A bit overwhelmed

[sfsouthbay]

I bought a Mavic 2 Zoom here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The original intent is to use it to take some awesome images and video when I go on my island vacation in November.

There are some potential videos such as:

1. Beach and island flying
2. Near a lookout
3. While we are on a boat

I've watched a bunch of videos, and I've read this article:
How to Fly Safely Over Water - DJI Guides

Honestly, I just don't even know where to begin, except maybe to start in Beginner mode and fly it in my backyard so I can be familiar with launching and landing, and then a little bit with directions first, before I do anything else.
Of course, I will fly it just enough so I won't be a bother to my neighbors (or even fellow vacationers while on vacation).

The other piece is, do I really need a landing pad? Or even a buoy so I can land safely on water?

Thank you very much in advance. I am just very lost and don't know much as to where to begin.

 

[AeroMirage]

There is no substitute for practice. Until you instinctively know what stick does what, you need to be very careful.
Remember what it was like learning to drive?
Take your time and practice, practice, then practice some more.
Be safe, and it will come to you.

 

[sfsouthbay]

There is no substitute for practice. Until you instinctively know what stick does what, you need to be very careful.
Remember what it was like learning to drive?
Take your time and oractice, practice, then practice some more.'
Be safe, and it will come to you.

Thank you! That is great advice. I am going to give it a good try.

 

[Porky]

There is no substitute for practice. Until you instinctively know what stick does what, you need to be very careful.
Remember what it was like learning to drive?
Take your time and oractice, practice, then practice some more.'
Be safe, and it will come to you.

100% agree

I bought myself a landing pad just to keep the props/gimbal from hitting the floor but other people hand catch their drone which is another good way of taking off/landing.

You just need to get familiarised with flying 1st.

 

[jsinon]

So far the part that I'm having the hardest time dealing with is when flying my Mavic 2 Pro towards me. For a noobie like me having the aircraft bank/rotate left when I push the stick right(and vice versa) is going to take some time and practice to get used to. I've got to remember that the stick movements and anticipated response are as if I'm in the drivers seat. Watching the controller, with an occasional glance at the drone, is helping a lot with this.

 

[Porky]

Practice makes perfect as the saying goes we all started off the same as you. It won’t take long but just take your time while flying until you become confident. Next thing it’ll be like the norm...

Just remember to get the home point activated & you have satellite lock at the beginning of all your flights if you start to panic take your fingers off the sticks, the drone will just hover.

 

[Speedmeister]

So far the part that I'm having the hardest time dealing with is when flying my Mavic 2 Pro towards me. For a noobie like me having the aircraft bank/rotate left when I push the stick right(and vice versa) is going to take some time and practice to get used to. I've got to remember that the stick movements and anticipated response are as if I'm in the drivers seat. Watching the controller, with an occasional glance at the drone, is helping a lot with this.

Try practice landing with the AC facing you and vice versa. If you can manage to land on your target spot most of the time then you are set.

 

[Cymruflyer]

First of all, YES fly in beginner mode for a while to get used to the sticks. Rest thumbs on top and very, very gently apply pressure to move them, don't thing of pushing them around but applying pressure to move them. Try to visualize yourself sitting inside or on top of the drone and think about what each stick is doing If you tilt the controller up slightly then think of pushing up or apply pressure, to go up an the opposite for going down. Again, visualize yourself sitting on top of the drone and lean your body left and right or rotate your body when in YAW mode of the left stick. Remember which way the drone is pointing when doing this or everything will be backwards if you get turned around.

You can just go outside with the controller and no drone and visualize the drone doing what you are doing with the sticks. Always think gentle movements and when flying, if you get confused just release all the sticks until you can orient yourself. But do your best to really visualize yourself on the drone, that way you will have a better feel for where you need to be going whether it is facing you, to either side or facing away from you. Always take off and land with the drone facing in the direction you are looking, so you have correct control movement for your stick inputs.

When further away from you, look at the controller more for your orientation, but as has been said, just practice a lot and did I say visualize sitting on it as you do the controls? That way even when you fly towards yourself, if you think you are sitting on it and want to move left, you will move the right stick to the left. Otherwise if you are watching the drone only, you may think moving the stick to the right will make it go right but it will not, that would make it go left, as you look at it. So visualizing sitting on it helps to make you move the sticks in the correct direction for your intended flight.

 

[1buddyc]

So far the part that I'm having the hardest time dealing with is when flying my Mavic 2 Pro towards me. For a noobie like me having the aircraft bank/rotate left when I push the stick right(and vice versa) is going to take some time and practice to get used to. I've got to remember that the stick movements and anticipated response are as if I'm in the drivers seat. Watching the controller, with an occasional glance at the drone, is helping a lot with this.

Very difficult to adjust to until you develop your Control Touch some. And It's difficult at first to wrap your mind around the flight orientation of your new Mavic. But with experience it'll become second nature.
As other's have said, Practice is what you need to gain the confidence to fly without fear and confusion.
Also, I always use a Landing Pad to keep dirt and grass out of and away from the Camera. Here's a link to the one I use. It's small enough to carry around as it folds up, is heavy enough to stay put on the ground and doesnt require any pegs or stakes to secure it to the ground.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H4G53W8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Hope this helps..

