Drone by the river

On Saturday afternoon, a group of men arrived at Columbia River Park to test-fly a drone and use it to film a kayaker (one of the group) in the Susquehanna.  The endeavor lasted about an hour and drew a small crowd.  The drone operators were somewhat tight-lipped about their enterprise, except to say they didn't need FAA approval as long as they kept the drone below 400 feet.  (That information was in answer to a question from one of the onlookers.)

The kayaker paddles out, in preparation for the filming.

 An operator checks the drone before take-off.  The camera can be seen here, hanging from the bottom of the drone.

 Monitor - it sees what the drone camera sees.

 The drone and two remotes

Some video clips are shown below.  (My camera mike picked up a lot of wind noise, and the drone motors were a bit loud, so you may want to turn down your computer volume before playing the clips.)

Drone take-off #1

Drone take-off #2

Drone pursuing and filming kayaker from above

Drone landing