Wow, you got a lot of advice! I don't see where anybody mentioned the 'F Zone', or Fresnel Effect. Your comment about flying over salt marshes reminds me that lots of losses over water involve flying too low over water, or over the ground, too far out. You might want to google on terms like 'understanding the fresnel effect' and check out a YouTube or two. I think the Fresnel Effect for radio transmitters explains lots of losses of control when flying close to water, the ground, or even too close to a roof.
Frequency of loss. I want one but . . .
- Thread starter Xooterpust
- Start date
I am constantly keeping my eye on the stats readout on the monitor. Signal strength, battery time, number of satellites receiving, how is the video coming in. All of this info is good info to keep an eye on.
Welcome to the forum Xooter from Alabama! I as well agree with all comments above. Have fun on your new drone adventure!
GregS
Well-Known Member
They frequently get lost due to the operator almost 100% of the time. If you read the instructions, watch YouTube videos, and do what is supposed to be done before flying, you will love your drone.
Find a wide open field for your first flight. Go slow. BEFORE you take off. Wait for it to locate satellites, and tell you; "home point is recorded" Get to know it's limits. You will be fine!
Follow these guidelines, and the FAA rules, and you will have a drone for a long time.
Hey there Xooterpust (interesting droner name...)
You will likely get many comments on your post which....attests to the visibility of this site.
I have a Mavic Mini....and when you follow general guidelines, you shall likely avoid angst & loss. Try to acknowledge that these are amazingly designed machines but should one throw challenging factors in the mix such as extra distance or obstacles which mess with signals then yeah, you're going to have an unpleasant story to tell.
My thought:
1) keep within the limits of the drone
2) keep your needs realistic
Rich QR
Well-Known Member
The average frequency of loss is something of interest to the average pilot, but what should be important to you is YOUR chance of loss.
If you educate yourself on common causes of loss, and what can be done to avoid them, your chance of loss can be significantly less than average. Of course, your chance could be significantly higher than average, if you ignore the lessons of those who have gone before you.
This forum's "Crash and Flyaway assistance" board contains a lot of lessons to be learned by those who browse it.
It's true that most lost drones were avoidable. Sometimes drone operators were doing stupid things. But what's more interesting to me is when a drone operator seemed to be reasonably prudent, but ran into an unusual situation where the drone behaved strangely.
An example is what happens when the IMU is initialized in an area of strong magnetic interference, causing the heading indicator to be inaccurate. This can cause the drone to very quickly spiral away uncontrollably at high speed. The lesson: ALWAYS check your heading indicator on the map before takeoff, to verify that it's pointed in the way you can see that the drone is pointing.
These GPS-stabilized drones are normally really easy to fly. But they still have limitations, and when the limitations are exceeded, it can seem like the drone has a mind of its own as it suddenly behaves in a way that the pilot wasn't expecting.
A few other lessons: Don't fly in heavy winds, and expect the winds to be stronger at altitude than at the surface. Always fly upwind first, so that you can come home going downwind. Consider trees to be magical drone-sucking devices that will pull a drone into their branches from a distance of 10 feet or more (perhaps that's not quite true, but pretend that it is). Check your propeller's leading/trailing edges before every flight. They should be smooth. Keep a clear line of sight to your drone. Always plan to land with lots of excess battery capacity. Don't ignore warnings that appear on your screen -- if you don't understand the warning, land first and figure it out.
There are some losses that happen due to hardware failure or similar things that seem to have been beyond a reasonable pilot's control. Not very often, but they do occasionally happen.
Go ahead and read the "crash and flyaway assistance" board to draw your own lessons. Every lesson you learn will be a potential crash that you won't have to go through personally.
If you educate yourself on common causes of loss, and what can be done to avoid them, your chance of loss can be significantly less than average. Of course, your chance could be significantly higher than average, if you ignore the lessons of those who have gone before you.
This forum's "Crash and Flyaway assistance" board contains a lot of lessons to be learned by those who browse it.
