How long until you were confident to fly further

[FormerMember07122019_2]

My first flight with the Air was in my living room.

My first real flight, was yesterday 300 feet over a rushing river.

I was incredibly nervous in both cases, I was well aware of all that could go wrong, but I just decided to push through the fear. I don’t fly with insurance. I think it is a good thing to be a bit nervous.

I do have experience with another drone. That first time the drone unexpectedly looses GPS, starts to drift too close to that tree, looses connection with the controller, or unexpectedly initiates RTH can be incredibly scary, but eventually once you see the drone performing according to its programming, you start to develop a degree of trust.

It’s kind of like a domesticated wild animal. After a while you trust that it will behave, but the fact that it could go unexpectedly wild on you at any moment, doesn’t go away from the back of your mind.

The scariest thing for me is flying the drone VLOS, but having it lost in the tree line and not being able to actually see it, even just a few hundred feet away.

I can completely relate to this.

 

[Agis]

My first flight was about 2 miles into the sea, to a lighthouse on the other side of the beach. It was windy too

I used some of that footage to do my, also, first YouTube video.

 

[LazyBird]

I started cautiously. Flying in the garden, indoors, a small park close by before I really put some distance between myself and my drone. I guess I’m a slow learner.
Staying informed by pouring over the manual, learning from other pilot experiences on forums like this and YouTube don’t really compare to the real thing. The experience one gets by going out there and flying in different conditions is the only learning that holds good in the end. That, one cannot get from all the material in the world.
So, put it up in the air, stay aware of your surroundings, the conditions, limitations of your craft and enjoy the sheer pleasure of flying. Going further and higher comes with confidence of flying. Remember, It’s not a competition so never let the experience of others rush or challenge you.

 

[RedSoxFan42]

As a new pilot, thought this might be an interesting discussion. How long did it take you to be confident flying longer distances?

I've had my Air a little over a week, I have flown directly above me to the FAA limit, but am currently only comfortable flying over basically my yard. We have 5 acres, so it's a decent size, but at the same time somewhat limiting. The biggest factor for me in getting comfortable flying further is we are surrounded by trees, hills and tree covered hills.

For the most part I rarely expect to fly out longer distances, but am curious how long it took you to happily fly out 1000' and more.

I also have an MA for 2 months and I am still a little skittish about letting it out of my sight. I believe the more advanced drones like the M2P are more capable of flying out of your sight and around tall structures such as buildings, so knowing my Air might be limited, I try to keep it in sight. I typical flu in soccer fields when not in use and away from people and traffic. I have flown over small bodies of water with no problems.

 

[adam3112]

I was already confident enough to fly it far after a few minutes as it's my second drone, coming from a cheap wifi drone so I've had a bit of practice beforehand, but also the massive increase in stability and signal strength which gave me extra confidence.

 

[ROMEY]

As a new pilot, thought this might be an interesting discussion. How long did it take you to be confident flying longer distances?

I've had my Air a little over a week, I have flown directly above me to the FAA limit, but am currently only comfortable flying over basically my yard. We have 5 acres, so it's a decent size, but at the same time somewhat limiting. The biggest factor for me in getting comfortable flying further is we are surrounded by trees, hills and tree covered hills.

For the most part I rarely expect to fly out longer distances, but am curious how long it took you to happily fly out 1000' and more.

Bub

 

[Alberta Pro 2]

I was a bit cautious the first couple of flights as it was ingrained into me Line Of Sight with the controller. Then I watched a video of some blogger in Maui fly out 3 miles. So I went out the next day and flew out about 3000 meters . A meter is just barely bigger than a yard for all you Mercans.

 

[ROMEY]

I also have an MA for 2 months and I am still a little skittish about letting it out of my sight. I believe the more advanced drones like the M2P are more capable of flying out of your sight and around tall structures such as buildings, so knowing my Air might be limited, I try to keep it in sight. I typical flu in soccer fields when not in use and away from people and traffic. I have flown over small bodies of water with no problems.

I've been out 12000 feet over water at 163 feet with my NO. It could have went further....in my opinion....its very dependable. The Mav air has the same dependability, one would think. It uses dji go4 also.

 

[ROMEY]

I've been out 12000 feet over water at 163 feet with my NO. It could have went further....in my opinion....its very dependable. The Mav air has the same dependability, one would think. It uses dji go4 also.

NO should be MP for mav pro

 

[Serr8ededge]

I can assure you guys, the Mavic Air is more than capable of holding its own when outside of vision and signal range. My heart drops every time my screen goes blank due to loss of signal on my Mavic 2 Zoom. But, every time, i'm relieved when it does exactly what its programmed to do and flies back toward home until i reacquire signal and take back control. When playing back some of the footage of these events, i can clearly see the drone maneuvering around obstacles and making the adjustments necessary to navigate safely. You need not worry. Its 1000 times more likely to crash under your control than its own. And even then, the sensors make it next to impossible to crash as long as you stay aware and fly responsibly.