 

[Cymruflyer]

A landing pad will help when you have no where but longer grass to lift off from or small gravel which could get blown up into your props. I would suggest you go to a carpet shop and buy a simple square of carpet to use from their scraps section, they may even give it to you. The carpet is light enough to be transportable, just roll it up to be on your way, yet heavy enough that when coming in to land the rotor wash from four engines does not blow it away before you can actually touch down.

 

[Mossiback]

...There are some potential videos such as:
...3. While we are on a boat...

Don't even attempt flying from a boat until you are very confident with your stick control. The added complications of boat movement make it almost mandatory that you hand launch and land.

...The other piece is, do I really need a landing pad?...

You can use most anything for a landing pad. It just depends on what you want to carry with you. If staying close to the car then a floor-mat will work. Eventually you may get comfortable hand launching/landing so a pad would not be needed.

...Or even a buoy so I can land safely on water?...

I think the only way you can land successfully on a "buoy" is if it is large and there are no waves. This is also valid if you want to launch from a buoy. As soon as the props are spinning the Mavic considers itself flying. When it detects a change in height, which could be just a few inches, it thinks it is falling or rising and will change the prop speed to compensate.

 

[jsinon]

A landing pad will help when you have no where but longer grass to lift off from or small gravel which could get blown up into your props. I would suggest you go to a carpet shop and buy a simple square of carpet to use from their scraps section, they may even give it to you. The carpet is light enough to be transportable, just roll it up to be on your way, yet heavy enough that when coming in to land the rotor wash from four engines does not blow it away before you can actually touch down.

Brilliant! I like the idea of a landing pad, but I like the idea of cheap/free even more.

 

[xagoras]

If you download and install the DJI Assistant 2 for Mavic from the DJI site and run it, you will find a simulator in there. It might be usefull to have a go there first to familiarise yourself with the controls.

 

[Drone on]

I bought a Mavic 2 Zoom here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The original intent is to use it to take some awesome images and video when I go on my island vacation in November.

There are some potential videos such as:

1. Beach and island flying
2. Near a lookout
3. While we are on a boat

I've watched a bunch of videos, and I've read this article:
How to Fly Safely Over Water - DJI Guides

Honestly, I just don't even know where to begin, except maybe to start in Beginner mode and fly it in my backyard so I can be familiar with launching and landing, and then a little bit with directions first, before I do anything else.
Of course, I will fly it just enough so I won't be a bother to my neighbors (or even fellow vacationers while on vacation).

The other piece is, do I really need a landing pad? Or even a buoy so I can land safely on water?

Thank you very much in advance. I am just very lost and don't know much as to where to begin.

you can also get up to speed with the simulator in the app. This helped a lot in getting used to how the right stick changes when the camera moves from straight ahead to left, right, etc..
I can't recall if you have to take off the propellers, or not when you enter the simulator mode.

 

[EyeFlightDrone]

Or play gta. The controls aren't the same but the mechanic are the nearly the same. Just kidding but somehow I feel video games make droning easy. Don't you?

 

[Drone on]

Or play gta. The controls aren't the same but the mechanic are the nearly the same. Just kidding but somehow I feel video games make droning easy. Don't you?

Or play gta. The controls aren't the same but the mechanic are the nearly the same. Just kidding but somehow I feel video games make droning easy. Don't you?

Don't know because I've never got it to video games, but I always thought that gamers should be the best at flying drones because they have similar controllers, so yeah video games should help

 

[DanMan32]

I've had no luck with landing pad substitutes, at least with my P3A. Cardboard and door mat always moved in prop wash. No issues with landing pad.

Here's a trick I learned in a video to maintain visual orientation:
Don't use banking (right stick) so much. Instead use yaw (left stick) for direction control.
First fly straight (push up on left stick). If you see the craft flying left, yaw left until it stops moving. It is now flying towards you. Use right yaw if instead it flies right when you tell it to fly straight.
If when you fly straight it doesn't appear moving, it is flying towards or away from you. Yaw a bit while flying straight to tell which. If you yaw left and it starts flying left, it was flying away from you. If instead it starts flying right, it was flying towards you. Undo the yaw if you determined it's the direction you wanted, or keep yawing until it stops flying right/left. Then it is flying in the direction you want.

 

[SteveCA]

to make learning easier, practice in tripod mode. it will slow everything down for learning to fly, especially in close quarters

 

[supernicko]

steveCA's tip is good - the slowing down starts the muscle memory. My 9yo daughter had a shot today in tripod mode with the info to just take the thumbs off the sticks if confused. The small adjustments to "check" if you are going the right way while in tripod mode help learning - and if you are wrong its gone all of 2 foot. Fly a few batteries a day with a run to the local open space - put out 2 markers and try doing figure 8's as that requires flying away/towards and left and right turns - do it visual first then use the screen. I actually found by switching to mode 1 early in the piece to help as it puts forward/back and turning on the same control with the height and way less used pan sideways(slew) on the other. Goes against the USA common goto - but im in Australia and the Earth spins in reverse down here ; )