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Flying out of sight. Tips and techniques wanted

Pinchecharlie

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Iam brand new. I've been learning . Iam get to g a bit better. But...As soon as my visual sight of the mavic air is just a little compromised , I freak out! I don't think I should or want to fly long distance but eventually I need to feel confident when the drone is barely visible (its very small to begin with)or behind something. Will you guys please tell me and others how you go about flying out of eyesight please be specific in your -routine , setting your bearing? Maps and any details there in? I've logged a whopping hour and a bit and my max altitude was like 120 something feet lol! But I get very turned around watching the screen without seeing the aircraft and if my old eyes loose orientation (or even just doubt) of it....I freak out!!! Thank you!!
 
What I do is fly high enough to avoid all obstacles, pay attention to the screen, don’t fly close to objects as the video feed may be a little delayed. Use your map to figure out where exactly the AC is and don’t do it in strong winds.
 
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not to be a debbie downer, but this is kind of the reason why you shouldn't fly BVLOS,

if it freaks you out, don't do it! its an expensive lesson to learn.

personally as a new flyer i set one of my FN buttons to gimbal reset, this helps if I'm staring down at something and lose orientation i can quickly snap back up to level and see whats around.

another trick is go slow, don't get all excited and go sport mode or something.

plan your route, look around for obstacles etc and know generally where you WANT to go.

since you said you're only an hr into flying I wouldn't even attempt to take it BVLOS, find a wide open easy area to fly in and get comfortable with all the controls, practice even flying out and then hitting RTH and see what it does, get familiar with the "OH ****" moments that will cause you do RTH.

personally i haven't had enough RTH practice to feel comfortable so i don't go far yet. but I've lost sight a bunch of times. just remember what I've practices and set up and carry on from there.
 
Thanks! Man out of sight for me isn't far at all! I mean a couple hundred feet. Ive wondered if a guy could simply hit rth but kept thinking it was a bad idea!? I think ill try it just so iam not scared of it lol. Good tips. think ill just orient myself like I do when iam hunting and at least have a educated guess and of course not try and go far for now. Thanks!
 
If you are not familiar with the area you are flying in, it can be helpful to use Google Earth to get an idea of what things look like from the air. That can help you orient yourself. Also, pay attention to the radar display in the Go app.

There is no problem using RTH as long as you have the height set properly, i.e. above the highest obstacle that will be in the return path.

Bottom line, if you're not comfortable doing something, don't do it unless you're willing to accept the potential consequences.

Read through the entire manual until you understand how all of the functions work.
 
I highly recommend not using RTH if it can be avoided in any way. It opens the door for possible issues.

If you don't feel experienced enough to fly beyond VLOS.... don't.

I always know the area my done is in. I use the camera of the drone to tell which direction it is pointing. I then use the map, drone icon and that yellow/orange line to fly back to me. It is very simple.
 
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A few things to bear in mind:

1. Flying BVLOS will feel like a video game. IT IS NOT. You get one life. You crash. You die. (Well, at least $750 of yourself.)
2. Avoid publicly or semi-privately posting any video that may cause the viewer to believe you are flying BVLOS. Try cutting any video you post, not only to make it more interesting, but to make it believable you were flying VLOS. The FAA hasn't really gone after people exclusively for flying BVLOS, but if they decide to crack down, YouTube is probably where they will start.
3. If you were to (hypothetically) crash into someone and nearly kill them, the fact that you were flying BVLOS will be held over your head.

Basically, you're taking a risk. There are ways to minimize risk like ensuring you are familiar with the devices controls, ensuring you are familiar with the area, and trying to at least not break any of the other rules. Have fun, and fly safe.
 
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2. Avoid publicly or semi-privately posting any video that may cause the viewer to believe you are flying BVLOS. Try cutting any video you post, not only to make it more interesting, but to make it believable you were flying VLOS. The FAA hasn't really gone after people exclusively for flying BVLOS, but if they decide to crack down, YouTube is probably where they will start.
I'm wondering if they would start with the first million videos or the second million. It would be pretty much impossible for them to prove anything from a video. On top of that, they would also need to know where and when the video was taken and if the person was flying for hobby vs commercial

No.... the FAA won't be looking at videos to start action against someone for flying byond VLOS.
 
I'm wondering if they would start with the first million videos or the second million. It would be pretty much impossible for them to prove anything from a video. On top of that, they would also need to know where and when the video was taken and if the person was flying for hobby vs commercial

No.... the FAA won't be looking at videos to start action against someone for flying byond VLOS.
I know that it's incredibly unlikely, but I would really rather not take that kind of risk. What if someone in your local community sees the video and tries to use it against you?
 
