DJI Mavic Pro: First Flight! (Antananarivo, Madagascar)

Finally, it has arrived!

Back in mid-October, I heard that DJI, the company that manufactured the first drone I owned, was releasing a small, foldable drone with an integrated camera.  In other words, one that would allow me to carry something besides just a drone on my back when we go hiking in Madagascar!  I figured 2, 3 weeks…

Months later, I was still waiting.  The company I had ordered it from wrote me every few weeks to let me know it was still on back order.  Then, finally in mid-December, I got a notice it had shipped.

Followed immediately by a notice that the item had been rejected by our mail service because of lithium battery restrictions.

So I had them ship it to a friend who was in the U.S. for the holidays, and he removed the battery and shipped it again.

Again!  A rejection notice telling me it was being returned to sender!  I was distraught.

But then my colleague walked in smiling a few days later with my DJI Mavic Pro which had actually been delivered to him by mistake (we work in the same office).

It’s an awesome little drone – the menus and settings are much more customizable, and therefore much more complicated – but once it’s all set up for the first time you can just unfold it, turn everything on, and be airborne within about 45 seconds.  The 3DR Solo I have is a great workhorse, but it can take 3, 4, 5 minutes to get airborne, depending on how quickly the Wi-Fi connects and everything synchs up.

Here is its maiden flight, over the rice fields of Antananarivo, about a mile from our house:

So the weird thing happening in the lower left quarter of the frame is from a plastic cap that comes on the drone, and snaps over the camera and gimbal to protect it.  It seemed natural to leave it on, but from now on it comes off!

Expect a lot more footage from this thing as I get better at flying it over the coming months!