DJI Air 3 - How To Fly A Drone at Stonehenge

Can we fly at Stonehenge? You Bet! I took the DJI Air 3 out for a recon flight and a little research prior to a commercial shoot that I'd been asked about. This is the planning (sort of!) and making of that video with the showreel itself at the end.
Along the way we'll take a brief look at the various apps and websites that are needed to plan a shoot like this (with nary a clip, gif or innuendo in sight!)
Now, you can just skip ahead to that chapter, but it won't make a lot of sense unless you get the context from the preceding parts of the video first. In fact you'll probably be asking yourself 'What the heck was he thinking!' (as I often do myself 😂)
UAV Forecast - IOS and Android - Great for checking the weather whilst planning
DroneAssist - IOS/Android/Web - a MUST for checking for flight restrictions
Dronescene - www.dronescene.co.uk - Fantastic resource for checking user uploaded content about take off and landing points, land ownership etc
IMPORTANT : Always check on the day of your flight for temporary flight restrictions - especially around Stonehenge as they change often.
Airsense is available for DJI Air 2, Air 3 and the Mavic Series.
No sheep were harmed in the making of this video, in fact they were really lovely and curious, and at one point were following the Air 3 around!
A completely disproportionate amount of time was spent on the 'subliminal message' so let me know in the comment if you spot it 😉
Do bear in mind the PURPOSE of the end product when watching the final section!
Also bear in mind that the majority of the time my footage was being filmed with the 3x optical zoom lens of the Air 3 - naturally this makes objects appear much closer than they actually are and 50m separation from vehicles and uninvolved people was maintained at all times (A2 CofC certified drone pilot).
🤘🎸"Stonehenge! - Where the dewdrops cry and the cats meow.. " 🎸🤘 - Spinal Tap 1984
And this time we didn't get confused between feet and inches! 😆 (if you know - you know 😉)
Contents :
00:00 Intro
01:14 Planning the Shoot
02:44 Arrival
03:05 Pretending to know photography stuff
03:25 A few setup flights
04:35 Well that didn't work!
05:07 Lets try again
06:28 It's Chilly! UAV Forecast
08:02 Second Battery
08:20 Waypoint Planning
09:06 This Is the Shot We're Looking For...
10:07 More Waypoint Planning
12:19 Airsense Alert!
13:34 Last Shot
15:03 Landing and a very special message
15:31 The Finished Product
17:21 Anyone Know of a Good Dash-mount For The Pocket 3?
Credits :
Corporate Mellow Groove - Doug Maxwell
Jazz Me Blues - E's Jammy Jams
Warzone - Anno Domini Beats
Rhodesia by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Artist: www.twinmusicom.org/
Talky Beat by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: www.twinmusicom.org/song/265/t...
Artist: www.twinmusicom.org
Various assets provided by vecteezy.com
#stonehenge #spinaltap #djiair3

[@JauneMacReady]

Class video. Liked and subscribed (also subscribed to various truck channels ... No idea why!) Happy birthday too 😃👍

[@amoktimeflies]

😂😂😂 Awesome! Thank you! 🖖

[@miichaelhickey]

Nice flight and it's all about practice

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou - Yep defo (and remembering to press record! 😂) 🖖

[@buzzindrones]

I went to Stonehenge flew my drone from the bridleway where the campervans park up . Flew across to the stones then hit a geo-fence had to 3x zoom to see them . Great vid my friend 😊

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou so much - yes, I plan to do a similar thing from that path on a dawn raid this Spring/Summer - will prob vlog it when I do... 🖖

[@Geeksvana]

Great work, Scott! It is a favourite place of mine to film occasionally. Air 3 is perfect for the job!

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers Sean! Been on the bucket list for a while that one….

[@iansantanabr]

Happy belated birthday!!! Congrats a couple of days late for your forty`s birthday. 🤣......Brilliant video, by the way! Your track motion was spot on!"

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks - took a stupidly ridiculous amount of time 🤣🤣

[@paullawrence8572]

Great vid my friend! Wow late 40s No way!😅. Been up and down there a few times back to our native London from dear old Dorset. Close neighbours You and I.👌👍

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers buddy - that's very *very* late 40's 😉😂 Yep - I'm only about 35 minutes away, just haven't had the confidence to fly it before. Planning on a pre-dawn trip at some point to catch the sunrise (NFZs permitting!) and will probably vlog it. 🖖

[@antivar]

Great video, love England my favorite country. just a tip, you could have done it better if you use the POI inside de Waypoint to keep the Stonehenge in the center of the frame.

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou, and yes - I was considering using the POI function within waypoints, just haven't got used to using that yet. Pure coincidence, but Nobby Green did a brilliant tutorial on that just yesterday! Will defo use it on my visit to Silbury Hill! 🖖

[@johnnymac26]

Spot on footage mate

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou buddy - always thing it's good to show the process, even if it can be a bit tiresome! 🤣🖖

[@chriscapune7873]

😀 happy birthday! I like the “Subscribe “ truck at 6:48 😂 Great job on a cold day!! Very nice 👍 😀👍🐈‍⬛🐾👏

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers Chris 👍 - you wouldn't BELIEVE how stupidly long it took me to do that! REALLY appreciate you noticing! 🖖🖖🖖

[@chriscapune7873]

@@amoktimeflies 😅👏👏👍🐾🐈‍⬛

[@stehume]

Hi good little video. Still yet to use mine just not had the time or weather when I have. Had to add to what the the other poster said, your tracking on that truck was brilliant. Been down that road a good few times to Cornwall when been camping never not any traffic but I think they have now built a bypass?. Alwya see home bargains lorry and even in the video I see one lol. Hope you're well and all the best to you ps, have to say the way the too informed you of the other aircraft was really cool .

