Before Flying - Educate yourself !!!

[Oingo Boingo]

Hi All

I have been following the threads on the forums with interest and amusement. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the pilots that join these discussions have very little or no flight experience, not even to mention controlling an RC craft. Many of the young pilots on the forums are complete nebies to drones and the MP is their very first drone. There are many that really have got a solid understanding of what the craft can do, but the majority are noobs

If you have just received your Mavic and you have NEVER flown a drone before or never had ANY RC experience dont just read the manual and then head into the blue yonder hoping the crafts gizmos will save you from crashing into things, or that the GPS hold will not make it dart off. RC craft in general especially drones which operate on the 2.4 or 5.8Ghz bandwiths are nasty beasts. Add a combination of WiFi and GPS into the mix and you have an interesting cocktail of possible failures. fiascos - Which I might add are 95% due to owner / pilot error rather than the craft making a mistake.

Take the time and familiarize yourself with the craft. Take baby steps. Learn how the controller binds with the craft, how the GPS lock works, how the craft is controlled. Dont just charge up and head for the sky.

I have noticed MANY posts on the forum that are given to a newbie by other newbies who consider themselves skilled, and then the advice they give is the worst advice ever. Take your time and study the limitations of the craft. Do short controlled flights at first and dont become a space cowboy overnight.

I have had 26 years experience in RC. 7 of which has been RC Helis and Drone Specific. Ive flown all of the DJI craft and currently own 4 different units.

Practice , practice and practice your flying skills every day. You can only get better if you put in the hours.

Just thought I would share.

 

[ISpeekW00kie]

I'm new to the DJI brand and have very little experience in flying drones. I actually bought a LaTrax Alias to learn on before I even picked up the Mavic. Some people recommend picking up something cheaper before going all out, and I concur to a point.

As far as flying goes, it's super helpful to learn on something that can take a bit of abuse. The basics of flying a drone are present between drones, but what it comes down to is that even though they may be the same as far as flying goes, they are so different when it comes to the controller.

I just received my Mavic the other day and was super nervous taking it out for the first time. I mean I just dropped 1300 on a drone. After flying it for about 5 minutes I became more confident. The problem is now that there are some many options to mess with that it will take me a bit to learn.

My advice is master them one at a time as long as it takes. Don't rush into all of the features instantly otherwise it could spell doom. Also, always be aware where the drone is, because like Oingo Boingo was saying, just because it has GPS, doesn't mean it will not drift.

Thanks for the input Oingo Boingo!

Sent from my Pixel XL using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[Kestrel]

And this is why I recommend someone buy a cheap drone to practice with.. Learn the proper flying skills first..

 

[Blacksmith]

You're preaching to this choir. My Mavic isn't even here yet and I'm thinking about how many hours it's going to take me to get confident that I can deal with emergencies. Glad I found this site--I've learned a tremendous amount. Wish me luck.

 

[msinger]

And this is why I recommend someone buy a cheap drone to practice with.. Learn the proper flying skills first..

This is great for honing your reflexes, but it won't help much with teaching you how to fly a Mavic or any other DJI quadcopter. If you want to learn how to fly a DJI quadcopter, then practice flying a DJI quadcopter

 

[Kestrel]

This is great for honing your reflexes, but it won't help much with teaching you how to fly a Mavic or any other DJI quadcopter. If you want to learn how to fly a DJI quadcopter, then practice flying a DJI quadcopter

And why is that? Learning the fundamentals of flight is always a good idea before you take off on an expensive flight.. I see it all the time, Noobs jam the throttle all the way up a lot instead of being easy on the sticks all it takes is them doing that and then ending up crashing.

 

[msinger]

Learning the fundamentals of flight is always a good idea before you take off on an expensive flight.

Cheap quadcopters don't fly like DJI quadcopters. Nearly all of the skills you learn will not translate over. They are lots of fun to fly though.

 

[Kestrel]

Cheap quadcopters don't fly like DJI quadcopters. Nearly all of the skills you learn will not translate over. They are lots of fun to fly though.

Yes they will, you learn to be careful you learn how to fly without any aides, you learn how to fly so if something happens you wont have an OH CRAP moment, The sensors can only do so much. You know you see it on these forums, you go back and forth from here and the Phantom forums, people are scared of ATTI mode, if you flown something without all the bells and whistles then you shouldn't be the least bit scared of the ATTI mode in DJI products.

You learn stick control as well. A lot of things carry over.

 

[Glen e]

I did the cheap drone and would not do it again. The dji,s fly better.

Do this:

Go to you tube and watch everything pertaining to your drone done by TOMS TECH TIME. Watch what you read here, after all it's a forum. Download the preflight checklist, use it EVERY TIME.

Then find a big field....go every day for a week or two.....try everything....

 

[ISpeekW00kie]

Cheap quadcopters don't fly like DJI quadcopters. Nearly all of the skills you learn will not translate over. They are lots of fun to fly though.

I think bare minimum as far as flying goes. My Alias handles so much different than my Mavic, but at the same time no drone handles like the next.

Sent from my Pixel XL using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[msinger]

people are scared of ATTI mode, if you flown something without all the bells and whistles then you shouldn't be the least bit scared of the ATTI mode in DJI products

When flying DJI quadcopters, ATTI mode holds the altitude. When flying most cheap quadcopters, you're flying in full manual mode (not ATTI mode). Most of the skills just don't translate over. That's of course just my personal opinion

 

[msinger]

but at the same time no drone handles like the next

True. But, if you've flown one DJI quadcopter, the next one you fly will feel very similar.

