How to Fly a Drone for Dummies.

[The Droning Company]

https://www.thedroningcompany.com/blog/drone-flying-for-dummies

 

[Jagerbomb52]

You should mention which mode your in. Depending where you live people use different modes.
Mode 1, mode2, mode3 or mode4
The controls are different in all them

 

[db4476]

Opposite of what I use...

Cheers!

 

[The Droning Company]

You should mention which mode your in. Depending where you live people use different modes.
Mode 1, mode2, mode3 or mode4
The controls are different in all them

Thank you for pointing this out. We're making changes to the article.

 

[vindibona1]

Edit: I clicked on your link below and see that the references you use in the above illustration come from the FPV world. And while everything you note for FPV's is 100% accurate. However, as a DJI camera drone pilot I see things (terms) differently and thought I might provide my perspective on the terminology.

While you think of the left stick forward as "throttle" and with FPV drones that's absolutely how you will think of the left stick. But with DJI camera drones, while the left stick does provide a throttle action as in straight up, the right stick forward or backwards also acts as a throttle, propelling the drone fwd/bkwd at varying speeds. Same thing with the right stick should you push it right and left, but the reaction may or may not have the same intensity as fwd/bkwd. When using the term"roll" left and right, the roll on a DJI drone is incidental as is pitch for fwd/bkwd. Do we really care how much pitch and roll the drone exhibits? Unlike FPV drones we can't do barrel rolls or loops. If using the "follow mode" we will not be aware of the pitch and roll of the drone as the gimbal will compensate for it in the viewfinder. If we use the FPV mode then perhaps we'll get a glimpse of roll and pitch. When I push the right stick left or right I know it will "slide" left or right (or whatever you want to call that action). In fact you could use your drone in place of a mechanical slide. I know that when I push the right stick forward it's going to go forward and the amount of "pitch" is controlled automatically by what the drone needs to do to go fwd or bkwd. When I think of pitch I think of gimbal action and pitch is addressed in gimbal settings in the DJI software.

Just throwing out how *I* think of the stick actions. I'm sure that one day when I venture into my first FPV drone I'm going to have to think of the stick actions differently.

 

[DougMcC]

Edit: I clicked on your link below and see that the references you use in the above illustration come from the FPV world. And while everything you note for FPV's is 100% accurate. However, as a DJI camera drone pilot I see things (terms) differently and thought I might provide my perspective on the terminology.

While you think of the left stick forward as "throttle" and with FPV drones that's absolutely how you will think of the left stick. But with DJI camera drones, while the left stick does provide a throttle action as in straight up, the right stick forward or backwards also acts as a throttle, propelling the drone fwd/bkwd at varying speeds. Same thing with the right stick should you push it right and left, but the reaction may or may not have the same intensity as fwd/bkwd. When using the term"roll" left and right, the roll on a DJI drone is incidental as is pitch for fwd/bkwd. Do we really care how much pitch and roll the drone exhibits? Unlike FPV drones we can't do barrel rolls or loops. If using the "follow mode" we will not be aware of the pitch and roll of the drone as the gimbal will compensate for it in the viewfinder. If we use the FPV mode then perhaps we'll get a glimpse of roll and pitch. When I push the right stick left or right I know it will "slide" left or right (or whatever you want to call that action). In fact you could use your drone in place of a mechanical slide. I know that when I push the right stick forward it's going to go forward and the amount of "pitch" is controlled automatically by what the drone needs to do to go fwd or bkwd. When I think of pitch I think of gimbal action and pitch is addressed in gimbal settings in the DJI software.

Just throwing out how *I* think of the stick actions. I'm sure that one day when I venture into my first FPV drone I'm going to have to think of the stick actions differently.

View attachment 153291

Our aircraft have no lifting or control surfaces other than independently powered, fixed pitch propellers. Would not helicopter terminology be helpful?
In the above diagram the right stick is analogous to the cyclic for flight thrust direction control. This is the stick held by a pilot’s right hand between the legs. The left control stick combines the collective function (Lift or angle of attack) with a linked auto throttle for power. The collective is held by a pilots left hand and raised or lowered for power and thus controls changes in altitude and power changes. And finally the pilots feet are needed to control the tail rotor for directional control of the nose of the aircraft ( anti torque). This functionality is also accomplished by the left controller stick being pushed left or right.
We don’t have wings, ailerons, elevators or rudders - we control our craft really more like a helicopter than an airplane. I am not sure this helps but we are after all a rotorcraft not an airplane. I would be interested in any feedback. Thanks.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Nice, but what do the sticks DO?

