First drone, first flight…first class!

[David MacNeill]

Wow. Just wow. My first flight went GREAT. This birdy is fast and responsive like a Mini Cooper! No trouble getting the hang of the sticks, even though I was never particularly adept using joysticks back in the Atari era — yeah I know, ancient history. Your day will come, sonny. 8~)

Now I can‘t wait to try all the trick programs, like Asteroid. And I want to learn what the other files in the camera folder are for.

In some ways I wish I had gotten into drones sooner, but in other ways I’m glad I waited for such a solid and mature product like the Air3. I do wish DJI would not send me confirmation emails entirely in Mandarin. I don’t want to be rude, but there is no way in hell I’m clicking on any of those links!

This is going to be fun!

 

[mavic3usa]

Congrats and you should consider it perfect timing to get into drones right about time and especially with one of the best drones on the market, the Air 3. There is no other better time than now!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Now I can‘t wait to try all the trick programs, like Asteroid.

Congratulations on the new drone and welcome but might I suggest you 'learn to walk before you try dancing'.
There's a lot to know beforehand that might save you crashing or losing the drone due to behaviours you are unaware of.
Spend some time reading the manual then re-reading the manual and experimenting with your understanding of the manual.
Notable points RTH behaviours, which sides of the drone are protected by OA, low battery behaviours.
Those three have caught a lot of people out.

 

[SWTSU]

Welcome, you just opened Pandora’s box.

I started with an Air 2S, then got a FPV and finally an Avata….within a few months, lol.

I now feel that I have a good range of drones for any situation.

 

[rjwmorrell]

Congratulations on the new drone and welcome but might I suggest you 'learn to walk before you try dancing'.
There's a lot to know beforehand that might save you crashing or losing the drone due to behaviours you are unaware of.
Spend some time reading the manual then re-reading the manual and experimenting with your understanding of the manual.
Notable points RTH behaviours, which sides of the drone are protected by OA, low battery behaviours.
Those three have caught a lot of people out.

This is very good advice. Spend time learning the behaviour of your specific aircraft, and what to expect under what conditions.

When does the downward vision system kick in? Will it work in fog? Over water?

Will the Obstacle Avoidance work when doing Intelligent Flight Modes?

When in sport mode, what is the stopping distance at the fastest speed? How long does it take to stop?

What is the CSC set to? Will you accidentally stop the motors in mid air while trying to do a complicated maneuver?

Pilot experience (or inexperience) and Aircraft characteristics are just two risk factors (of four) I found in a Transport Canada safety presentation for civil aviation. The other two were Environment and External factors.

To OP, I say happy flying, but be careful with your bird!

 

[David MacNeill]

I’m reading this manual for third time, looking up the things you all have mentioned as potential pitfalls. I am thrilled after my first flight with this marvelous flying machine, but I respect the obstacles that await us in this big blue world.

I humbly thank you all for your encouragement and wisdom!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

What is the CSC set to? Will you accidentally stop the motors in mid air while trying to do a complicated maneuver?

Good question.
I would suggest that the emergency motor stop setting be left at "Emergency Only" and then radical joystick manoeuvres will not cause the CSC to stop the motors. In that case the drone will descend in a controlled helix that will stop as soon as the joysticks are released.
The alternative "emergency motor stop" setting of "Anytime" has a quoted delay/dwell time of two seconds and, because of that short delay/dwell time, I think the chance of that accidentally triggering a mid air motor stop are too great for it to be a safe option for normal flying.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Congrats and you should consider it perfect timing to get into drones right about time and especially with one of the best drones on the market, the Air 3. There is no other better time than now!

Well, I liked it better when it was the Wild West, and no one else was flying! LOL!
Too many restrictions now, plus Remote ID, and Karens everywhere! You could hack your drone and freely modify parameters and fly responsibly without any GEO! External batteries and amped up transmitters gave you the same range and flying times as now, without any VLOS requirements! Ah, the good old days!

 

[old man mavic]

@GadgetGuy its not just drone flying, that has changed from the good old bad old days.
almost everything we do now,has so many cant do this ,cant do that restriction's applied to it

 

[monchan]

Spend some time reading the manual then re-reading the manual and experimenting with your understanding of the manual.
Notable points RTH behaviours, which sides of the drone are protected by OA, low battery behaviours.
Those three have caught a lot of people out.

