Tucson?

slowjohnny · Mar 19, 2017

Howdy folks. I'm going to be in Tucson all next week and am thinking of taking my P4 for some after work (end of day) flying. I have and use the B4Ufly app but was wondering if anyone could suggest some good areas to fly that are not that far out of town as time is limited before dark.

Thanks in advance

(yes, I did use search...

)

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 19, 2017

Tucson mountain park (all parks) are no fly zones (no fly from zones). Just a heads up.

slowjohnny · Mar 19, 2017

Yeah, I saw that, one of the reasons why I'm reaching out to get some local intel on where there is to fly. I know some of the scenery, especially the valleys, desert, etc. would be awesome to fly but want to make sure its cool with the locals. Thanks for looking out for me.

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 20, 2017

If you have time you could drive up the mountain north of town? Mount Lemmon? Not sure when you get out of work. Otherwise I got nothing. Find Saquarros and fly

slowjohnny · Mar 20, 2017

NewMexicoFlyer said:
If you have time you could drive up the mountain north of town? Mount Lemmon? Not sure when you get out of work. Otherwise I got nothing. Find Saquarros and fly

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure either but I did bring it with me and have been looking on the b4ufly app and there doesn't seem like many places near town when you count all of the heliports. I do have a suggestion that I am going to check out though to the east of town. And if I see any cactus I'll just fly!

slowjohnny · Mar 20, 2017

Well, I did get out today, east of town off Redington road. I forgot (somehow?) to install an sd card on the first flight and by the 2nd flight it was getting fairly dark so the pic is kinda dark. Cool flying in a valley with all of the cactus! I hope to get out some other time this week but work will probably get in the way

.

Thanks everyone for your help!

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 21, 2017

I have two cards, the quad is never locked and loaded

slowjohnny · Mar 22, 2017

I did have a 2nd card, the primary card was sitting at home in the computer after being formatted!! Nice flying though!

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 22, 2017

Yeah the cacti are cool. I'm guessing not as forgiving as trees

slowjohnny · Mar 22, 2017

NewMexicoFlyer said:
Yeah the cacti are cool. I'm guessing not as forgiving as trees

You say that but I don't think trees are forgiving at all! lol I also have several 210mm mini quads I fly FPV, I don't race, much too old for that but have hit the occasional tree... so yesterday evening I was having a little fun and was flying in between the large saguaro FPV style thinking the video would be cool to see later on. As it turned out my "back up" sd card turned itself off and didn't capture my cool flying. Oh well, will have to do it again!

I had planned to go south today and fly in the desert but didn't get out of work in time. Maybe tomorrow.

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 23, 2017

Too windy here today (about 150 miles east) to even think about flying. Low. Louis would have been sweet. Steady 29-25 mph with 40 mph gusts

NewMexicoFlyer · Mar 23, 2017

slowjohnny · Mar 23, 2017

Too bad about the wind, also too bad there wasn't some rain with it! I did go out this afternoon, went south but didn't find a suitable place before it got dark. Hopefully tomorrow, one more shot while I'm in town.

Will probably go back to the place on Redington road, at least I know I can fly there.

azgeek · Mar 24, 2017

NewMexicoFlyer said:

Nice dramatic cloudscapes. Very cool captures.

azgeek · Mar 24, 2017

slowjohnny said:
Too bad about the wind, also too bad there wasn't some rain with it! I did go out this afternoon, went south but didn't find a suitable place before it got dark. Hopefully tomorrow, one more shot while I'm in town. Will probably go back to the place on Redington road, at least I know I can fly there.

Sorry that I missed seeing your post earlier. If you still have one more day then try the scenic overlook near the Babad Do'ag trailhead. It's on my list of places to fly during sunset and, from what I can see on Airmap, looks to be safe to fly.

slowjohnny · Mar 28, 2017

azgeek said:
Sorry that I missed seeing your post earlier. If you still have one more day then try the scenic overlook near the Babad Do'ag trailhead. It's on my list of places to fly during sunset and, from what I can see on Airmap, looks to be safe to fly.

That sounds like a cool place to fly, will have to save it for next time though! I did get out Friday afternoon and had an absolute blast up the road from where I was flying off of Redington road. I got to try (for the first time, duh) the "point of interest" feature and it actually worked pretty well. It was nice to fly someplace different, having the P4 zoom through valley's and up hills, etc. was fun and I'm glad I brought it. Will definitely travel w/the P4 more often now!

And thanks to everyone for putting up with my questions and helping me make the most of my week in Tucson. Hopefully I'll be able to return the favor one day!

azgeek · Mar 28, 2017

slowjohnny said:
View attachment 79343

That's a cool capture. You picked a great spot to fly, but there can be a lot of folks out target shooting in that area. Glad it worked out for you.

slowjohnny · Mar 29, 2017

Yes, I heard them! Actually, I talked to a group of folks at the entrance and they explained what was ahead in the park and that they went out to shoot. Where I am is in the "no shooting" area. There were quite a few folks out there though. Very nice day for flying!