New pilot - general question on losing drones and flyaways

[flyersnut]

Maybe you can help me with regards to the orientation of the compass on the screen. I have been flying for about a year with out a problem and no crashes. However, the orientation of the compass is never the same direction as my Mavic. I have done 1 or 2 re-calibrations of the compass, as well as on my phone, and have had no success. I fly ONLY vlos, and have had 0 problems. I was just wondering since you mentioned make sure your compass lines up with your Mavic, I'd better see if I can fix my problem (if in fact I have one) Any help would be appreciative. Thanks.

 

[reemas]

There's a ton of great info here. Thanks for the replies and questions so far. I feel more confident just from reading everyone's advice and experiences.

And thanks for the thorough checklist @Nosebump. If you hadn't mentioned you were also a pilot I would've known anyway from that checklist.

 

[reemas]

Is it recommended to take the propellors off every time? Do you leave them on when you put them in your bags?

 

[Qoncussion]

Is it recommended to take the propellors off every time? Do you leave them on when you put them in your bags?

You'll run the risk of wearing out the springs if you remove the props after every outting. You would also risk not seating one properly, simply due to the sheer number of times you would be remounting them. Mine always stay on.

 

[Nosebump]

There's a ton of great info here. Thanks for the replies and questions so far. I feel more confident just from reading everyone's advice and experiences.

And thanks for the thorough checklist @Nosebump. If you hadn't mentioned you were also a pilot I would've known anyway from that checklist.

The checklist is for a Mavic Pro, and not the Pro II. The gimbal settings and sensitivities should transfer over and be applicable for your Pro II, but I would rethink the obstacle avoidance settings, The Pro II has side and rear sensors, while the Mavic I doesn't. If obstacle avoidance is turned ON on the Mavic I, the drone could sidestep into an obstruction. That's why it's OFF. You won't have that problem, especially with APAS.

And the IMU calibration isn't performed on every flight. I included it on the checklist to have the procedure with me just in case. Same with the compass and gimbal calibration.

I've enjoyed my Mavic I, and never experienced a fly-away nor anything serious. Your next challenge will be finding video editing software. You'll want to cobble together video clips, add titles and music, and remove "oops". When that time comes, let me know. I've got about a hundred hours into that discovery process, and can save you a bundle of time. Hint: Don't buy any particular program. You'll run into dead-ends or limitations. -And you'll have everyone out there telling you which is the "best". As a drone pilot, you don't want to mire yourself down into a complex program. There's a balance.

Have fun!

 

[GringoLoco]

The checklist is for a Mavic Pro, and not the Pro II. The gimbal settings and sensitivities should transfer over and be applicable for your Pro II, but I would rethink the obstacle avoidance settings, The Pro II has side and rear sensors, while the Mavic I doesn't. If obstacle avoidance is turned ON on the Mavic I, the drone could sidestep into an obstruction. That's why it's OFF. You won't have that problem, especially with APAS.

And the IMU calibration isn't performed on every flight. I included it on the checklist to have the procedure with me just in case. Same with the compass and gimbal calibration.

I've enjoyed my Mavic I, and never experienced a fly-away nor anything serious. Your next challenge will be finding video editing software. You'll want to cobble together video clips, add titles and music, and remove "oops". When that time comes, let me know. I've got about a hundred hours into that discovery process, and can save you a bundle of time. Hint: Don't buy any particular program. You'll run into dead-ends or limitations. -And you'll have everyone out there telling you which is the "best". As a drone pilot, you don't want to mire yourself down into a complex program. There's a balance.

Have fun!

I'd be interested in your suggestions for someone new to video. I have experience with photography but know nothing about video, my head is spinning just getting started looking into color grading DLog and stuff. Don't even know what if any programs my laptop will be able to handle yet.

 

[Nosebump]

You and I have paralleled each other both in commercial piloting, drone flying, and photography. For many years, I shot with a Hasselblad 500C, and at one time owned a photo processing lab. When my interest in drones surfaced, I learned that my aviation skills did very little to prepare me for drone flying. Likewise, my photography skills helped only with basic composition and exposure. The learning curve for cinematography was ultimately steeper than the flying part, and I struggled initially. Once over "the hump", things became easier.

I would, for now, forget about Dlog. Start with the standard camera settings. They will give you amazingly good results and images without doing any color grading gymnastics. Dlog is a format designed specifically for those who want to perform serious color grading, but if you initially record in dlog, the images will be "flat" color-wise. You won't be color-grading for quite some time, if ever.

As an example, let me paste a link of a video that I pasted together of my local town. It was shot with no color grading, and before I tamed the gimble and pan settings. It was also cut short at the end when flying critters attacked my drone. It's also too long, and was rendered in 1028 resolution (-It was shot in ultra HD, but reduced so that it would play on older computers). -Lots of mistakes (-I used the wrong kind of dissolves), but I use it as an example of what you can do without being proficient.

Amazon Drive

To edit, I used a video program called Resolve 15 Beta. It's a free download, and can do virtually everything that the pay programs do. It's also well-supported on YouTube, so you can view how-to clips there. I have it installed on a laptop with 4 GB memory, and it runs adequately. The program will be overwhelming at first, but when you begin to break it down into pieces (-Resolve lets you do that) it'll slowly come together. The gurus on YouTube talk too much lingo at first, and it took me lots of practice to understand what they were rattling off.

Oh, and another good program to just view your videos is VLC Media player. It's also free.

 

[Black Mama]

Remain in VLOS and your chances of not losing the drone are heaps better.

Remain in VLOS and your chances of having fun are heaps lower.

 

[Nosebump]

Remain in VLOS and your chances of having fun are heaps lower.

But for now, it's the LAW. It MAY change (-discussions with the FAA are currently underway) but it would only take one serious incident to shut out that rule change for good. As an example, last week I was examining my roof. The non-clog gutters were clogged with leaves, and I wanted to see how bad before climbing a ladder.

Then I heard a chopper approaching at what sounded like a great speed. I quickly dove for the weeds and landed the drone. A couple seconds later one of the county police helicopters zipped overhead at treetop level. Now, who was right or wrong?

I was below 400' and still maintaining VLOS, so legally I was correct. Ironically, the police helicopter was legal too, yet if we'd collided, whose fault would it have been? Since I was "legal" at the time, the overtaking vehicle and the PIC would've been at fault. Had I been a block or two away, I would've been illegal, and the liability would've then shifted. More important, if a police helicopter had been "brought down" by a drone, the publicity would've spelled disaster for drones no matter whose fault it was!

Ironically, the chopper pilot was a neighbor who was messing with me, but not before I gave serious consideration to filing a NASA ASRS form (-I was worried about an action against my pilot certificates).