Fly App Attitude Indicator

[frcaloy]

I've never flown helicopters so I am a little confused about the attitude indicator of the Fly App.

The Fly App Attitude Indicator has fixed horizontal and vertical axes and a two tone sort of roll indicator. When the aircraft is flying forward, the line of the roll indicator is above the horizontal axis. The aircraft is pitched down so I would think that the fixed horizontal line represents the 'wings ' of the aircraft which are dipped below the horizon.

When the aircraft is flying backward, the line of the roll indicator is below the horizontal axis. The aircraft is pitched up so I would think that the fixed horizontal line represents the 'wings ' of the aircraft which are tilted above the horizon.

In both cases, I would think that the fixed horizontal line represents the wings. However, when the aircraft rolls to the right, the roll indicator is also rolled to the right when it should be rolled to the left.

Getting used to the DJI Fly App's AI might be a bad habit for me given that I fly fixed wing ACs.

But this is just me.

 

[old man mavic]

the line represents the direction of the drone when being flown sideways ,either left or right,the areas above and below the line shows which direction it is going , depending on the speed of the drone in a particular direction ,it is nothing like the instrument,that your picture shows,a drone flies completely differently from a fixed wing aircraft, with regards to how the direction ,and the lift is controlled ,to manoeuvre it through the air

 

[FLDave]

As a previous fixed wing pilot the attitude indicator confused me. It is opposite of what is expected form a fixed in artificial horizon indicator.
I've come up with own one explanation now. In a fixed wing aircraft the pilot will always be sitting perpendicular to the floor of the aircraft and the wings. So the fixed horizontal "wings" indicator will not move; it is in reference to what eyes see. As the airplane rolls the eyes see a tilting horizon out the window, the artificial horizon tilts also. With a right turn the fixed "wing" indicator show a dip into the horizon.
Now, for the drone, the controller person will always be perpendicular to the horizon; that won't change, so the horizon on the attitude indicator will always be in reference to what the pilot sees on the ground, not what the camera sees. As the drone tilts (rolls), the little "wings" lines will tilt to match to show the reference to the real horizon as the on-ground pilot sees the tilt, different from an on-board pilot view.

 

[frcaloy]

As a previous fixed wing pilot the attitude indicator confused me. It is opposite of what is expected form a fixed in artificial horizon indicator.
I've come up with own one explanation now. In a fixed wing aircraft the pilot will always be sitting perpendicular to the floor of the aircraft and the wings. So the fixed horizontal "wings" indicator will not move; it is in reference to what eyes see. As the airplane rolls the eyes see a tilting horizon out the window, the artificial horizon tilts also. With a right turn the fixed "wing" indicator show a dip into the horizon.
Now, for the drone, the controller person will always be perpendicular to the horizon; that won't change, so the horizon on the attitude indicator will always be in reference to what the pilot sees on the ground, not what the camera sees. As the drone tilts (rolls), the little "wings" lines will tilt to match to show the reference to the real horizon as the on-ground pilot sees the tilt, different from an on-board pilot view.

Gotten used to it and that is the issue in the sense that I have to transition to thinking like a regular fixed wing pilot whenever I fly a fixed wing aircraft. Wish DJI would just put an option for the AI in their Fly App choosing which type of AI the operator wants. I am putting on more flight hours on the drones compared to fixed wing aircraft these days.

 

[Robert Prior]

Given that it's all software, it would be nice to have an 'airplane mode' to the attitude indicator so fixed-wing pilots can see what they're used to. Kinda like how the control sticks have different modes changing what the sticks do…

 

[frcaloy]

Given that it's all software, it would be nice to have an 'airplane mode' to the attitude indicator so fixed-wing pilots can see what they're used to. Kinda like how the control sticks have different modes changing what the sticks do…

Yup. My point exactly. I usually fly VFR but I always refer to the instruments, mostly airspeed indicator and altimeter and vertical speed indicator. I refer to the AI for climbs, turns and sometimes descents.

 

[FLDave]

I got thinking about it more today. For the drone attitude it's like looking at the attitude from the outside representing how the drone would look visually from the ground. It begins to make more sense that way.
In a plane you don't have a ground reference, especially on instruments, to the indicator gives a representation of the attitude only reference to what is fixed for the pilot inside--that would be relationship of the pilot to the wings. In a sense it's like trying to figure out the attitude of the plane to the ground when the ground/horizon is constantly moving on the attitude indicator.
Getting outside view of the drone in relation to the ground is a direct approach to figuring out the attitude.

 

[frcaloy]

I got thinking about it more today. For the drone attitude it's like looking at the attitude from the outside representing how the drone would look visually from the ground. It begins to make more sense that way.
In a plane you don't have a ground reference, especially on instruments, to the indicator gives a representation of the attitude only reference to what is fixed for the pilot inside--that would be relationship of the pilot to the wings. In a sense it's like trying to figure out the attitude of the plane to the ground when the ground/horizon is constantly moving on the attitude indicator.
Getting outside view of the drone in relation to the ground is a direct approach to figuring out the attitude.

