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Does anyone have their own "pre flight checklist"

PalmettoAerial

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Just curious if everyone goes through some kind of Preflight ritual.

One of my best friends is a small craft pilot and he is religiois about his (for obvious reasons) and with me being a new mavic owner I figured it couldn't hurt to do something similar ... like ensuring the props were clipped in securely, the gimbal clip removed, battery is snug & secure, phone and controller charged etc etc ...

Just wanted to see what other more experienced drone owners do typically before take off. Thx!
 
Just curious if everyone goes through some kind of Preflight ritual.

One of my best friends is a small craft pilot and he is religiois about his (for obvious reasons) and with me being a new mavic owner I figured it couldn't hurt to do something similar ... like ensuring the props were clipped in securely, the gimbal clip removed, battery is snug & secure, phone and controller charged etc etc ...

Just wanted to see what other more experienced drone owners do typically before take off. Thx!
Here are a couple threads from a search "checklist"
Mavic Pre Flight Checklist
 
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I have a checklist for everything these days. Leaving house
1. Testicals
2. Wallet
3. Watch
4. Phone.
5. Keys
Lol ditto. Phone, wallet, vape. I sleep with my watch.

Plenty out there. Look at one and personalize your own. Before I even head out I pull up airmap or kittyhawk for wind and weather and if you have the means, possible flights near by.
 
Here's mine, size of a business card. Do I ever refer to it?... nope!
Mavic%20checklist.jpg
 
What everyone should have, in addition to a preflight checklist and much more important, is an emergency checklist, ie what to do in different emergency situations, like lost connection, app crash, loss of gps, etc. For every aircraft that I've flown or flown in, the pilot always has emergency checklists. At Navy flight school, we were taught - Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. For the Mavic:
  1. Aviate:
    • Climb
    • Hover, or establish stable flight
    • If it is out of sight, get it in sight
  2. Navigate
    • See where you are and fly to a safe location
    • Start to bring it home - RTH or Home Lock
    • Descend to a safe altitude
  3. Communicate
    • Fortunately, not much to do here for a drone, so here is where you can now start to address the emergency.
    • Restart the app
    • Recycle the controller
 
One last thing, after start-up, I normally take off and hover for about a minute before heading out.
 
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Just curious if everyone goes through some kind of Preflight ritual.

One of my best friends is a small craft pilot and he is religiois about his (for obvious reasons) and with me being a new mavic owner I figured it couldn't hurt to do something similar ... like ensuring the props were clipped in securely, the gimbal clip removed, battery is snug & secure, phone and controller charged etc etc ...

Just wanted to see what other more experienced drone owners do typically before take off. Thx!
Here's one I posted a while ago. Steady yourself, it is very comprehensive. Ready?

1. Unpack Mavic and Controller.
2. Turn on controller then turn on Mavic.
3. Place Mavic on ground.
4. Fly.

I know the list is long but it helps if you print it out.
 
Last edited:
Here's mine, size of a business card. Do I ever refer to it?... nope!
Mavic%20checklist.jpg


Awesome

Thank you... somewhat off topic but why is the power on / power off sequence so vital?

Also - when do you know if compass calibration is required? I have only flown 3 times but calibrate the compass every flight before take off
 
Just curious if everyone goes through some kind of Preflight ritual.

One of my best friends is a small craft pilot and he is religiois about his (for obvious reasons) and with me being a new mavic owner I figured it couldn't hurt to do something similar ... like ensuring the props were clipped in securely, the gimbal clip removed, battery is snug & secure, phone and controller charged etc etc ...

Just wanted to see what other more experienced drone owners do typically before take off. Thx!
Heres mine, it's not super detailed but I like it.
 

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