Just for Fun



JD droned the Mandeville lakefront this morning. That's Lake Pontchartrain due north of New Orleans. Mandeville is the northern terminus of the 24-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and you can see the bridge in this video. A beautiful day to see a beautiful location for a walk, some bicycling, some motorcycling, and, of course, some droning.





JD's Yuneec Typhoon H drone takes a trip of about 1/2 mile north from home to have a look at the pond and pasture there. Then it takes a little jog east to view St. Michael's High School in Baton Rouge's Shenandoah subdivision. 4K video from a flight on October 5, 2020.



A little joyride from Hammond to Slidell and back, with some hide-and-seek above and below the clouds. This one is in a Piper Cherokee Warrior, not a drone.





This is possibly the most uninteresting drone video ever. But JD had to document his new driveway installation from the air in 4K. A couple of spots in the sidewalks got replaced, too. Tree roots had done their best to crack and uplift portions of the sidewalk as well as the driveway. Looks like the crew enjoyed getting their pictures taken. The best piloting move was getting out of the street quickly by ducking over the hood of Mrs. JD's car to let the traffic pass. 4K video from a Yuneec Typhoon H, flown 8/21/2020. This is the Director's Cut, which includes a flight on 8/22/2020 to view the more or less finished product.



A trip over Grassy Lake (which may or may not be it's official name) north of JD's subdivision in Baton Rouge on 8/11/2020. 4K video from a Yuneec Typhoon H hexacopter. Edited in Pinnacle Studio 23.



We haven't been out over Lake Shadow in Shenandoah in a while, so let's go. Back on the landing descent, a circling hawk seemed awfully interested in JD's Typhoon H hexacopter, perhaps sizing up an attack. But it never showed up in the video frame, and kept its distance, evidently at a higher altitude. 4K video from a Yuneec Typhoon H in Baton Rouge, LA.



Some flying fun of the manned aircraft variety, in July, 2020. JD apologies for the wiggly video. Although he knows how to fly an airplane, it turns out he doesn't know how to operate a suction cup camera mount.



A little recreational flight to have the Yuneec Typhoon H look around the neighborhood in the Shenandoah subdivision of Baton Rouge for some July 4th fireworks. New Year's Eve is always a better time to do this because it all mostly happens right at midnight. On the nation's birthday, the fireworks are spaced out over the whole evening.



Technically, it's Woodlake Drive's bridge over Jones Creek, but JD takes Monitor Avenue to get there from his subdivision in Baton Rouge. This was his first flight in this neighborhood, so it's pretty much just a look-around. Other than on the road, there's not really a good spot to land near this takeoff point. Too many slopes. JD had to wait out the traffic before his runway was briefly available.



Still avoiding non-essential travel, JD flies his Yuneec Typhoon H hexacopter over his Baton Rouge neighborhood again. From 160 feet or so, a bunch of little houses. Do they look like little boxes made of ticky tacky? Where's Pete Seeger when you need him?

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

--Malvina Reynolds, "Little Boxes," 1962


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