Drones are a hot topic at the moment. Not that they weren't already with the sudden usage in war zones. But suddenly we've been hearing about drones of all sorts being reported in various European nations over the past few days. Armenia was already ahead of the drone anxiety though. It came from their recent war with Azerbaijan that saw Turkey and Israel massively arming the Azeris with advanced drone weaponry. Since that conflict which never really ended, the nation has had quite a strong reaction to drones in various places. There's a fear from certain locals that drones are used for recon, where tourists are actually paid by the enemy to gather intelligence using consumer drones.
Naturally, flying over military zones or government buildings is a big no-no. That's just common sense. But in Armenia flying the drone anywhere can be quite a gamble. And I've directly experienced the result of this in the past; back in February I wrote about how in a small town I was flying my drone, far from the busy streets or anywhere near anything important, and a local with great fear and ignorance had followed me through the streets before reporting me to the police for being suspicious. I was detained and spent a good time trying to explain my innocence. Fortunately things were settled and I was let go having done absolutely nothing wrong. But this experience definitely killed off my drone confidence. This is the first time that I have decided to fly my drone in Yerevan, and even so, I remained on edge.
It's a small city and there aren't many green spaces. Most are small and shared by many, even policed. So I chose the next most empty space: the outskirts of the city where a former Soviet era children's railway resides. A little wooded area where it's rarely policed. You might find locals walking or running through by the rail and taking advantage of this space actually being somewhat green and natural. Perhaps even see some people bathing in the natural mineral water of the river which has a bathing area to some surprise. Though, even here it's littered and a bit grim. Your typical city 'wooded natural space' which ends up being more plastic and cigarettes than anything wood. But here, where I knew I'd be mostly alone, free to fly unseen, I chose to capture a few surrounding shots of the city that I could.
Above is the main building of the children's railway. The station, I guess. I flew around the area hiding away under some trees and in the more dense areas where nobody would see me even if for some reason somebody noticed the drone elsewhere, mostly over roads and near the buildings as the city began. I flew near a stadium that I had wanted to capture for a long time but never found the chance to do so. I kept the drone a bit low, not too far over the trees. Around 120 metres in height was the maximum, though I felt that itch to go beyond. To increase the distance and height, to really get back into the swing of things, as I had loved capturing everything in Georgia where nobody really cared. The construction sites. The main roads dense in traffic. The industrial zones that fuelled the chaos of the city. I knew I couldn't do it from here, and I knew that my tiny drone didn't have the strength to really go beyond anyway.
The confidence still isn't here. Perhaps with a stronger drone that could get more distance and allow for me to step away a bit more might help, but this Mini 2 requires me to stay a bit close, more in the open despite me wanting to not be seen. This last shot shows the sort of environment I was in, where I was landing and taking off from. Lurking within the old rail and the overgrowth. Not as confident nor lucky as those who just shoot the main areas of interest in the city centre. Perhaps one day I'll reach that point again, but I think it'll take a while still. But hey, at least I took the step to pull the drone out somewhat in the city. Hopefully I can capture more from this fun aerial perspective. I've definitely missed it.