I told you I would be droning on

So Sunday came around, a day when I have a little more time, apart from ironing and making Sunday lunch and cleaning up my tip of a flat.

All batteries charged, micro SD installed in the drone body, I waited for it to get light and drove up to the arboretum to take a maiden flight.

For many years, I walked the arboretum seven days a week, to get myself in some semblance of health after my cancer surgery. I photographed all seasons, February being the greyest month ever. I chose this time on a Sunday morning because it would be quiet.

Arriving at about ten to eight, the first thing I observed was people, lots of people. Dog walkers, joggers and frankly, people who I thought would not be out on a chilly autumn Sunday morning.

The object of the morning's exercise, was to get the thing into the air and back to earth again without damage. Familiarise myself with the controls and all the readouts on the display on my phone, which links up to the controller.

The controller is set to beginner mode and I certainly have no objection to that. This is a lot of money's worth of kit, not yet paid for. Anything that stops it from getting damaged, is OK by me.

The milling people really annoyed me. I moved as far away as I could. I'd spent the week looking at videos and reading articles on the Mavic air, but nothing beats hands on experience.

Drone on, handset on, phone plugged in and app initiated. WARNING, can't take off, calibrate compass. Fortunately there was a primer which involved waving the fucking drone about and waiting for the app to approve the calibration technique. Took ten minutes, still lots of people around.

FInally, I got the green light and it was time to launch, automatically of course. I did everything it said on the app screen and the thing rose into the air and hovered at about four feet. I took the controls and have to say, I found the flying part quite easy. Do remember, I was in beginner mode. I initiated the camera to take video. My long term aim, is to capture the russet and gold of autumn and what better place then an arboretum, preferably a deserted one.

For now, I just wanted to see how easy the flight controls were, as my selfish aim, is to concentrate on pictures and video.

I noticed some nosey kid, I think he was taking photos with his phone. Precisely what I didn't need. Having watched many videos on droning, it's a fact, overly public spirited types like to stick their noses in to the business of people who fly drones, usually from a totally uneducated point of view.

The law has yet to gel on drone use in the UK. It's a little more strict in the USA. In both countries, you aren't permitted to fly one above 400 feet altitude. Here, you can't fly closer than 1 Km of an airport. Both of those rules seem perfectly reasonable to me.

There is also a reasonable drone code for the UK, which I for one, will be printing and carrying a few copies ot hand out to any gobby bastards who interrupt me when I'm flying mine. I've even checked with Walsall Council about any restrictions and they've confirmed that there are no restrictions on flying over green spaces in the town as long as you observe the drone code.

I did two take offs and landings and was visibly shaken by the precision afforded you by the array of sensors on board the aircraft, which this device is. Not just a grand title.

I was a bit too jerky on the controls which showed in the unedited video. My first edited video is pretty raw and that pesky youth is there in shot.

I'm actually pleased the clocks go back this weekend, because it means I can go out at 7 on Sunday morning and it will be light. Hopefully there will be less people about.

So, here's the video of the first flight of the drone. I promise, subsequent videos will be better.