watching the footage is like meditation, he says.
"I sit in front of my high-definition screen and I watch this aerial footage of Dubai or the Grand Canyon or Milford Sound... I'm sort of hooked and I want to create my own little aerial videos, as well."
Then there's the joy of flying it, which reminds him of playing the car racing video game Gran Turismo.
"These things are so manoeuvrable and responsive now it is literally like playing a flight simulator game."
While flying a drone is exhilarating, it can also be a bit nervewracking, Peter says.
Not because they are hard to operate – or because seagulls and magpies bomb them occasionally – but because not everyone is so keen on drones.
"I've had someone run up the road towards me when I've landed my drone, saying 'why are you casing my house?' thinking I'm about to do a burglary and I'm using the drone to gather footage."
Riversdale Beach is 40 kilometres east of Masterton and known for its year-round surf. Photo: captain_andrey
Peter could fly his drone over Riversdale Beach on the Wairarapa Coast last weekend because the beach was empty, he says, but if there'd been people on it he would have had to ask their permission.
At the moment, you don't need to register or get training to fly a drone but the rules about where you can and can't fly them are well established, he says.
Yet civil aviation authorities all over the world are concerned about them – and with good reason.
Recently, a Westpac Rescue Helicopter pilot flying at 230km an hour saw a drone whizz past his window.
"[Flying near airfields] is the dumbest thing you can do as a drone operator, but unfortunately people are doing it."
Peter is worried there will be more stringent rules about flying drones in the future.
"Given how safe they are and how easy they are to operate it would be a shame to see us have t go through all that bureaucracy and training just to put up a drone for ten minutes in the weekend."
The Chinese company DJI currently dominates the drone market, Peter says, and its newest model, the DJI Mavic 2, has built-in geo-fencing so you can't launch within 4 kilometres of an airfield, as well as sensors all over it to avoid collisions.
