Woot! Passed my drone pilots license test this morning. 
I bought a $30 drone 2 summers ago. Flew it for a couple of wks before it failed and I returned it. But after yrs of games like Gunship, I flew it effortlessly. I had enough of CCP for a while, so I spent the equivelent of 3 yrs sub for my 3 accts on a Buy DJI Mini 2 - DJI Store, its kit and lessons/test.
This thing flies like a dream. Being a camera drone, it canât do stunts but thatâs not what I bought it for. 30 min flight time. Transmitter has a 6 mile directional wifi range but the drone will only go 3 if you want it back. Which helps signal strength when flying under steel bridges and not lose connection. And no, youâre not supposed to do that or any of the other beyond line of sight stunts I pull. I just donât fly over anyone for that.
I made this site that should be safe enough to post on the forums. Who knows who might still hold a grudge. 
Short demo was a flight I just could not resist. I just had to get it out of my sys. Shows the range and a good idea of what the camera/you (at that point) can see while flying beyond visual line of sight. (BVLOS)
I got ganked by Homeland Security for the other flight! 
My drone also signals its location and the transmitters as well if you have the tracking software. Turns out, HS does! Launched from the shops parking lot, brought it back and landed. Cracked a 
and we all sat down outside as a lg regional/yearly fair had started that day. Just watching the heavy traffic/people go by. Suddenly, âAgent Smithâ appeared outta nowhere, introduced himself and asked if I was the pilot. I said yes. Picked up my beer and placed it on my seat as I stood up so it wouldnât get warm (on my 2nd 1 by now as he had to fight traffic to get to me 
) and got ready to lose my ship. After a 7/8 min argument that even Gix would have been proud of where he accused me of everything he could think of. When he ran outta accusations, he started asking me a bunch of misleading questions, which lucky for me most which I could answer correctly. In the end though, he had me on 1 thing only, flying beyond visual range. So, you could say he popped my ship but not my pod, let me go and paid me for the loss.
After the battle was over and while saying GF to each other, we talked about drones in business, what parts of the course I found difficult, etc. He was a nice guy but I donât think he ever ran across someone before who wasnât afraid of him. He looked as astonished as Iâm sure I did. I knew exactly what I did and I knew he could do nothing more than report me to the FAA. The FAA being overwhelmed with BS like this would only throw it in the trash.
A Zoomer would have curled up into a little ball and needed a diaper change from someone after that exchange.
I thought those 100âs of hrs playing Gunship would never pay off but it sure did when flying and turns out being relatively good at the game and able to at least survive the forums were good life lessons as well.
A few days later, I got an email from the FAA to join the site for hobbyist, which I did, but now the point is moot now.
Cost $150 for the course and $175 for the test. Flying is the easy part, getting permission the fly is the hard part. 3 airports around me. Where I work shares a fence line with a lg AFB. No flying there yet. By next Sep, the US will have an active remote ID sys that should allow that. I want to be in on this from the start.