 

[Kestrel]

When flying DJI quadcopters, ATTI mode holds the altitude. When flying most cheap quadcopters, you're flying in full manual mode (not ATTI mode). Most of the skills just don't translate over. That's of course just my personal opinion

And people are still afraid of it.. I admit DJI products are easy to fly and I've said it over on the Phantom forums that you have to be an idiot to crash one if it was your fault, but I attribute me not crashing to me flying other drones and having experience, not just reflexes, judgement.

 

[msinger]

I attribute me not crashing to me flying other drones and having experience, not just reflexes, judgement.

Would you say flying other drones have taught you things like how RTH works, how the various DJI flight modes work, and how various DJI GO settings work? Or, did it just teach you about reflexes and judgement? I'm assuming only the latter. If you review the many crashes and/or lost Mavics posted on this site, you will see it's not the latter that is causing the problems.

 

[Kestrel]

Would you say flying other drones have taught you things like how RTH works, how the various DJI flight modes work, and how various DJI GO settings work? Or, did it just teach you about reflexes and judgement? I'm assuming only the latter. If you review the many crashes and/or lost Mavics posted on this site, you will see it's not the latter that is causing the problems.

I never said DJI didn't teach me anything sure it did but, and sorry but there are crashes out there that are human error.

 

[msinger]

I never said DJI didn't teach me anything

I was referring to your experience with other drones. In your posts above, you're suggesting people will learn a lot when flying cheap non-DJI drones.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Hi All

I have been following the threads on the forums with interest and amusement. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the pilots that join these discussions have very little or no flight experience, not even to mention controlling an RC craft. Many of the young pilots on the forums are complete nebies to drones and the MP is their very first drone. There are many that really have got a solid understanding of what the craft can do, but the majority are noobs

If you have just received your Mavic and you have NEVER flown a drone before or never had ANY RC experience dont just read the manual and then head into the blue yonder hoping the crafts gizmos will save you from crashing into things, or that the GPS hold will not make it dart off. RC craft in general especially drones which operate on the 2.4 or 5.8Ghz bandwiths are nasty beasts. Add a combination of WiFi and GPS into the mix and you have an interesting cocktail of possible failures. fiascos - Which I might add are 95% due to owner / pilot error rather than the craft making a mistake.

Take the time and familiarize yourself with the craft. Take baby steps. Learn how the controller binds with the craft, how the GPS lock works, how the craft is controlled. Dont just charge up and head for the sky.

I have noticed MANY posts on the forum that are given to a newbie by other newbies who consider themselves skilled, and then the advice they give is the worst advice ever. Take your time and study the limitations of the craft. Do short controlled flights at first and dont become a space cowboy overnight.

I have had 26 years experience in RC. 7 of which has been RC Helis and Drone Specific. Ive flown all of the DJI craft and currently own 4 different units.

Practice , practice and practice your flying skills every day. You can only get better if you put in the hours.

Just thought I would share.

This is very true. I've been an RC pilot for several years, nowhere near as long as you though, but the DJI Mavic is my first drone ever. I've flown little $20 quadcopters for the fun of it, and have been able to fly them quite well, but the Mavic is my first real quadcopter. What you describe is essentially what I did while I was waiting the 7 weeks for my Mavic to arrive. I watched all the tutorial videos, read the manual, and watched videos of other users crashing their drones to see what the common mistakes were the make, and then started flying a little bit at a time and tested the IFM features.

If you just put the effort into understanding the drone first, and testing the onboard features yourself to see the results, before actually doing some serious flying, it doesn't take much effort to get a working feel of what the drone can do and what it's flaws are. I'm pleased to say my drone is still flying happily. Understanding the Mavic is more or less intuitive for me, maybe not so much for others, but maybe that's just because I'm an electrical engineer and a software engineer, and am therefore able to understand more easily how software and hardware work together and how they can fail when not used as documented.

Admittedly I did crash once, and it's a minor one. It was a stupid mistake. I was trying to land the drone fast because I was so cold and my fingers were stinging on the controller. So in a momentary lapse of focus, I pulled the wrong stick down and instead of dropping down to make the landing, I backed it into some tree branches. It cost me 4 props, and it dove head first into a snow pile. Lesson learned, be prepared when flying in cold whether, or don't fly at all. Fortunately, when I nursed it at my house, I was able to remove the water that had entered the vents and the rocks and destroyed prop fragments that got lodged in 3 of it's motors, as well as reset the gimbal and assessed any damage it took, and the drone was a happy little flyer when I put new props on. I do have DJI Care Refresh so if the damage was worse, I would be able to swap it, fortunately.

So technically, I'm a drone newbie myself, but I would like to think the personal experience I have so far as allowed me to give sound advice to the newer operators. If I have ever given bad advice, I would always appreciate being called out on it. After all, I'm still learning the Mavic too.

 

[Kestrel]

I was referring to your experience with other drones. In your posts above, you're suggesting people will learn a lot when flying cheap non-DJI drones.

They will, someone that has flown drones before buying a DJI would be more confident flying one then say a noob. Me personally I just bought my Phantom and started flying it like it was nothing, sure I found the sensors amazing, and I came home thinking how the heck do people crash these things.. My previous experience helped me so in my opinion previous experience flying other drones helped.

 

[ISpeekW00kie]

True. But, if you've flown one DJI quadcopter, the next one you fly will feel very similar.

This is a first for me, so I cannot say yay or nay on that subject. The big thing to me right now is learning all the dang features this little thing has.

Sent from my Pixel XL using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[rydfree]

Can you go post this on the Facebook Mavic site with the added warning of DON'T fly in your house ! LOL

Fly is a term I use loosely when referring to the DJI type of GPS enabled craft . Operate is a better term for these things . I fly my racing drones but I only have to "manage" the controls/app with these .