Flight Log
I was hoping to fly at the Lynn Woods again this morning, on the Pennybrook entrance side, but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. The day was overcast and rain is expected tonight but the problem was wind. When I checked my UAV Forecast app, it reported gusts of wind in Lynn upwards of 35mph, outside of my Mavic Air 2’s tolerances.
Luckily, more in the city at Spy Pond in Arlington, MA, it reported relatively milder winds. When I did arrive there mid-morning, the winds were a bit dicey though, only 8mph steady but gusts of 23mph which is right around the limit (listed at 19mph). I decided to go ahead, since the gusts seemed milder where I was (and rare). I did keep the flight short though, limiting it to one battery since the winds were slowly increasing while I was there.
Spy Pond is in Class B airspace (half of it anyway), since it is just at the 7 mile marker from Logan airport. I filed a LAANC and was auto-approved easily. Besides the wind, the weather was decent for flying, if unpleasant. The temperatures were in the low 70’s, but humidity was high.
Spy Pond Flight
Overall, Spy Pond was a fun flight. I used a grassy area by Scannell Field as a launching area, right by the shore of the pond. The weather actually played in my favor for taking off. The community path is right behind, and I would be very concerned flying here on a nice day with a lot of people. Even for an iffy day a lot of people were walking around, but due to weather were staying away from the water.
Assuming you can launch safely, the pond itself was a fun flight. It’s very similar to the Horn Pond flight I took yesterday, but there’s a bit more interesting shoreline to photograph. I wouldn’t rate it as the most picturesque, but it was decent and I’d love to try it again with the changing of the leaves.
I also managed to fly close to Elizabeth Island, but was a bit cautious with the wind and visibility. On a nicer day with changing leaves, I think there are some good photos to be had here.
Photos
As I mentioned above, the little inlet by Elizabeth Island made for some interesting landscape details.
Spy Pond also has some structures off it, making for some interesting pond side aerials.
You can see all the photos from this flight in this gallery!