It's true that most lost drones were avoidable. Sometimes drone operators were doing stupid things. But what's more interesting to me is when a drone operator seemed to be reasonably prudent, but ran into an unusual situation where the drone behaved strangely.
An example is what happens when the IMU is initialized in an area of strong magnetic interference, causing the heading indicator to be inaccurate. This can cause the drone to very quickly spiral away uncontrollably at high speed. The lesson: ALWAYS check your heading indicator on the map before takeoff, to verify that it's pointed in the way you can see that the drone is pointing.
These GPS-stabilized drones are normally really easy to fly. But they still have limitations, and when the limitations are exceeded, it can seem like the drone has a mind of its own as it suddenly behaves in a way that the pilot wasn't expecting.
A few other lessons: Don't fly in heavy winds, and expect the winds to be stronger at altitude than at the surface. Always fly upwind first, so that you can come home going downwind. Consider trees to be magical drone-sucking devices that will pull a drone into their branches from a distance of 10 feet or more (perhaps that's not quite true, but pretend that it is). Check your propeller's leading/trailing edges before every flight. They should be smooth. Keep a clear line of sight to your drone. Always plan to land with lots of excess battery capacity. Don't ignore warnings that appear on your screen -- if you don't understand the warning, land first and figure it out.
There are some losses that happen due to hardware failure or similar things that seem to have been beyond a reasonable pilot's control. Not very often, but they do occasionally happen.
Go ahead and read the "crash and flyaway assistance" board to draw your own lessons. Every lesson you learn will be a potential crash that you won't have to go through personally.
Buy a 200 walmart drone and fly it in a clear field for a few weeks. I stopped losing drones, when I stopped depending on their automatic functions. I no longer depend on sensors. They can't see wires and they can't see small thin branches. Stay away from trees, Stay high but less than 400ft, Stay within sight of the drone.
I have 4 DJI drones but for risky flights I use a $399 Fimi X8SE 2020 drone. No sensors but it has a long range and takes excellent video. I actually have two of them and use them for risky flights. You really do not need sensors if you are caerful in the way that you fly.
As others have suggested, flying as far as you said you want to will take a small drone like the drones most of us here fly beyond visual line of sight (VLOS). That would mean flying unlawfully and potentially dangerously. Consequently I think the responsible thing to do would either be to adjust your expectations or look for another hobby.
There are some excellent comments here, as a new pilot myself the biggest issue is losing sight of your drone. And it is far easier than you think.
They fade into the the terrain quickly. In the image below I was 250 ft away and 45 feet or so up I glanced down to check my battery status the, looked up and drone was invisible. I have since added a very bright red strobe to the underside.
Recovery was simple enough I just reversed slowly until I could see the drone again.
Part of this is the altitude I prefer to fly at, but care has to be taken.
They fade into the the terrain quickly. In the image below I was 250 ft away and 45 feet or so up I glanced down to check my battery status the, looked up and drone was invisible. I have since added a very bright red strobe to the underside.
Recovery was simple enough I just reversed slowly until I could see the drone again.
Part of this is the altitude I prefer to fly at, but care has to be taken.
My simple answer is yes you will UNLESS you practice, study, view YouTube a lot and remember you only lose it once in salt water cannot be dried out. Just in case fly first over shore line so you can retrieve it so you can return with the replacement package, all this coming from a person that’s put 2 in the water and 7 months later I’m a little shaky but still flying over the ICW and Gulf of Mexico. Buy one and a smart controller they are addicting. Good luck
Most of my flying is over water and I have never had a problem. Also flying at 500 m out serves no purpose.
