Drone lights red/green...odd orientation

[speedbird_1]

isn’t it odd that Mavic Air 2’s lights are red in front and green in back? I mean, cars have red lights in the Rear. And boats and planes have red on port/left and green on starboard/green. Wondering why DJI / drone markers didn’t follow suit.

and seeing how the FAA wants to monitor drones, I would expect future drones would follow that lighting pattern, no? some sort of standard may be set.

 

[vindibona1]

I don't know. Does seem odd. One would think it would be the other way around, red in front and green in back. But I know very little about navigation light protocol.

However those LED lights are only good for a short distance. I've put red/green strobes on the front arms of my drones and a white strobe on the bottom and don't even pay attention to the built-in lights.

 

[anotherlab]

It probably goes back to the days before the Phantoms could stream video back and it was just easier for the operator to see which direction the drone was facing.

 

[DanMan32]

I don't know. Does seem odd. One would think it would be the other way around, red in front and green in back. But I know very little about navigation light protocol.

However those LED lights are only good for a short distance. I've put red/green strobes on the front arms of my drones and a white strobe on the bottom and don't even pay attention to the built-in lights.

But it is red in front, green in back.

 

[MA2 317]

The front lights are red for orientation and the rear lights are the status indicators for the aircraft.

Page 12 of the manual will explain what the aircraft is doing by reading the flash codes of the indicator lights.

 

[DanMan32]

Syma has red in front, green in back. Seems to be an unwritten standard.

 

[speedbird_1]

I know the manual has the light flash codes. But I guess it is an unwritten standard that drone have red lights up front.
thar said, as the FAA looks to get all drones registered in a semi standardized way, I would think it was push for an industry standard of port/starboard configuration.

then again, I hope the fAA has bigger fish to fry in general.

 

[Cymru]

Properly situated and coloured navigation lights should be mandatory on drones.
Drives me mad to see the international conventions ignored.

 

[ZenRV]

New to drones but have been flying RC helicopters. I just assumed it was so you knew it was flying at you, if you saw red. Getting hit by the blades on a single rotor of any size is a trip to the ER.

 

[Drone752H]

In the year 1843 navigation/orientation lights were standardized in Europe. Red on the left, green on the right. Within a few short years that standard was adopted world wide and when aircraft began to ply the friendly skies, BINGO! Red on the left, green on the right. Then came hearing aids with Red on the right and blue on the left (what’s that all about?). And now drones with yet another system. I too don’t understand why it’s not red left, green right and white in the back just like boats and airplanes. And now with the required merging of drones into the National Airspace System and with the way the FAA continues to make reference to “unmanned air vehicles”, I would think a standard coloration scheme would be mandatory.

And while I’m on the soapbox, why is “pulling” on the collective (left stick) DOWN and pushing is UP? That’ll get you killed in a helicopter! Same with aircraft where pulling on the stick/yoke is UP and pushing is DOWN and of course this is control selection #2. If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function. I fly both fixed wing and helo.

 

[MA2 317]

If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function.

You can set the joysticks to how you like it in the app under the custom tab.

You don't have to use mode 2.

 

[Cymru]

In the year 1843 navigation/orientation lights were standardized in Europe. Red on the left, green on the right. Within a few short years that standard was adopted world wide and when aircraft began to ply the friendly skies, BINGO! Red on the left, green on the right. Then came hearing aids with Red on the right and blue on the left (what’s that all about?). And now drones with yet another system. I too don’t understand why it’s not red left, green right and white in the back just like boats and airplanes. And now with the required merging of drones into the National Airspace System and with the way the FAA continues to make reference to “unmanned air vehicles”, I would think a standard coloration scheme would be mandatory.

And while I’m on the soapbox, why is “pulling” on the collective (left stick) DOWN and pushing is UP? That’ll get you killed in a helicopter! Same with aircraft where pulling on the stick/yoke is UP and pushing is DOWN and of course this is control selection #2. If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function. I fly both fixed wing and helo.

Dont even get started with boats and IALA A and B where although port/starboard colours are the same the bouyage for in and out of a channel are reversed...

Need to think "OK, going into a channel.. Which way round. Am I in the USA or almost anywhere else in the world?"

I dont think of it as collective as you dont "fly" a drone in any sense - you're simply manipulating a really stable autopilot system. So the up arrow and down arrow to alter height i find find.

That said, i almost crashed my mavic 1 numerous times in fixed wing mode when pitch up/down were totally reversed from literally every real aircraft in the world.

 

[DanMan32]

New to drones but have been flying RC helicopters. I just assumed it was so you knew it was flying at you, if you saw red. Getting hit by the blades on a single rotor of any size is a trip to the ER.

I was hit by Mini 1 blades. It only smarted big time, like being hit with a hammer.

