Just For Fun 233

4K DJI Air 3 LA State Capitol Flyby

Here's 4K video from a DJI Air 3 drone having a look around the nation's tallest state capitol building, the 450-foot Louisiana State Capitol building. Our FAA Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearance up to 400 feet let us fly around the building, but not above it. It's just barely within the Class C controlled air space over the Baton Rouge Airport (BTR). The views of the Capitol Lake, the Mississippi River, downtown Baton Rouge, and even the huge Exxon Refinery were great.

The close 26-mph flyby of the Capitol building was amazing, but unintentional. The connection between the drone and controller was momentarily lost when we accidentally flew too far in front of the building from the back side and it blocked the signal. But failsafe kicked in and obstruction avoidance in bypass mode got the drone safely past the building to a reconnection with the remote.

We landed, then we took off again to capture more video, all from the back side this time.

For the second landing, we were met by a woman and her daughter from Bowling Green, Kentucky. She had noticed our blue Corvette in the parking lot and was proud to let us know it was made in her hometown. We didn't ask, but it's likely they were in Baton Rouge that weekend to watch Western Kentucky almost beat the LSU Tigers football team.