The problem arises when some of the modern connectivity (mainly satelite connection) that makes drones easy to fly, drops out. Users who are not used to flying without all this in built stuff have never flown a drone fully mannually before and they panic, and donut understand (and are totally unpracticed) and manually handing the effects of wind, once satelite connection is lost. My suggestion is get a very cheep drone where you have to battle the wind with your own skill, rather than the drones technology. Then you are in a better situation to cope when things go wrong. Also, once you have brough a decent drone from DJI, they have a free simulautor program you can load onto your comptuer that you connect your actual remote controller to, and you can practice a huge amount electronically, using this simulator. It is very good. Then build up slow - doing lots of practice in safer environments, until you are finally confident to fly your specialists missions.
tlap
Well-Known Member
I do have a difference of opinion with one suggestion. That being starting with a cheap drone, getting the hang of it and then stepping up. I've had two cheaper drones before getting my Mavic Pro 2. It was light night and day. I could much more easily control the DJI drone versus cheaper alternatives.
I almost gave up flying at first because I was disappointed in the quality of the flight, the video, and the pictures of the cheap drones. Of course, you need some funds to purchase the some of the better modles. I had to stretch to get mine but I'm very glad I did. As for replacement insurance, I was able to get a State Farm policy for about $87 per year - full replacement, no corpus delicti (drone body requirement) needed. I've read all sort of replacement horror stores with the DJI refresh program. It's a little expensive and someone tricky to get. I had both coverages my first year but when I got more confident, I dropped DJI refresh.
The drone mini has received lots of good reviews on this web site as had the DJI air series. Look for refurbished models for a better deal. Of course, the ability to return is critical when going this route.
Best,
I almost gave up flying at first because I was disappointed in the quality of the flight, the video, and the pictures of the cheap drones. Of course, you need some funds to purchase the some of the better modles. I had to stretch to get mine but I'm very glad I did. As for replacement insurance, I was able to get a State Farm policy for about $87 per year - full replacement, no corpus delicti (drone body requirement) needed. I've read all sort of replacement horror stores with the DJI refresh program. It's a little expensive and someone tricky to get. I had both coverages my first year but when I got more confident, I dropped DJI refresh.
The drone mini has received lots of good reviews on this web site as had the DJI air series. Look for refurbished models for a better deal. Of course, the ability to return is critical when going this route.
Best,
I'm with @tlap on this one (post #35). Modern hobby drones (not the toys) are so stable and easy to fly that it doesn't make sense to buy a cheap one first to develop your skills. Additionally, if you buy a cheap drone it may well put you off them completely - it almost did for me. If you suspect that you're going to eventually buy a better drone, do it now!
Any DJI drone is going to be easier to fly than a cheap "trainer" drone.
You would do better to spend time learning how the drone is programmed and how it works than wasting time and money on a sub-standard toy drone.
I'm sure your right. I guess I'm overly influenced in this regard by my cousin's experience: He brought a pricey $1,500 drone and was quite experienced with it- but when an unexpected big increase in wind occurred, he had no experience of the effects of very strong wind (only having had experience of this expensive, easy to fly drone with gps+vision systems etc) and of course he lost it. Come to think of it, he never replaced it, so I guess that loosing such an expensive drone put him off completely.
I didn't take the advice to buy a cheap one, but I didn't get a super expensive one either. I went middle of the road and got a Mavic Air 2. I flew it over water today to get a picture of my budding kayak fishing. The drone was about half a mile away when it began to lose signal and got a message about adjusting the antennae. If it has antenna, I can't find them. Anyway, that signal made me nervous so my immediate reaction was to press the return home button. It came back just fine, though, so I haven't lost it yet. 
With store credits for a past purchase and an extra 10% off for putting on the store card, I got it for $500., $300 off the regular retail price. Still, $500 ain't nothing.
That said, why would I lose connectivity at half a mile? My understanding is that it's supposed to have a range of around 6 miles. That's why I bought it. Did I misunderstand what the specs were saying?
With store credits for a past purchase and an extra 10% off for putting on the store card, I got it for $500., $300 off the regular retail price. Still, $500 ain't nothing. That said, why would I lose connectivity at half a mile? My understanding is that it's supposed to have a range of around 6 miles. That's why I bought it. Did I misunderstand what the specs were saying?
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