Great Advice. On one of my first flights with the air 1, phone in the controller, full of confidence and was flying along the beach. I had not got into a habbit of looking at battery and rc signal etc. and I think I had the sound off on my phone not sure. But I didn`t hear any warnings of low battery. Anyway, extreme low battery and the drone starts a forced landing, luckily only about a meter from the waters edge But I could tell so I was sprinting to get to it.

 

[GregS]

The way things are headed I am tempted to sell my Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 Pro combo's and go with a sub 250 gram drone, maybe a Mavic 3 combo with the screen remote. Going to be hard to do that since I love both of my drones. Would also have to part with my white goggles. Decisions, decisions!!!!

 

[GFields]

Wow. Just wow. My first flight went GREAT. This birdy is fast and responsive like a Mini Cooper! No trouble getting the hang of the sticks, even though I was never particularly adept using joysticks back in the Atari era — yeah I know, ancient history. Your day will come, sonny. 8~)

Now I can‘t wait to try all the trick programs, like Asteroid. And I want to learn what the other files in the camera folder are for.

In some ways I wish I had gotten into drones sooner, but in other ways I’m glad I waited for such a solid and mature product like the Air3. I do wish DJI would not send me confirmation emails entirely in Mandarin. I don’t want to be rude, but there is no way in hell I’m clicking on any of those links!

This is going to be fun!

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

I have added the Air 3 to my fleet and really enjoying the lower noise it produces as well as the photo quality. Looking forward to seeing some of your work.

 

[twickers14]

Welcome aboard. You can see the sort of response one gets when questions are asked-brilliant!

 

[David MacNeill]

Second day of flying went even better than the first. Set my CSC to Emergency Only, then tried both MasterShots and QuickShots, which went well. There was a 7MPH crosswind wind that steadily rose to 10MPH while I was flying, and it was as if the Air3 didn’t even flinch! Return auto-landings were only about a foot downwind from start point.

The grass was interfering with takeoff, so I tried launching from the top of the Fly More bag, sideways with the downslope side under the rear props, and it went off without a hitch five or six times In a row, so I’m launching this way from now on. No point mowing the city’s grass for them, eh?

Finally, I tried to get Bertie (that’s what I named my Air3 to track Annie my Lab, but she moved too fast, so I attempted to manually track her and it sort of worked, but my maneuvering needs much improvement before that will be a success.

 

[mavic3usa]

Second day of flying went even better than the first. Set my CSC to Emergency Only, then tried both MasterShots and QuickShots, which went well. There was a 7MPH crosswind wind that steadily rose to 10MPH while I was flying, and it was as if the Air3 didn’t even flinch! Return auto-landings were only about a foot downwind from start point.

The grass was interfering with takeoff, so I tried launching from the top of the Fly More bag, sideways with the downslope side under the rear props, and it went off without a hitch five or six times In a row, so I’m launching this way from now on. No point mowing the city’s grass for them, eh?

Finally, I tried to get Bertie (that’s what I named my Air3 to track Annie my Lab, but she moved too fast, so I attempted to manually track her and it sort of worked, but my maneuvering needs much improvement before that will be a success.

Pick one: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=drone+launch+pad

 

[David MacNeill]

Pick one: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=drone+launch+pad

Cool! I bought a cheap folding square 22.5” so it would fit in the DJI bag.

 

[Torque]

This is going to be fun!

I'm enjoying your posts. Welcome to the world of flying cameras! With your career history and years of experience in photography, I'm looking forward to your reviews of the camera.

Edit: I fixed "year" - it should have been "years"

 

[leonmoore101]

Wow. Just wow. My first flight went GREAT. This birdy is fast and responsive like a Mini Cooper! No trouble getting the hang of the sticks, even though I was never particularly adept using joysticks back in the Atari era — yeah I know, ancient history. Your day will come, sonny. 8~)

Now I can‘t wait to try all the trick programs, like Asteroid. And I want to learn what the other files in the camera folder are for.

In some ways I wish I had gotten into drones sooner, but in other ways I’m glad I waited for such a solid and mature product like the Air3. I do wish DJI would not send me confirmation emails entirely in Mandarin. I don’t want to be rude, but there is no way in hell I’m clicking on any of those links!

This is going to be fun!

this is the first picture I took with the Air 3 and I was blown away

 

[mavic3usa]

this is the first picture I took with the Air 3 and I was blown away

Indeed!

 

[SWTSU]

this is the first picture I took with the Air 3 and I was blown away

Excellent picture, the hobby only gets better from here.