BWR Phantoms

BWR Phantoms BWR Phantoms is a small group of Drone Pilots who fly mostly DJI Phantom 3 & 4 drones. Other manufacturers of drones are welcome.

09/13/2026

I had a bit of a BP(blood pressure) raising episode yesterday (9/13/26). I was flying my P4 and was out to about 1.3 miles when I started getting video problems. I immediately rose up another 50' in an attempt to regain video. That's when I lost all signal and the drone disconnected. I attempted to hit my RTH (return to home) altho I'm sure that that signal never made it to the drone as the drone was disconnected from the radio. I tried in vain to reconnect by exiting out of the Go4 app & restarting - nothing. I even shut off the radio and restarted in hopes that would work - nothing. I was getting a bit nervous by then. After about 5-6 minutes (seemed like forever) I heard the drone as it was straight above and starting to descend for a landing. Now that I look back, I'm pretty sure why it lost signal but why it didn't reconnect as it got closer, I don't know. I'll have to check my flight logs. Bottom line, the Phantom did what it was supposed to. It did come back on it's own and land by itself. God, I love DJI Drones.

DJI Phantom 4 intelligent flight batteries, a quick history.There are 3 batteries for the Phantom 4, 2 DJI/aftermarket a...
08/27/2026

DJI Phantom 4 intelligent flight batteries, a quick history.

There are 3 batteries for the Phantom 4, 2 DJI/aftermarket and 1 Aftermarket. When DJI came out with the very first P4, which some call the P4 Standard, it had a 15.2 volt battery with an amperage of 5350mAh. This gave the P4 a flight time of about 26-27 minutes. As the P4 progressed, all subsequent Phantom 4’s had 15.2 volt, 5870mAh battery, a battery which a lot of vendors call “Hi-Capacity”. This battery gave the P4 its current flight time of 29-30 minutes. Now comes the real Hi-Capacity Aftermarket battery made by a company called Maximal Power and distributed by Digi-Battery. This battery is amazing. It is still 15.2 volts but a whopping 9000mAh. This gives the P4 a flight time of about 44-45 minutes. This battery is physically longer by a good inch and weighs 22.8oz as opposed the regular batteries at 16.4oz. I have not noticed any difference in flight characteristics.

The cost? Well, regular P4 batteries will run you about $75-85+ for new aftermarket and around $45-60 for used. The 9000mAh batteries are only sold new for $146.00. I have yet to see one for sale used. That’s a bit expensive, I know, but I own 2 and Enid owns one and both of us agree, they are well worth the money. Below are pictures of a regular 5870mAh and the 9000mAh batteries. If you are looking for a Hi-Capacity battery for your P4, don’t be confused with the 5870mAh which most vendors call Hi-Capacity.

08/23/2026

Recently, I was asked about storm cloud flying.

Storm flying is an iffy, last-minute thing. You have to wait until conditions are right. No rain, little wind and ominous clouds worthy of decent pics. I sit and wait for the right conditions. I especially like it when the storms are scooting by me, to the north/south etc and not right at me. Sometimes when storms roll in, they are not very photogenic - just some gray clouds. So, I like to get pics of cumulus thunderhead clouds or gray clouds with obvious rain pouring out etc.

You have to be ready. What I do is have the drone props on, battery inserted, compass calibrated - ready to turn on and fly. Then I sit around waiting for good cloud & weather conditions. Then I go out, fire it up and fly. You don’t need to fly far, and I suggest keeping it close. You need to be close in case it starts raining or the wind comes up and you need to land quickly. I usually go up about 150-180 feet and down range about 150 feet away (so I don’t fall over looking straight up). Make sure your camera settings are set to enable upwards gimbal tilt limit to 30 degrees, so you camera will pan up higher than level. If your drone gets wet, pull the battery and leave it out for a couple days. Do not try to stick another battery in to see if it still works. Let it dry first.

A radar on my phone really helps. I can see where the storms are headed and a rough time when they will be close by. Good luck taking the storm pics. Also, some fair weather pics are always nice.