I know that it's incredibly unlikely, but I would really rather not take that kind of risk. What if someone in your local community sees the video and tries to use it against you?

If I thought it would increase my YouTube views... I'd be all for it!
 
I have to disagree with ya tscope on RTH as I have been using it since I started with P2V's and trust it very much. You do have to understand it and learn it at short distances but all I did when I started was try to mod the P2V with everything I could so all my trips were straight out and back.Always used RTH and in all this time I have never had any issue with it .
Now some have had problems but in my case and where I fly if I could go out whatever at a certain heigh then I could comeback the same way always did come back .
I also could yaw around or whatever and got lot's of footage from doing it .
I use it or did all the time with my Mavic when I first got it testing the distance but after I found my limit
I started with other ventures flying .
 
Learn how to use the map and "radar". They will show the direction the Air is pointed and the direction to the home point. If you do lose sight of it, using the map will give you the area of sky to look at and a few quick up and down movements will help the eyes locate it. If you just can't see it (it's easy to lose sight of) then use the map and follow the line back to the home point. You can use RTH (because, of course, you set it up correctly) but if the Air encounters a headwind aloft you may have to put it in Sport mode and bring it back yourself. If you can, go out against a head wind so the tail wind will help you get it back.
 
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I have to disagree with ya tscope on RTH as I have been using it since I started with P2V's and trust it very much. You do have to understand it and learn it at short distances but all I did when I started was try to mod the P2V with everything I could so all my trips were straight out and back.Always used RTH and in all this time I have never had any issue with it .
Now some have had problems but in my case and where I fly if I could go out whatever at a certain heigh then I could comeback the same way always did come back .
I also could yaw around or whatever and got lot's of footage from doing it .
I use it or did all the time with my Mavic when I first got it testing the distance but after I found my limit
I started with other ventures flying .

I also think it is (now) very good. I actually used it once on my P2v2 but I don't think I've ever used it since.

I'm not saying that it does not work well... my point of view is.... if possible, flying back manually _always_ works perfectly. You are also in 100% control. I see little point to give up 100%... even for the _chance_ that something is _probably_ going to work perfectly. Did the Mavic record the homepoint correctly? Was it "confused" about it in anyway? Are it's GPS coordinates saved correctly? What if there ends up being a tree branch or something like that on the route back? Will the collision avoidance sensors see those thing branches? If I'm flying it manually back, I don't need to worry about those things, at least less then if it is flying on its own. Any time a person gives up manual control they are hoping that everything goes well. Manual control, no hope is needed.

Again, I'm not saying that RTH is not fun ,cool and not very good. It is all of those things. I simply make the recommendation against it because it can only open the door for problems (albeit, a very small door).

Look no further then a few posts over the past month where people started RTH close to them, the Mavic shot up in the air and hit a tree. Did it work? Yup!
 
Throw some lights on it and fly at night. You can get 2-3 miles out and still have VLOS.
 
I also think it is (now) very good. I actually used it once on my P2v2 but I don't think I've ever used it since.

I'm not saying that it does not work well... my point of view is.... if possible, flying back manually _always_ works perfectly. You are also in 100% control. I see little point to give up 100%... even for the _chance_ that something is _probably_ going to work perfectly. Did the Mavic record the homepoint correctly? Was it "confused" about it in anyway? Are it's GPS coordinates saved correctly? What if there ends up being a tree branch or something like that on the route back? Will the collision avoidance sensors see those thing branches? If I'm flying it manually back, I don't need to worry about those things, at least less then if it is flying on its own. Any time a person gives up manual control they are hoping that everything goes well. Manual control, no hope is needed.

Again, I'm not saying that RTH is not fun ,cool and not very good. It is all of those things. I simply make the recommendation against it because it can only open the door for problems (albeit, a very small door).

Look no further then a few posts over the past month where people started RTH close to them, the Mavic shot up in the air and hit a tree. Did it work? Yup!
Well I say about the same thing with folks using Litchi so
guess we will always just have to agree to disagree. ;)
 
Again, I'm not saying that RTH is not fun ,cool and not very good. It is all of those things. I simply make the recommendation against it because it can only open the door for problems (albeit, a very small door).

Look no further then a few posts over the past month where people started RTH close to them, the Mavic shot up in the air and hit a tree. Did it work? Yup!


The problem there isn't rth, it's people not being aware of their surroundings, which is what gets people in trouble to begin with lol

The MA is loaded with sensors right, so it's built for a sweet rth avoidance except if you get yourself under something, which again you shouldn't be doing unless you can see the drone perfectly.

It all breaks down to safe flying means Safe drone
 
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