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Accident prevention is easy

Former Member

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Im sorry to litter the forum with my constant droning on, but I thought I could save some folks some time and money by offering some tips to prevent you from a costly repair job.

1. Fly with the gimbal bubble on but the gimbal lock off - When first learning to fly your drone, it might be a good idea to fly with the gimbal bubble on (but be sure to remove the gimbal lock). Of course, you need to remove the black rubber cover on the gimbal bubble as well, so you can see on your device.

The bubble will protect your valuable gimbal from destruction in case of an impact. The bubble will shatter, but will give it's life for your gimbal. New gimbal = $250+ but a brand new shiny gimbal bubble = $6 Dont be ashamed of flying with the bubble on. When you get to the point where you have mastered flying, and feel confident that you wont wreck, you can take it off while flying.

One last thing about flying with the bubble on. I have done exhaustive testing with the bubble on and off, and flying with the bubble on WILL NOT make your drone overheat. Your fan will suck air in through the slots in the bubble and have the same velocity as with the bubble off.

2. Use prop guards - The cheapest way to protect your baby is to use these. You can get OEM DJI guards for as cheap as $15 at some shops, I recommend OEM DJI brand. Prop guards are smarter than your sensors, and will not let you fly into branches or power lines that your sensors dont see. They attach and detach in less than a minute, and really dont affect flight dynamics substantially. Would I go racing around in sport mode with them on? No, but nothing is going to protect you in that case.

3. Be careful in Sport Mode - A majority of the repairs that I do arrive with the controller in Sport mode. Does sport mode make you crash? No, but the likelihood is much higher with the increased speed and lack of automated braking and obstacle avoidance. I use it occasionally but never with prop guards on. The rush of adrenaline with sport mode is nice, but that same rush will be quickly put to rest when your Mavic goes slamming into a tree at 40mph.

4. Beginner Mode is your friend - Your chances of damage from an accident are reduced with the use of prop guards and gimbal bubble, but to avoid trouble in the first place, use beginner mode when you first start out. It will limit your distance and altitude, and turn your Mavic into a doclie creature. When you first start out, you will probably be looking at the drone and not the display. Beginner mode will keep it from getting away from you, and let you keep control while you are still close enough to land.

Hope everyone is having fun flying their Mavics. Share your experience with your friends and family and help expand our universe.

Best regards,

Rob
 
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Great list of safety things to implement for new pilots! I know the excitement and the rush of wanting to shoot that baby up to 400' over gorgeous scenery and wow all of your friends, but crawling before walking is always a good thing.

Only thing I would add to this is to get into the habit immediately of using a checklist pre/post-flight. There's a reason they work so well in aviation!
 
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Im sorry to litter the forum with my constant droning on, but I thought I could save some folks some time and money by offering some tips to prevent you from a costly repair job.

I would say that, read the online manual and then read it again, would trump all of these if listed in order to things to do. DJI does not help by not spending the extra 20 cents to include a printed manual.
 
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