New to Drones

[AKQuads]

Hi I'm new to flying drones but looking to have a lot of fun and maybe even turning it into an income as well one day. I am a 60 years old living in Fairbanks Alaska. Moved here in 1968 when my Dad had a goal to build a cabin before he turned 25 years old. We did it.

I started out with an inexpensive basic drone called a Drone X, or Emotion drone I've seen them called. Been playing with it for a while. Picked up 3 of them and lost 2 to inexperience. Bought me a Mavic Pro Platinum and then got to thinking if I messed up and lost it well for this. So I bought also a Mavic Mini to learn the basics with. Still completely inexperienced but it's getting better.

My biggest trouble is getting the hand eye coordination down. Especially when flying towards me. I'm here for advice on flying tips, maybe tips on learning how to start a business after getting experience at flying under my belt.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum.
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Xanadu]

Welcome!

 

[THE CYBORG]

Hi AKQuads welcome to Mavic Pilots.

New flyer advice.
Wide open space.
Slow & easy.
Power-lines & trees are evil.
Don't forget to reed the manual

 

[SW_Drone_Guy]

Hi AKQuads. Sounds like you've got valuable experience already! Just yesterday I got mixed up when bringing the drone back home and had to stop and put on my reading glasses so I could see the info on my screen. Losing my Mavic Mini is not in the plan! You have some great scenery up there in Alaska. Keep us posted.

 

[old man mavic]

@AKQuads welcome to the forum,
a good way to get comfortable with stick control when the drone is facing you ,is repetitive flying till your brain and hands get something called muscle memory and you can do the correct movement without having to think about it
start with flying boxes ,that means flying the drone in a square shaped point to point starting with the drone camera facing you and at eye level some 10ft from you ,then fly to your right,which would mean moving the stick to the left as the controls are opposite ,go about 10ft ,then stop and then move the stick towards you which will make the drone fly away from you,then after 10ft stop and then repeat doing the stick the opposite way to the way you want to go till you finish up back to the start point,i know it sounds boring but after a while it will become second nature and you will enjoy your flying much more ,after you have mastered this then the next step is called figure of eights where you fly forwards using the yaw as well it really just takes practice good luck fly safe

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

Hi I'm new to flying drones but looking to have a lot of fun and maybe even turning it into an income as well one day. I am a 60 years old living in Fairbanks Alaska. Moved here in 1968 when my Dad had a goal to build a cabin before he turned 25 years old. We did it.

I started out with an inexpensive basic drone called a Drone X, or Emotion drone I've seen them called. Been playing with it for a while. Picked up 3 of them and lost 2 to inexperience. Bought me a Mavic Pro Platinum and then got to thinking if I messed up and lost it well for this. So I bought also a Mavic Mini to learn the basics with. Still completely inexperienced but it's getting better.

My biggest trouble is getting the hand eye coordination down. Especially when flying towards me. I'm here for advice on flying tips, maybe tips on learning how to start a business after getting experience at flying under my belt.

Welcome to the forum from the mountains of Colorado. I love Alaska and almost retired there. I've been from Sitka all the way out to Attu. Always have been intrigued by the Aleutians. Never been to Fairbanks though. My wife has never been and wants to go to AK so trying to carve some time out for that. Happy and safe flying and looking forward to seeing some of your scenery around Fairbanks.

 

[DaveS]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of good advice already here. My favorite from Cyborg...Slow & Steady. Also, if you get out a ways and get confused about where you are and stick controls to get back safely, stop the drone, let it hover, tilt up a little if you have to, then just spin around slowly to get a feel for where you are. You might see yourself or at least a landmark near you that you can fly back to. And, if you're having trouble with left and right because the drone is facing you, spin it back around 180 and fly backwards toward you, then right and left will be normal. Can't wait to see some video from our northern most (USA) state!

 

[mrjohnc1]

Welcome!

 

[Andy Mac 230]

Hi AK consider putting some extra strobes on your bird. I went for Firehouse duos Double strobes red forward left leg, green forward right leg and a white on each of the rears. The rears I leave on strobing white and the forwards on slow flash. The strobes come with 3 modes strobe flash(fast) slow pulse type flash or permanen. Depending on the mode depends on their battery life(self contained rechargeable batteries).
This will help you spot the bird further away but more importantly help you with spatial awareness and aircraft orientation. Ie if you see white flashing the bird is flying away so stick left bird left. If you see red and green it’s coming towards you so opposite stick.
As old man said practice and big spaces and it will come to you.
But most of all enjoy what is a cracking drone!!

 

[KB4MTO]

Welcome from Central Florida ?

Hand-eye coordination is a typical learning process for any pilot; I'm still learning myself. I will say that the MM has made that process much easier for me because it is so stable that I can focus on my flying rather than trying to keep it in the air.

