Before Flying - Educate yourself !!!

NickB · Mar 4, 2017

Wacker2611 said:
Well, silly things like you should always remove and check your props after every flight, calibrate your IMU before every flight, some erroneous advice on when you should calibrate the compass, never fly more than 200m away from you etc etc.

3D heli pilots are the worst

Wacker2611 · Mar 4, 2017

NickB said:
3D heli pilots are the worst

I know you're having a laugh, but I'm not slagging 3D heli Pilots off per se, in fact I'm jealous of the skill required to fly those things. I had a go once, it ended in tears. But not all the skills gained being in rc for years and years are necessarily transferable to flying one of these things. But you wouldn't have thought that when you listen to some(not on this forum I might add).

Geezer · Mar 4, 2017

I think it's useful to recognize the distinction between basic skills (motor skills, muscle memory, conquering control reversal, etc.) that apply to operating ANY aircraft from the ground and learning about all the advanced features and characteristics built into the Mavic "system".
Being competent at controlling an aircraft is fundamental, so lots of practice with cheaper machines that don't fly themselves can be literally lifesaving for your $1000 Mavic.
Learning about all the capabilities of the Mavic, its controller, and the attached "mobile device" is a different animal. Just like learning to use a new computer/software (which is, after all, what the Mavic system is) requires systematic study and exploration. The biggest difference is that crashing a computer/software system usually just requires a reboot, rather than a new $1000 drone.

E92Vancouver · Mar 4, 2017

msinger said:
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

I strongly disagree. Buying a cheap quad will help immensely. The new pilot learns the controls and orientation and will gain confidence though none is really needed to fly a DJI drone.

And the little drones are much harder to fly than a DJI product especially if they only have a manual mode. These little drones will give you the confidence to fly the DJI.

Once you fly a little drone you will come to realize that thje DJI really takes no skill at all. I have let first timers from 7 years old to 75 years old fly my DJI with no problem.

But let's not kid ourselves. Flying a DJI product takes no skill at all. But the little drones help you over come that mental road block that makes you think flying a DJI product takes skill.

I actually find flying the drones super boring. I prefer flying my RC planes with video cameras mounted on them. Way more fun.

msinger · Mar 4, 2017

ThisIsCusel said:
Once you fly a little drone you will come to realize that thje DJI really takes no skill at all. I have let first timers from 7 years old to 75 years old fly my DJI with no problem.

And, there lies the problem. Most people do not have trouble controlling the Mavic. They have trouble understanding its flight features. If the majority of people were crashing and/or losing their Mavics because they couldn't control them, then I'd certainly change my tune.

Will knowing how to fly a cheap drone be detrimental? By all means no. However, it would not be wise to assume you could pick up a Mavic and start flying like a pro just because you have X months/years experience flying drones made by other manufactures (regardless of the cost).

Gtcuppels · Mar 4, 2017

Oingo Boingo said:
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.

I have been flying RC planes helicopters and drones for over 40 years this is the best advice I have seen on this forum. Buy a cheap drone and learn on it don't fly the Maverick until your proficient flying the cheap one

allnamestaken · Mar 10, 2017

Oingo Boingo said:
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.

Well said! Thanks for the post. This is a fresh take, as I have read many post that are discouraging others for posting relevant info. People seem to get mad and think they are being corrected. We ALL need to be learners! If I can learn something new each time a visit this site I am happy. Thanks again.

OCS12 · Mar 10, 2017

msinger said:
And, there lies the problem. Most people do not have trouble controlling the Mavic. They have trouble understanding its flight features. If the majority of people were crashing and/or losing their Mavics because they couldn't control them, then I'd certainly change my tune.

Will knowing how to fly a cheap drone be detrimental? By all means no. However, it would not be wise to assume you could pick up a Mavic and start flying like a pro just because you have X months/years experience flying drones made by other manufactures (regardless of the cost).

I might as well jump in to the argument with my first post here. I happen to think BOTH of your opinions are correct. Before I'd ever flown a DJI product, I spent about a year crashing a little Hubsan. It was a fantastic, and cheap way to learn to fly a Drone.

However... Both when I bought my P3, and the last two weeks since my Mavic arrived, I've done nothing but boring test flights trying out one or two new features each time. Then back to studying to either see what I was doing wrong or if all went well, researching the next feature.

Believing one is a good idea, does not exclude the other being a good idea.

Susruth Maralihalli · Mar 10, 2017

msinger said:
ATTI mode can certainly be attributed to some of the crashes mentioned on this site. However, I've seen more crashes caused by not doing things specific to DJI quadcopters -- like setting the proper RTH altitude. IMHO, people should spend less time flying cheap quadcopters and more time studying the Mavic manual.

And that I completely agree. msinger I have seen very rarely gets into unnecessary arguments..and if he is doing it now it simply means its **** pretty important

msinger · Mar 10, 2017

Just to be clear -- I'm only sharing my opinions in this thread. Different people learn in different ways, so some might feel they've gained valuable experience by flying other types of aircraft.

rydfree · Mar 10, 2017

OCS12 said:
I might as well jump in to the argument with my first post here. I happen to think BOTH of your opinions are correct. Before I'd ever flown a DJI product, I spent about a year crashing a little Hubsan. It was a fantastic, and cheap way to learn to fly a Drone.

However... Both when I bought my P3, and the last two weeks since my Mavic arrived, I've done nothing but boring test flights trying out one or two new features each time. Then back to studying to either see what I was doing wrong or if all went well, researching the next feature.

Believing one is a good idea, does not exclude the other being a good idea.

Totally agree . I think old time RC'ers like myself have learned valuable information from learning to fly aircraft in full manual mode . Heck I was flying collective pitch helis when gyros first came out and they were mechanical . Then after piezo gyros came out we started building multi-rotors using 4 independent gyros . There was no self leveling ,lol . We moved from AM radios to FM then I got my first 2.4 ghz in 2007 and thought that was the shitz . One thing us old timers had to do in all of this was also READ the MANUALS for all this newfangled technology that was coming out ! So learn to do both . Learn to fly AND for the sake of all our minds , READ THE MANUALS and learn the system and what it is supposed to be doing and how it does it .