 

[CWhitworth]

The first time I flew mine, I managed to get it beyond where I could see it, and because the snowy winter has left all the ground varying shades of white, gray, tan/brown I couldn't figure out which way I was going. Total panic set in. I hit RTH and was very relieved when the controller lady said "returning home". Even though I had read and read and watched and watched YouTube, I was still amazed to see it land right next to me.

I do have to say though that my confidence has grown quickly. What took a little longer to get used to was the idea that if I need to make changes to the controller settings, or determining where to go next, just letting go of the sticks brings it to a halt while you prepare for what's next.

BTW: a little off topic, but my controller antenna on the left would not stay upright. I filed a claim, got a return label, and just this morning received my new controller. 7 day turnaround. Well done.

 

[Thomas B]

The first time I flew mine, I managed to get it beyond where I could see it, and because the snowy winter has left all the ground varying shades of white, gray, tan/brown I couldn't figure out which way I was going. Total panic set in. I hit RTH and was very relieved when the controller lady said "returning home". Even though I had read and read and watched and watched YouTube, I was still amazed to see it land right next to me.

I do have to say though that my confidence has grown quickly. What took a little longer to get used to was the idea that if I need to make changes to the controller settings, or determining where to go next, just letting go of the sticks brings it to a halt while you prepare for what's next.

BTW: a little off topic, but my controller antenna on the left would not stay upright. I filed a claim, got a return label, and just this morning received my new controller. 7 day turnaround. Well done.

This has been a frequently reported problem. Check the other threads. A possible fix was posted and is in the works. Contact Aerial-Pixel - Vinyl Graphics, Vinyl Decals, Apparel, 3D Printing

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

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I was a bit cautious the first couple of flights as it was ingrained into me Line Of Sight with the controller. Then I watched a video of some blogger in Maui fly out 3 miles. So I went out the next day and flew out about 3000 meters . A meter is just barely bigger than a yard for all you Mercans.

Hi Alberta Pro 2,

Is your profile correct? Are you really 116 years old? If so, wow, and hats off to you.

Ken

 

[Big AL 1]

As a new pilot, thought this might be an interesting discussion. How long did it take you to be confident flying longer distances?

I've had my Air a little over a week, I have flown directly above me to the FAA limit, but am currently only comfortable flying over basically my yard. We have 5 acres, so it's a decent size, but at the same time somewhat limiting. The biggest factor for me in getting comfortable flying further is we are surrounded by trees, hills and tree covered hills.

For the most part I rarely expect to fly out longer distances, but am curious how long it took you to happily fly out 1000' and more.

For me, it was ten minutes into my first flight. I went up much higher than I would in an urban setting ( I was in the outback, miles from anything ) and flew out over a mile. Loved the thrill. The M2P is my first drone, and I wanted to see what it could actually do. I Also flew on sport mode 4m above ground, flat out. Simply awesome. Having said that, go at your own pace. Nobody cares if you only fly within 30m or 3000m. It's your drone, your baby.

 

[Wille]

My first flight was about 2 miles into the sea, to a lighthouse on the other side of the beach. It was windy too

I used some of that footage to do my, also, first YouTube video.

Flying out to sea is Awesome. As big a Rush as flying high and riskier too

You get to a point through settings or parameters or knowing your batteries; where you know the only way your drone is going
to land is based on Volts per cell.

I mean go Nuts, but If I had a Mav2, I would be scared flying even over water.

 

[TheWolfen]

As a new pilot, thought this might be an interesting discussion. How long did it take you to be confident flying longer distances?

I've had my Air a little over a week, I have flown directly above me to the FAA limit, but am currently only comfortable flying over basically my yard. We have 5 acres, so it's a decent size, but at the same time somewhat limiting. The biggest factor for me in getting comfortable flying further is we are surrounded by trees, hills and tree covered hills.

For the most part I rarely expect to fly out longer distances, but am curious how long it took you to happily fly out 1000' and more.

I was pretty cautious when I got my Mavic Pro. I had previously flown and had major issues with a Blade Chroma that made me pretty nervous. It took me over 2 years to break 2000 ft with my Mavic and within a few weeks of that I was flying out to well over a mile with zero issues. That was over water (lake and ocean) as well. The only reason I haven't gone further is I haven't had the need yet.

I know the Air doesn't have the same range but it still does pretty good. Take your time and you'll find your confidence will increase naturally. These are terrific machines!

 

[Alberta Pro 2]

Hi Alberta Pro 2,

Is your profile correct? Are you really 116 years old? If so, wow, and hats off to you.

Ken

It’s the clean Canadian air!

 

[naiku]

Well, got up the courage to send it out to about 2000' today, flew up to 120' so I was clear of trees and followed the road. Would have gone further but was getting a "strong aircraft interference" message.

 

[Mossiback]

As a general rule, the further away you go the higher you want to be to escape ground clutter that can absorb or scatter the signal.

 

[LJE1952]

As BD0G said in a previous reply, my confidence level shot way up after conference with my State Farm agent. Secondly, once I read (maybe on this forum) that "height is your friend" when flying a drone. Nothing up there to interfere with anything. Still not 100% confident (still a relatively new pilot) but confidence increases with every flight.