 

[DanMan32]

In the year 1843 navigation/orientation lights were standardized in Europe. Red on the left, green on the right. Within a few short years that standard was adopted world wide and when aircraft began to ply the friendly skies, BINGO! Red on the left, green on the right. Then came hearing aids with Red on the right and blue on the left (what’s that all about?). And now drones with yet another system. I too don’t understand why it’s not red left, green right and white in the back just like boats and airplanes. And now with the required merging of drones into the National Airspace System and with the way the FAA continues to make reference to “unmanned air vehicles”, I would think a standard coloration scheme would be mandatory.

And while I’m on the soapbox, why is “pulling” on the collective (left stick) DOWN and pushing is UP? That’ll get you killed in a helicopter! Same with aircraft where pulling on the stick/yoke is UP and pushing is DOWN and of course this is control selection #2. If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function. I fly both fixed wing and helo.

Left stick up/down is throttle, not elevator. The right stick is elevator where pitch down is forward, pitch up is backward, since when you pitch a copter forward, part of the downward thrust is shifted backward.
Left stick right/left is rudder
Right stick right/left is ailerons causing roll..

For non navigation, at least in English right begins with R and red begins with R, so the right side of a device would be marked R, or colored red.

When in Montreal, for a while I was confused why C was on the left. What I thought was H on the right was really F.

 

[speedbird_1]

In the year 1843 navigation/orientation lights were standardized in Europe. Red on the left, green on the right. Within a few short years that standard was adopted world wide and when aircraft began to ply the friendly skies, BINGO! Red on the left, green on the right. Then came hearing aids with Red on the right and blue on the left (what’s that all about?). And now drones with yet another system. I too don’t understand why it’s not red left, green right and white in the back just like boats and airplanes. And now with the required merging of drones into the National Airspace System and with the way the FAA continues to make reference to “unmanned air vehicles”, I would think a standard coloration scheme would be mandatory.

And while I’m on the soapbox, why is “pulling” on the collective (left stick) DOWN and pushing is UP? That’ll get you killed in a helicopter! Same with aircraft where pulling on the stick/yoke is UP and pushing is DOWN and of course this is control selection #2. If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function. I fly both fixed wing and helo.

Funny I didn’t even think about the up/down thing.... may change my settings now, truth.

 

[DoomMeister]

And while I’m on the soapbox, why is “pulling” on the collective (left stick) DOWN and pushing is UP? That’ll get you killed in a helicopter! Same with aircraft where pulling on the stick/yoke is UP and pushing is DOWN and of course this is control selection #2. If that’s too hard to standardize then at least make it a customizable function

With the controller set to Mode 2, relate the right stick with the cyclic control. The left stick is like the collective with a governor. Up causes the aircraft to gain altitude (up collective increases blade pitch and engine rpm) and down decreases altitude (decreased blade pitch and lowered engine rpm). Left and right movement is rudder to yaw the aircraft.

 

[ZenRV]

I was hit by Mini 1 blades. It only smarted big time, like being hit with a hammer.

Carbon fiber blades of medium size helicopters will go right through jeans

 

[Drone752H]

With the controller set to Mode 2, relate the right stick with the cyclic control. The left stick is like the collective with a governor. Up causes the aircraft to gain altitude (up collective increases blade pitch and engine rpm) and down decreases altitude (decreased blade pitch and lowered engine rpm). Left and right movement is rudder to yaw the aircraft.

Yup, like I said, “the left stick is like the collective”. But it’s backward! Pulling on an aircraft yoke/stick takes you up, pulling the collective in a helo takes you up. Pulling the left stick with the drone makes you go down. Most folks have never flown an airplane but many have flown some kind of PC flight sim and understand the up/down concept. I just find it interesting that this part of the drone is counter-intuitive.

 

[DoomMeister]

Yup, like I said, “the left stick is like the collective”. But it’s backward! Pulling on an aircraft yoke/stick takes you up, pulling the collective in a helo takes you up. Pulling the left stick with the drone makes you go down. Most folks have never flown an airplane but many have flown some kind of PC flight sim and understand the up/down concept. I just find it interesting that this part of the drone is counter-intuitive.

If you relate left stick “UP” with pulling UP on the collective it makes sense. Don’t relate it to what your thumb is doing. Just trying to get your thought process on a path that helps make sense of the controller layout.

 

[Drone752H]

isn’t it odd that Mavic Air 2’s lights are red in front and green in back? I mean, cars have red lights in the Rear. And boats and planes have red on port/left and green on starboard/green. Wondering why DJI / drone markers didn’t follow suit.

and seeing how the FAA wants to monitor drones, I would expect future drones would follow that lighting pattern, no? some sort of standard may be set.

It only makes “sense”! Green on the right, red on the left and white on the back. Has worked worldwide on ships and airplanes since 18 something.