The only drone accessories that pay the bills.

Drone pilots ask us all the time, what accessories do pilots absolutely need to pay the bills?

Surprisingly it be hard to find the a simple answer to the question of what drone accessories pay the bills.  After surveying our drone pilots and taking account for all the accessories we have in our drone cases, the list is rather simple.  In an effort to serve drone pilots at every level, we have developed a short list of must have accessories and a detailed list for more prosumer aircraft.

Experience might be the ultimate driver of understanding what pilots absolutely need any time they take flight.  The short list of accessories are typically found in every professional’s drone case. There are popular accessories that help pilots navigate particular environments as well.  Pilots who take flight in high-heat areas have vastly different needs than other pilots.  This is why we have expanded the list to help drone pilots who service various environments of flight.

Short List: the only drone accessories that pay the bills.

1. ND Filters
2. Drone Case or Backpack
3. Extra Cables for the remote
4. Extra props
5. Lens Cloths
6. Landing Pad 

ND Filters: 

While there are a variety of ND filters available online, our favorite remains the collection from Polar Pro.  No matter which drone you fly, there are ND filters for almost all drones.  Why consider an ND filter?  Some of Drone U graduates have found that the simple practice of using an ND filter has landed them jobs.  One particular pilot noted, he landed jobs in Southern Texas because his client loved the color in his photos.  After reviewing his photos and competitors, it was simple the ND filter made a big difference. The pilot had not even edited the photos. Yet the client was able to notice the difference between pilots who just flew, to a pilot who was prepared.

There are a lot of choices on ND filters, we recommended sticking to a kit that offers an ND 4, 8 and 16.  If you’re in a very bright area of the country, like around the coasts or near the desert, we recommend an 8, 16 and 32 ND set.  We understand the use case of ND filters of 1000-2000, but rarely do pilots use these filters to earn income.

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Drone Case or Backup

When it comes to protecting your drone, pilots typically purchase a drone case before anything else.  Yet the debate rages on whether to use a backpack or a hard case for your drone.  If you’re typically walking more than a half mile to any location, you might want to consider a backpack.  Albeit some drones are now small enough, that you wouldn’t need a specialized backpack.  While that may be the case for some, we still love our GPC backpacks.  They offer specialized foam cutouts that make organization a breeze.  After owning GPC backpacks and cases for almost 8 years, they also pass the test of time.  The foam does not breakdown and get foam on your gear.  GPC continues to innovate and offer new backpack and case choices for most drones available on the market today.

Typically larger drones are only offered in hard cases, which makes sense. When it comes to protecting your drone, we highly recommend GPC cases. Drone U members can still use their discount to purchase these products.

1. Phantom Backpack
2. Phantom wheeled case
3. Mavic Backpack 
4. Mavic Case
5. Mavic Air backpack. 
6. DJI FPV Backpack

Extra Cables for your Drone Remote

Ever arrive on a drone job for a cable to fail? If you haven’t had that happen, it is just a matter of time before it does happen.  We highly recommend you always have one or two backups of the cables used to connect the remote to tablet.  Whether you use a phone or a tablet, we recommend purchasing cables that are MFI rated.  Also, don’t cheap out on cables as the price correlates directly to life span.

We love the spiraled lightning cables for our drone, but have purchased more robust cables to last a longer period of time.

Extra Props

From tip-overs to striking a branch or a tree, pilots should always be prepared to replace the props.  If you strike a bush, tree or any shrubbery you should replace the props to ensure further damage doesn’t happen to the aircraft.

Typically those props only last 10-20 hours anyway.  After that time, the UV coating on the props typically wears off.  When the coating wears off, the prop begins to “track.” As the props track, it takes even more power to acquire the same amount of lift as a new prop. Over time, the prop will fail… and you could have a catastrophic drone crash.  We recommend always having an extra set of props, or even two.  Check out our drone maintenance section in operations to learn more about how to get your drone to have a long life span.

1. Phantom Props

Lens Cloths

Over time, dust will build up on your drone camera. Dust will also build up on your drone sensors. To ensure your drone continues to operate as marketed, you should keep your camera and sensors clean.  The easiest way to do this, ensure your pre-flight checklist includes cleaning the camera. This way you avoid getting a great aerial, only to be ruined by dirt specs on the lens.  Typically we give every drone pilot a lens cloth when they attend a training. Just as a reminder to keep the bird clean to ensure you eliminate errors for drone operations.  This particular accessory is absolutely necessary to continue paying the bills.

Landing Pads

Whether you’re taking off from dirt or grass, it is always a good idea to put something beneath the drone for takeoff.  Even if you’re taking off from grass, without a landing pad, blades of grass can damage the gimbal over time. Seriously. We’ve seen it happen.  Often times drone pilots do not have the luxury of taking off from pavement or concrete.  Protecting your drone from dust and debris on takeoff can lead to a longer life span for your drone. You protect the drone from its own prop wash. As the prop wash can send dust and debris into the motors. If your motor seizes, well expect another crash!  You can avoid the crash by protecting your drone with a landing pad.  Drone U’s new mini landing pads fit in most backpacks and are built for Mavic Sized drones and smaller.

1. Mini Landing Pads
2. Larger “GCP” Landing Pads 
3. Search and Rescue Landing pads (Built to help pilots autonomously locate missing individuals with pre-selected color pallets.)

Optional Accessories

In an effort to serve pilots who fly in high heat environments, we are recommending the following accessories.  We recommend that pilots who fly Phantoms or Inspires consider purchasing a crystal sky monitor.  We recommend the smallest Crystal Sky, the 5.5″ with a hood.  This particular monitor resists heat better than the larger monitors that are often purchased.  The key difference between a crystal sky and apple based products… When an iPhone or Ipad overheats, the pilot will lose all control and lose the video feed.  When a crystal sky overheats, you lose the ability to control aspects of the drone, but you can still see the video feed. Quick reminder that the crystal sky screens do not support 3rd party applications for mapping.

If you’re flying in high heat environments, consider purchasing the following:

1. Crystal Sky
2. Crystal Sky remote mount
3. Crystal Sky Hood

Security has been a major factor of drone purchases as of late.  If you want to control data access from your drone, consider purchasing an iTouch.  This device is just like an iPhone without cellular capability.  The beauty of flying with an iTouch is that you can limit how the software communicates with the internet. This will limit last minute firmware upgrades, and last minute issue with taking off.  We highly recommend professional drone pilots consider purchasing an Itouch and flying from that device.  This will save a lot of headaches and keep your drone data separate from your phone or table.

1. Apple iTouch