 

[EyesWideShut]

Welcome to the Forum. Beautiful area you have to fly in. Some great tips giving for controlling in reverse orientation. Enjoy the mini and fly safe.

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Welcome to the forum.
Live a little bit south of you in BC Canada. Alaska is an amazing place, been there numerous times.
It is a bit like backing up a trailer behind your vehicle...it seems odd at first, then it just clicks one day, and you never again really have to think about it.

 

[AKQuads]

@AKQuads welcome to the forum,
a good way to get comfortable with stick control when the drone is facing you ,is repetitive flying till your brain and hands get something called muscle memory and you can do the correct movement without having to think about it
start with flying boxes ,that means flying the drone in a square shaped point to point starting with the drone camera facing you and at eye level some 10ft from you ,then fly to your right,which would mean moving the stick to the left as the controls are opposite ,go about 10ft ,then stop and then move the stick towards you which will make the drone fly away from you,then after 10ft stop and then repeat doing the stick the opposite way to the way you want to go till you finish up back to the start point,i know it sounds boring but after a while it will become second nature and you will enjoy your flying much more ,after you have mastered this then the next step is called figure of eights where you fly forwards using the yaw as well it really just takes practice good luck fly safe

That's what I have been doing. I goof up less and less but I will get it. Thanks Old Man Mavic

 

[AKQuads]

Hi AK consider putting some extra strobes on your bird. I went for Firehouse duos Double strobes red forward left leg, green forward right leg and a white on each of the rears. The rears I leave on strobing white and the forwards on slow flash. The strobes come with 3 modes strobe flash(fast) slow pulse type flash or permanen. Depending on the mode depends on their battery life(self contained rechargeable batteries).
This will help you spot the bird further away but more importantly help you with spatial awareness and aircraft orientation. Ie if you see white flashing the bird is flying away so stick left bird left. If you see red and green it’s coming towards you so opposite stick.
As old man said practice and big spaces and it will come to you.
But most of all enjoy what is a cracking drone!!

Good idea on the strobes. I will pickup some of those. That will surely with with spacial orientation.

 

[Hauptmann]

Welcome to you from the wide-open spaces of Texas!

Been spending time in F'Banks ever since 1960 (hitchhiked there from ANC), but always without a drone. One of my many bucket-list items for Alaska is to fly to F'Banks, and drive the Dalton Hwy up to Prudhoe . Maybe next year.

The Mini is a fabulous machine for any flyer. My guess is that you will fly it more than the Platinum.

Old Man Mavic offers great advice to help you gain skill as a pilot. If you need further help, please feel to call on us.

Glad to have you with us!

 

[AKQuads]

Welcome to you from the wide-open spaces of Texas!

Been spending time in F'Banks ever since 1960 (hitchhiked there from ANC), but always without a drone. One of my many bucket-list items for Alaska is to fly to F'Banks, and drive the Dalton Hwy up to Prudhoe . Maybe next year.

The Mini is a fabulous machine for any flyer. My guess is that you will fly it more than the Platinum.

Old Man Mavic offers great advice to help you gain skill as a pilot. If you need further help, please feel to call on us.

Glad to have you with us!

The Mavic Mini is great. I've yet to even fly my Platinum. For whatever reason I go out and something gets in the way. I get LAANC authorization and head out to play. I arrive on location and fire up the bird and then can't fly because of DJI Geofencing. I get everything ready and forget to get geofencing authorized. So I have been getting checklists made up so I don't forget anything. It's a learning curve. I am excited to be here on MavicPilots and know all will be smooth eventually.

 

[AKQuads]

Welcome to the Forum. Beautiful area you have to fly in. Some great tips giving for controlling in reverse orientation. Enjoy the mini and fly safe.

EyesWideShut do you know what a person needs to do to get out into those beautiful areas where there is no cellular service. Alaska is beautiful. I went out Steese Highway towards Chatanika Lodge and found a place to fly. Since phone wouldn't connect, DJI Go app would function. Unless I was doing something wrong. As far as wikipedia says there are 663,268 square miles in Alaska and if I can only fly within the confines of cell service, well I won't be able to share much of this beautiful state. I will have to search forum on this dillemma.

 

[Hauptmann]

I have no cell service on my iPad 4 Mini, but I can still fly. I don't understand why you have a problem. I hope it's something simple that can be fixed easily.

You might reach out to those among us who are more tech savvy. @sar104 comes to mind. I'm sure there are others.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[AKQuads]

I have no cell service on my iPad 4 Mini, but I can still fly. I don't understand why you have a problem. I hope it's something simple that can be fixed easily.

You might reach out to those among us who are more tech savvy. @sar104 comes to mind. I'm sure there are others.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

I"m doing something wrong! Yeaaaaaaa! LOL Thats good to know. I will have to figure it out. Do you think it will work that way with my Platinum also. Hope so. If @sar104 sees this maybe he will chime in.