Today, we took the Phantom out for it's first flight. It started out beautiful and sunny, but by the time we got to the chosen take-off spot, the clouds had moved in, and the temperature started downwards. The photos here are actually the second flight. On the first flight, I was concentrating on all the other aspects of getting this thing in the air, I forgot to click the camera icon on the Ipod. Video would have been quite interesting... You would have been entertained by my first (crash) landing into the evil bush in the 5th panel. The inset shows the result on the two counter-clockwise props! The 'copter has two props that rotate clockwise, and two rotate counter-clockwise, thus cancelling out the torque, and eliminating the need for a tail rotor as on a single-rotor chopper. Fortunately the Phantom ships with two full sets of props, so I replaced the two damaged ones, and took off again. I've ordered a couple spare sets of props, too! They don't give the dang things away, either! We chose an industrial park in the northeast area of Kansas City, where I knew of a nice field. You can punch in: 39 08 15N 94 30 16W in Google Maps or Google Earth to see where we flew. Panel 1 is looking to the SSW. I didn't go very high on this first "shakedown" flight. I'm still learning about the Ipod the system uses to monitor the camera. I had the brightness down too far, and couldn't see the altitude - but I'd guess about 60 - 70 feet. Panel 2 is looking almost due east. The Metro Community College Tech Center is on the left, the Ramada Inn is on the right, and the Hawthorne Power Plant is in the background right. That's my van in the parking lot. Panel 3 - a "selfie" from about 100 feet! I'm holding the white controller, Jo is wearing a blue jacket, and coaching me not to go too high LOL! Panel 4: Looking due west, you can see the Kansas City skyline at top left. You can see by the frozen water, it's pretty cold! Panel 5: I'm about 6 inches off the ground. This time, it was a perfect landing! I was still a little too close to that infernal, #%^&^$@$% prop-eating naked bush! LOL! This little 'copter is going to be more fun than a barrel of drunk monkeys! It handles beautifully - the controls are VERY responsive. You tell it to go up, it goes up! Same with forward, reverse, left, right, and yaw. Response is absolutely instant. Other than avoiding bushes, landing is quite easy - that was my biggest worry before flying this machine. Gently pulling the throttle below center is all you need. She comes down gently, and settles onto the ground - then you just shut down the motors. Next flight, I'll try and get a few photos of her in the air! When you get the Phantom in the air, you can just release the controls, and she'll just hover in one spot using GPS to maintain position. OK - Now I need to get busy on Page 19 of the T.N.A. story - it's almost done, so I hope to have it posted in the next few days. Thanks as always for dropping by, and for all your great feedback and support! Hope everyone has a good week!