 

[DougMcC]

The controller sticks give input to a flight controller mimicking the helecopter functionality . Helicopter main rotor blades and the tail rotor are variable pitch - our props are fixed pitch. Thus thrust at each rotor is a variable control by speed alone. Are aircraft in hover and no wind would have symmetric thrust. To move forward the aircraft must tilt forward to have a forward vector. This tilt forward would reduce the lift vector and thus power on all blades must increase to not lose altitude. In a helicopter the cyclic is nosed forward and the throttle on the collective is increased. Forward level flight is thus achieved. Our birds are “fly by wire” and the onboard flight control adjusts the speed and amperage to each motor in response to GPS and controller inputs. The sticks (in my mind) mimic a helicopter controls and pedals.

 

[Droning on and on...]

It was a joke, @DougMcC

Perhaps you missed the 8 smilies in the post laughing...

 

[FLDave]

Interesting title, but should dummies really be flying drones?

 

[Deleted member 165681]

Edit: I clicked on your link below and see that the references you use in the above illustration come from the FPV world. And while everything you note for FPV's is 100% accurate. However, as a DJI camera drone pilot I see things (terms) differently and thought I might provide my perspective on the terminology.

While you think of the left stick forward as "throttle" and with FPV drones that's absolutely how you will think of the left stick. But with DJI camera drones, while the left stick does provide a throttle action as in straight up, the right stick forward or backwards also acts as a throttle, propelling the drone fwd/bkwd at varying speeds. Same thing with the right stick should you push it right and left, but the reaction may or may not have the same intensity as fwd/bkwd. When using the term"roll" left and right, the roll on a DJI drone is incidental as is pitch for fwd/bkwd. Do we really care how much pitch and roll the drone exhibits? Unlike FPV drones we can't do barrel rolls or loops. If using the "follow mode" we will not be aware of the pitch and roll of the drone as the gimbal will compensate for it in the viewfinder. If we use the FPV mode then perhaps we'll get a glimpse of roll and pitch. When I push the right stick left or right I know it will "slide" left or right (or whatever you want to call that action). In fact you could use your drone in place of a mechanical slide. I know that when I push the right stick forward it's going to go forward and the amount of "pitch" is controlled automatically by what the drone needs to do to go fwd or bkwd. When I think of pitch I think of gimbal action and pitch is addressed in gimbal settings in the DJI software.

Just throwing out how *I* think of the stick actions. I'm sure that one day when I venture into my first FPV drone I'm going to have to think of the stick actions differently.

View attachment 153291

Now this looks familiar.

 

[The Fat Controller]

should dummies really be flying drones?

Believe me, there are plenty that do

 

[vindibona1]

Our aircraft have no lifting or control surfaces other than independently powered, fixed pitch propellers. Would not helicopter terminology be helpful?
In the above diagram the right stick is analogous to the cyclic for flight thrust direction control. This is the stick held by a pilot’s right hand between the legs. The left control stick combines the collective function (Lift or angle of attack) with a linked auto throttle for power. The collective is held by a pilots left hand and raised or lowered for power and thus controls changes in altitude and power changes. And finally the pilots feet are needed to control the tail rotor for directional control of the nose of the aircraft ( anti torque). This functionality is also accomplished by the left controller stick being pushed left or right.
We don’t have wings, ailerons, elevators or rudders - we control our craft really more like a helicopter than an airplane. I am not sure this helps but we are after all a rotorcraft not an airplane. I would be interested in any feedback. Thanks.

I did some computer helo training. What a different beast helicopters are! I do appreciate differences and what a miracle helos are and how difficult they are to learn to fly well. For me, fixed wing aircraft is far more intuitive.

 

[DougMcC]

I agree. I was a fixed wing pilot who spent two years as an Army surgeon with the 101st ABN. Some helpful instructor pilot friends decided to let me get acquainted with the transitioning challenges. Flying a Huey above 40 knots is very similar to my fixed wing experience of 1250 hours. But slow it down or try to hover and it’s a whole new world. It was a very humbling experience but they were very patient.

 

[DougMcC]

It was a joke, @DougMcC

Perhaps you missed the 8 smilies in the post laughing...

Sorry I did miss that. Too early when I read all this.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Sorry I did miss that. Too early when I read all this.

No apology necessary, but it could have saved you some effort

Great explanation though

 

[SpitFire]

Welcome to the forum from Chicago the Windy City.
FLY SAFE

 

[Chaosrider]

View attachment 153276https://www.thedroningcompany.com/blog/drone-flying-for-dummies

This is an accurate intellectual/aircraft-motion description.

However, an operational description, which describes what the controls do, rather than the aircraft motions which they produce, would be

Throttle-->Up or down
Yaw-->Rotate
Pitch-->Forward or backward
Roll-->move right/left

 

[Droning on and on...]

Interesting title, but should dummies really be flying drones?

Well, we let 'em drive cars, drink booze, have children, make contracts, and, worst of all, dance!

Dummies cause a whole lotta chaos... flying drones doesn't seem so bad when you put it in perspective

 

[tvdwouw]

Oh..... Joy Sticks??? I assumed there would be something like a throttle pedal, a brake pedal and for the rest the aeroplane just follows how I hold the controller in my hands. Is it really that complicated?