Mohawk Trail Trip. Stopped 4 places. Elk on the Trail in Florida, Ma. Berkshire East Ski Area in Charlemont. Bridge of F...
08/23/2026

Mohawk Trail Trip. Stopped 4 places. Elk on the Trail in Florida, Ma. Berkshire East Ski Area in Charlemont. Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls and Mike's Maze in Sunderland. Very Hazy day. 8/22/26 P4P V2.0

08/21/2026

Mohawk Trail Flying Trip Cancelled.

It seems I picked a lousy day for the trip. Nobody is available. We'll try again the 2nd or 3rd week in October when the foliage colors are peak.

08/07/2026

* * * POSTPONED * * * Rain. Rescheduled to Saturday, Aug 22nd.

Here is the info on the Mohawk Trail flying/shopping trip. 8/22/26.

We will all meet at the Walmart Northampton parking lot between 8:30-8:45am. We load stuff from many cars into a car or two. The rest of the cars can be left in the parking lot while we are gone (I have left my vehicle there a couple times without incident). We hit the road at 9am. If somebody wants to drive their own car on the trip, that's up to them. I'd like to have as few cars going as possible by carpooling, mainly because of limited parking at half of the locations. I can take 3 other people. Depending on how many are going, if more than 4 of us, I’m hoping for another volunteer or 2 to carpool others and to follow me up the Trail. This trip is open to non-flyers as well. They can help as spotters. Bring your hand-held cameras and or binoculars as there will be plenty to take pics of.

Itinerary – Leave Walmart by 9am and head up Rt 91 to Denny’s Pantry in Greenfield to have breakfast (Dutch). Leave Denny’s and head up Rt 2, Mohawk Trail to the 1st stop, Elk on the Trail in Florida MA for some great distance flying. 2nd stop at Wigwam Gift Shop for some flying and gift shopping. 3rd stop at the Hairpin Turn for flying. Heading back we will stop back at the Elk if general consensus wants to stop. 4th stop will be a quick stop in Charlemont off Rt 8A for some flying over Berkshire East Ski Area. 5th stop will Shelburne Falls/Buckland – Bridge of Flowers/Glacial Potholes for flying and some shopping. Then heading back via Rt 2 and Rt91. I expect the trip to last 5-6 hours.

Any questions, ask me here or send a text to my phone. At this point, please let me know, in the comments below, how many/who’s going so I can get an idea. It’s going to be a great trip. Thank you.

08/02/2026

Mohawk Trail Breakfast, Flying & Gift Shopping trip.

Sunday August 16, 2026. (bad flying conditions/rain date, Sat 22nd) About 5-5.5hrs.

I’d like to invite all of our little flying group (and a few guests) to a Flying/Shopping trip up the Mohawk Trail. I’d like to keep the group to about 8-10 people max. Carpooling, 2-3 cars.
Itinerary would be something like – Meet & leave 9am. Head up to Greenfield to Denny’s Pantry for Breakfast (Dutch). After breakfast, head up the Mohawk Trail. First stop - Elk on the Trail (flying). Second stop - Wigwam Gift Shop (flying & shopping). Third stop - Hairpin Turn (flying). Fourth stop -back to the Elk on the Trail if general consensus wants to. Lastly, a stop Bridge of Flowers (flying & maybe a bit of shopping). Then head back.

Enid & I scouted out this trip Sat 25th and it was a great trip that ended up with ice cream at Mo’s on the Buckland side of the Bridge of Flowers. For more details, message me here.

I usually take storm pics. This time some fair weather cloud pics and a few land pics. 8/1/26 P4PV2.0
08/01/2026

I usually take storm pics. This time some fair weather cloud pics and a few land pics. 8/1/26 P4PV2.0

Hi Ed. Here are some pics I took when I test flew your Phantom. These pics were taken without me being too picky with th...
07/31/2026

Hi Ed. Here are some pics I took when I test flew your Phantom. These pics were taken without me being too picky with the camera settings and they still came out pretty good. 7/30/26 P3Std.

2nd half of our Rt2, Florida MA trip. Elk on the Trail/Blue Vista Motor Lodge. 7/25/26 P4PV2.0
07/25/2026

2nd half of our Rt2, Florida MA trip. Elk on the Trail/Blue Vista Motor Lodge. 7/25/26 P4PV2.0

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