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers Ste and thanks for watching as always🖖. Nope - no bypass as yet which is a PITA for people like me that are relatively local. You could see from the traffic that everything just slows down as people rubberneck at the stones. it's not unusual for there to be tailbacks 2-3 miles at peak times. The media occasionally dust of the plans to build a tunnel under the stones, but I don't think that'll be happening any time soon... All the best - good weather coming soon 🤞🖖

[@Drone.vision]

Great footage and fantastic views! Well done really enjoyed that! Great video! 👌

[@amoktimeflies]

Thankyou buddy!🖖

[@Drone.vision]

Your welcome 👍

[@Piratepoilet]

Hi. Thanx very much.

[@amoktimeflies]

More than welcome Matey! 🖖

[@RWProo22]

great video amok stonehenge looks like a good place to take a drone 👍

[@amoktimeflies]

Cheers buddy - just need to keep a check on the NFZs - they can change daily and sometimes it's not flyable for weeks.... 🖖

[@RWProo22]

@@amoktimeflies were you checked if stonehenge is in a NFZ what app was that 👍

[@amoktimeflies]

Drone Assist by Altitude Angel. Available for IOS and Android and also in browser. Very good app and one that I swear by.

[@RWProo22]

@@amoktimeflies cool ill check out drone assist keep up the good work loving the videos

[@PortugalCarp]

Brill video, loved the Subscribe lorry, how do you do that?

[@amoktimeflies]

Thanks mate - lots of red and white paint and a very patient lorry driver! 😂 Seriously though - in Davinci Resolve using the Planar tracker (and about 3 hours learning how to use it properly!) Thanks for watching! 🖖

[@jukkaovaskainen]

👍

[@Image_7_Media]

Great footage. I’m definitely swaying to getting an Air 3.

[@amoktimeflies]

Defo worth it, although do your A2 CofC unless you want to wait for 2026! Thanks for watching buddy! 🖖

[@Image_7_Media]

@@amoktimeflies I got my A2 CofC recently because I added a strobe to my mini 4 pro and took it over the 250g and I didn’t want to fly in A3 category. I found it useful for the knowledge too.

[@amoktimeflies]

Exactly the reason I got it as well! £80 so I could use a £12 strobe 😂

[@barnum4244]

For some better stone action, get thee to Avebury. More stones, an actual henge plus Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow in spitting distance. Fly zone permitting of course.

[@amoktimeflies]

Yep - Avebury is a challenging one - probably an early morning shoot is best for that. I have also considered Silbury Hill, but that is also bisected by a NFZ as well + isn’t actually that interesting, but I’ll probs still do it while I’m there… 🖖

[@barnum4244]

You'll get an elevated shot of Silbury Hill just by standing on West Kennet Longbarrow. It'll save some battery life 😊

[@amoktimeflies]

Oooh - I’ve just checked and the NFZ that was bisecting Silbury Hill has gone! 👍

[@Shooting-Up]

Blimey there’s usually 500 ar$eholes clambering around it. You did well to get there with no tourists

[@amoktimeflies]

Yeh - the good thing is that I think it closes at about 5 and they turf all the tourist out, so I stuck around for golden hour for some of the shots. Thanks for watching and commenting! 🖖

[@lovelifeloveboat]

The difficulty I have is with discerning the boundaries of what is classed as National Trust control, and their byelaws regarding image rights - especially when appearing on monetised channels - would you be able to expand on this as, although not in no-fly zones, this is something that is causing us content creators an awful lot of anguish. My understanding is that as long as the images are not acquired within the vertical airspace of their control, they are able to be used - as soon as we encroach that vertical space, NT have a whole department who will send you a nice bill to retro-license!

[@amoktimeflies]

I have to say I’ve not heard of that at all! (Stonehenge is English Heritage BTW, but similar restrictions I believe). As far as I’m aware no-one ‘owns’ the airspace above their property and the only organisation that ‘controls’ it is the CAA. As long as you take off and land from a public area as I did there is little they can do about it. We’ll see if/when I get monetised though, although I was outside their ‘vertical space’ the whole time. Worth raising this as a subject for discussion in a Geeksvana live stream.. Thanks for the comment & the view 🖖

[@lovelifeloveboat]

@@amoktimeflies Hi, thanks for the reply - actually, sadly that is not the case if the images are used for commercial use - which both EH and NT regard monetised channels as and use Bye Laws to enforce. Yep I can see your clever tracking and massively impressed! There is quite a bit of background stuff on YT and other platforms regarding this! Good luck with monetisation - maybe worth setting up an adsense account and buying a small promotion on one of your videos - no more than a few £££s - that should get you over the bar and set you on your way!!! Great content- really enjoyable and happy to subscribe and contribute! I'm using a mini3 and Air2 currently - but feeling the A2 may need an upgrade soon!!

[@amoktimeflies]

@lovelifeloveboat Thanks for the sub! 42 to go ‘till 1000 - think I’ll be ok without having to pay for promotion & already have Adsense set up, but thanks for the tip! 🖖