That's well and good and the horizontal line would be the actual horizon given that the pilot is stationary o the ground. The roll indicator would be the horizontal axis of the drone. It's representative for rolls but not for pitch. The roll indicator would be tilted upward in forward flight when the pitch is dipped and tilted downwards when the drone brakes or is flying backwards when it should be tilted upwards. The reverse of how the drone actually behaves in forward or backward flight.

I still wish that DJI would put an option for airplane mode in their Fly App for fixed wing pilots.

 

[frcaloy]

The previous version of the AI featured two horizontal lines representing the 'wings' of the drone and the wings are not stationary, they try to match the actual attitude of the aircraft. The horizontal line is the actual horizon. The wings are representative in rolls but are reversed in pitch.

In most fixed wing aircraft, the wings are fixed in the AI, it is the artificial horizon that moves.

I wish that DJI would put in an option for airplane mode for the AI in the Fly App.

 

[LoudThunder]

I just want to say, I miss the Wings too... and even at this late date, since the change, it's still getting a lot of press...

 

[frcaloy]

I just want to say, I miss the Wings too... and even at this late date, since the change, it's still getting a lot of press...

I miss the wings. The two tone semi circle setup is not even that visible.

 

[Kilrah]

To be fair I'm pretty sure it's only there as a "gimmick that looks cool", it's entirely pointless when flying a GPS-controlled multicopter...

 

[old man mavic]

@Kilrah ,i must say i do agree with your post ,i rarely use the attitude indicator myself , i prefer the map format ,as you say its not really necessary for flying the drone ,after this thread was started, i did have a quick look at the latest iteration in the recent App update ,and as others have mentioned it is completely different ,in the way it displays the information,

 

[Robert Prior]

To be fair I'm pretty sure it's only there as a "gimmick that looks cool", it's entirely pointless when flying a GPS-controlled multicopter...

It give an indication of how windy it is up there. If you're hovering and the attitude indicator shows a large tilt you know it's windy.

It would be nicer to have an actual wind indicator, maybe as an optional overlay (like the histogram).

 

[cameracamel]

It give an indication of how windy it is up there. If you're hovering and the attitude indicator shows a large tilt you know it's windy.

It would be nicer to have an actual wind indicator, maybe as an optional overlay (like the histogram).

Tie a string to bottom of drone. If string is sideways, it is windy........... (Sorry. I am still on my 1st cup of coffee}......

 

[Zbip57]

I am a little confused about the attitude indicator of the Fly App.
[...] Getting used to the DJI Fly App's AI might be a bad habit for me given that I fly fixed wing ACs.

Totally agree.

DJI uses the bizarre Soviet-style attitude indicator, which is extremely confusing to anyone who, like everyone else in the world, uses a Western-style attitude indicator.

Check this previous thread where the differences were explained.
mavicpilots.com/threads/brand-new-dji-fly-app-update-to-1-6-8.127767/#post-1446009

See also post#30 in that thread.
mavicpilots.com/threads/brand-new-dji-fly-app-update-to-1-6-8.127767/page-2#post-1460678

 

[Robert Prior]

Tie a string to bottom of drone. If string is sideways, it is windy........... (Sorry. I am still on my 1st cup of coffee}......

If wet, it's raining…

 

[cameracamel]

Brilliant minds think alike !!!!!

 

[LoudThunder]

it's entirely pointless when flying a GPS-controlled multicopter...

The thing about the Wings that I miss is the Visibility of them, you could see them even in bright sun. I used them to judge the wind at altitude. I would take off facing directly North. And look at the wings at 5 feet. Assuming no wind, the wings were flat… I would lift up straight to 50 feet and hover and again look at the Wings and if there was wind my drone was fighting, it would indicate which way it was blowing and how hard. I would do this again at 100, 200, and so forth to get a good idea of the direction and strength of the winds so I did not get caught downwind, on a weak battery,

It's very difficult to do that now…

 

[frcaloy]

The thing about the Wings that I miss is the Visibility of them, you could see them even in bright sun. I used them to judge the wind at altitude. I would take off facing directly North. And look at the wings at 5 feet. Assuming no wind, the wings were flat… I would lift up straight to 50 feet and hover and again look at the Wings and if there was wind my drone was fighting, it would indicate which way it was blowing and how hard. I would do this again at 100, 200, and so forth to get a good idea of the direction and strength of the winds so I did not get caught downwind, on a weak battery,

It's very difficult to do that now…

Learned something new today. How to gauge wind direction and strength using the AI. Nice one. I use a toy wind vane and handheld anemometer.

I'll include your procedure in my post-takeoff checklist.