Beginner errors, that can should be avoided. Here is mine what is yours.

[Prmath]

I was flying "dumb" drones for years, there was no any kind of automation, no altitude or position hold, no rth etc so I get used to always watch the drone in the air and I had to think constantly about my position and orientation and drone orientation so I can fly back, those habits are essential while flying dumb drones but they also caused me a lot of problems later when I begin flying with FPV, I was still watching the drone and that caused a lot of troubles in my head because I was still flying like its a dumb drone and not the FPV drone, I was still watching the drone in the air and comparing the position and orientatin with the FPV image from the drone, that really caused mess in my head.

When I bought mavic I realized that I should just watch the FPV picture with the flight data, and just periodically to take a look for the drone on the sky. Focusing on just FPV relaxed me and I felt like I am always able to figure correct position and orientation of the drone, there was no "mixed" signals any more. My advice is to focus on FPV when you fly, take a look athe the drone in the air just to be sure that you wont hit some cables or some other obstacle or to establish general visual orientation of the drone position. If you rely on just watching the drone in the air while you fly IMHO make flying much harder than flying with FPV.

Just my experience, good luck!

I bet the Wright Bros would be in awe if they came back for a visit with us and our drones........

 

[IgorD2]

Yesterday I intentionally took old P2V which belonged to my good friend of mine which passed exactly year ago (he gave me the p2 after several crashes because he lose interest and could not trust the bird any more).

It was so good to fly that old bird again (after I managed to fix it and obtain the fresh batteries I fly it just occasionally after I purchased the mavic pro in january). My plans were to "burn" 2 batteries but unfortunately experienced "phantom connection broken" messages few times in flight which caused the instant loss of the video feed and I had to limit my plans a bit.

In the situations like those experience from the past is essential, I could use RTH but there was no need, p2 were quite far but I could orient and fly back without panic.

Believe its important to have experience in flying not just in gps mode and not just with the fpv because that experience can help when the things are not working as expected.

Anyway I really enjoy flying the old bird (partially as a tribute to my old friend) even P2V it so underpowered comparing to mavic

Its great to see that old bird in the air wobbling around

 

[Monument.AL]

I watched a lot of videos. A lot of crashes. Read a lot here and had lots of time on a cheap drone.

Preflight checks! Just like real aircraft. Everytime. Watch the wind. Watch for birds. Cause everybody’s heard about the bird. Bird bird bird.

Agree. I spent a lot of time learning and making mistakes with a Tello before investing big money on the Mavic. Spent a lot of time on YouTube discovering what can go wrong, best controller settings, etc.

And yes, create your own Check Lists to make sure you don't miss anything before, during or after becoming airborne and keep adding to them as you discover more things you should be doing - i.e. I have recently added doing Memory & Storage Device Maintenance on my Samsung phone to the Preflight Checklist as my DJI GO 4 app kept crashing when I pressed the video record button and I suspect low storage on the phone was causing that. Checklists mean you don't miss anything and can head off potential problems. You can also have phone numbers and required data such as safe flying wind speed limits readily available.

I have checklists for the following in a binder:
- Flight Planning
- Before Departing For Launch Site
- Launch Site Survey & Launch Preparation
- Pre-Flight Checks
- Take-Off
- Flight
- Emergency Situations or Landings During The Mission
- In The Event Of An Accident
- Landing
- Post Flight

Other beginner tips:

Buy yourself a landing pad, these are cheap and will help protect your expensive investment from ingesting sand and dirt during take offs & landings. It will also help protect the props from damage by long grass.

Don't get tempted into showing off your drone to friends and people who walk up, as this can quickly lead to serious situations when you are not concentrating 100% on what you should be doing. This is no different to driving a car or flying a real aircraft - keep focused on the task at hand.

Document any changes you make in your drone's controller app as these often get reset with newer revisions and you can reapply those changes after the update. This will help ensure your drone will perform the same/as expected, as it did before the update was applied.

Study and understand the drone laws for your country (or any you plan to visit).

Seriously consider getting certified (701, CASA RePL, or as appropriate in your country) as you will both learn a lot and be less constricted by the rules that govern the un-certified flyers.

Happy and safe flying

 

[Prmath]

To ME...... lots of practice ALONE....... so you can concentrate on the aircraft and its handling characteristics.
Outside distractions are Not good......... for Me
Good luck and happy flying, my friend

 

[TheWolfen]

Agree. I spent a lot of time learning and making mistakes with a Tello before investing big money on the Mavic. Spent a lot of time on YouTube discovering what can go wrong, best controller settings, etc.

And yes, create your own Check Lists to make sure you don't miss anything before, during or after becoming airborne and keep adding to them as you discover more things you should be doing - i.e. I have recently added doing Memory & Storage Device Maintenance on my Samsung phone to the Preflight Checklist as my DJI GO 4 app kept crashing when I pressed the video record button and I suspect low storage on the phone was causing that. Checklists mean you don't miss anything and can head off potential problems. You can also have phone numbers and required data such as safe flying wind speed limits readily available.

I have checklists for the following in a binder:
- Flight Planning
- Before Departing For Launch Site
- Launch Site Survey & Launch Preparation
- Pre-Flight Checks
- Take-Off
- Flight
- Emergency Situations or Landings During The Mission
- In The Event Of An Accident
- Landing
- Post Flight

Other beginner tips:

Buy yourself a landing pad, these are cheap and will help protect your expensive investment from ingesting sand and dirt during take offs & landings. It will also help protect the props from damage by long grass.

Don't get tempted into showing off your drone to friends and people who walk up, as this can quickly lead to serious situations when you are not concentrating 100% on what you should be doing. This is no different to driving a car or flying a real aircraft - keep focused on the task at hand.

Document any changes you make in your drone's controller app as these often get reset with newer revisions and you can reapply those changes after the update. This will help ensure your drone will perform the same/as expected, as it did before the update was applied.

Study and understand the drone laws for your country (or any you plan to visit).

Seriously consider getting certified (701, CASA RePL, or as appropriate in your country) as you will both learn a lot and be less constricted by the rules that govern the un-certified flyers.

Happy and safe flying

I definitely agree with all of this, especially not allowing people who come up to talk to distract you. While I've not had a crash due to this, I recently was flying on vacation in an area I had been wanting to film badly (the 2018 lava flows in Hawaii). We had spent a lot of money and gone to a lot of trouble to get right next to the big Fissure 8 there. I had allocated 2 of my 4 batteries for the location as I had 2 more places to visit that day. I had multiple people come up and show interest in my flight and what I was seeing. I always try to default to being a good ambassador for our hobby and took the time to show them some sights. When I got home and reviewed my footage, I discovered that my second battery was pretty repetitive and I lost the opportunity to get the more detailed, close up views that I really wanted.

While I'm still happy and grateful for what I got, I'm disappointed that I didn't get more when I could have. Hopefully we'll be able to go back in 2 or 3 years (the wife is already planning our next trip) and I can get it then but I learned a valuable lesson. I'll still try to be a good UAV ambassador but won't ever show strangers the sights when I have limited time at a location!!