Just like the big girls and boys

[YVRGUY]

Just like the big girls and boys who do a full once over before removing their pre flight tags…why don’t we? I’ve been on this forum long enough and heard handfuls of stories of flyaways, lost props, no home point set before flight, low battery power and so on. Besides the horror of losing a $200 k plane, losing a $2k drone can hurt too relative to our investment.

I live very close to YVR (Vancouver Canada) airport. I often frequent a pub / seaport base restaurant for a pint. Well, the seaplane airline that operates out of the same facility has a gift shop. In their collection of cool novelties they sell the pre flight check list tags…just like the real McCoy. I thought, why not use these for my Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro…why not? They’re not expensive just under $10 and they’re high quality.

When your check is complete, remove the tag from your bag, and attach it to your belt buckle as I do.

Just a thought that may reduce the handful of oopsies we sometimes find entertaining and other times not so entertaining.

 

[MA2 317]

I use them to let me know which battery is in rotation.

 

[Bob in Savannah]

this is mine. I used it for the clear gimbal cover on the Mavic Pro years ago which was easy to overlook.
Today it's just for looks on my Tripltek adapter for my Mavic 3.

 

[akdrone]

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Just like the big girls and boys who do a full once over before removing their pre flight tags…why don’t we? I’ve been on this forum long enough and heard handfuls of stories of flyaways, lost props, no home point set before flight, low battery power and so on. Besides the horror of losing a $200 k plane, losing a $2k drone can hurt too relative to our investment.

I live very close to YVR (Vancouver Canada) airport. I often frequent a pub / seaport base restaurant for a pint. Well, the seaplane airline that operates out of the same facility has a gift shop. In their collection of cool novelties they sell the pre flight check list tags…just like the real McCoy. I thought, why not use these for my Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro…why not? They’re not expensive just under $10 and they’re high quality.

When your check is complete, remove the tag from your bag, and attach it to your belt buckle as I do.

Just a thought that may reduce the handful of oopsies we sometimes find entertaining and other times not so entertaining.

i don't quite understand...the tag is there to remind you to DO a preflight checklist?

 

[FLDave]

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Just like the big girls and boys who do a full once over before removing their pre flight tags…why don’t we? I’ve been on this forum long enough and heard handfuls of stories of flyaways, lost props, no home point set before flight, low battery power and so on. Besides the horror of losing a $200 k plane, losing a $2k drone can hurt too relative to our investment.

I live very close to YVR (Vancouver Canada) airport. I often frequent a pub / seaport base restaurant for a pint. Well, the seaplane airline that operates out of the same facility has a gift shop. In their collection of cool novelties they sell the pre flight check list tags…just like the real McCoy. I thought, why not use these for my Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro…why not? They’re not expensive just under $10 and they’re high quality.

When your check is complete, remove the tag from your bag, and attach it to your belt buckle as I do.

Just a thought that may reduce the handful of oopsies we sometimes find entertaining and other times not so entertaining.

It's like the tag attached to your bag is to remind you to remove it before the bag takes flight. I think it is supposed to be attached to a critical part of the aircraft to remind you of an inspection point and then remove it from the aircraft before it takes flight.

 

[akdrone]

It's like the tag attached to your bag is to remind you to remove it before the bag takes flight. I think it is supposed to be attached to a critical part of the aircraft to remind you of an inspection point and then remove it from the aircraft before it takes flight.

I get that on a plane with several critical points to inspect.

 

[singram]

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Just like the big girls and boys who do a full once over before removing their pre flight tags…why don’t we? I’ve been on this forum long enough and heard handfuls of stories of flyaways, lost props, no home point set before flight, low battery power and so on. Besides the horror of losing a $200 k plane, losing a $2k drone can hurt too relative to our investment.

I live very close to YVR (Vancouver Canada) airport. I often frequent a pub / seaport base restaurant for a pint. Well, the seaplane airline that operates out of the same facility has a gift shop. In their collection of cool novelties they sell the pre flight check list tags…just like the real McCoy. I thought, why not use these for my Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro…why not? They’re not expensive just under $10 and they’re high quality.

When your check is complete, remove the tag from your bag, and attach it to your belt buckle as I do.

Just a thought that may reduce the handful of oopsies we sometimes find entertaining and other times not so entertaining.

I use those on each of my sportbikes.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I get that on a plane with several critical points to inspect.

There are several critical points on a drone to inspect before flight. I use 12 of those tags on my A2S:

• One on the gimbal cover
• One on each arm to check it's unfolded
• One on each set of props to check them
• One on each battery tab to check latched
• One at the power button

I also painted "NO STEP" on each arm. Any other safety suggestions anyone has please share. I feel like I've missed something.

 

[akdrone]

My preflight depends on the season. Since winter is our main season, my preflight during most of the year consists of removing the gimble cover and opening the legs while I'm inside the car for convenience. I step out of the car to begin the preflight. I close my eyes for 10 seconds. If I am able to open them and they are not frozen shut it is not too cold to fly. If the eyes aren't frozen shut it's probably warmer than -40F so no gloves will be needed if the flight is under 30min. If I was able to open the car door in spite of the wind the initial wind preflight is complete. After successfully opening my eyes I look to see that the wind didn't tear off the car door and checking to see that I'm still standing the second and final wind preflight is complete. At that point I realize I may need a landing pad if the snow is deep. People have stepped off snowmachines into deep powder snow and died of asphyxiation and I don't what that to happen to my drone so landing pads are often required. A block if ice from a nearby abandoned igloo is often easily available and will hold down the landing pad in most instances. Check. Drone on. Check. RC Pro on. Check. Now it's important to get the fingers locked in position. With the index fingers and thumbs moving they will typically remain ambulatory so it's best to get the rest of the fingers positioned around the RC Pro and locked in place as the lack of movement will normally allow their frozen grip to remain in place throughout the flight. Gripping too tight prevents the picking up of the drone after the flight if the index finger and thumb are not used often enough as they will also tend to freeze into place so each flight plan has to involve some movement of the sticks and wheels. A quick check for winter grizzlies outside of their den (quite dangerous) or approaching dog teams (often too quiet to even hear their approach) and the preflight is complete. You can view the end results in a few of my posts here. And there. Summer preflights revolve around necessary steps to take into account our state bird, CuUseta alaskaensis, the "Snow Mosquito". Seriously. That's the name of one of the early species to arrive. Large and slow, like swans, except..not. Appropriate preflight steps are too numerous to discuss here but rest assured, blood is lost and tears are shed. It ain't pretty in the summer.

 

[Robert Prior]

Any other safety suggestions anyone has please share. I feel like I've missed something.

You probably want to make sure you've checked your instruments and radios, as well. Maybe add one or two to your controller as well?

 

[Robert Prior]

It ain't pretty in the summer.

Do you have black flies up there? Enough to drive one mad and make a strong man weep…

 

[YVRGUY]

It's like the tag attached to your bag is to remind you to remove it before the bag takes flight. I think it is supposed to be attached to a critical part of the aircraft to remind you of an inspection point and then remove it from the aircraft before it takes flight.

Pure genius FLDave. What part would you attach the tag to? What is critical or has the potential to disable your drone in flight…a loose prop screw? Not insuring a RTH? A battery that’s near dead? I admit the tag is a bit of a novelty. The funny part is, the tag pretty well covers the entirety of my Mini 3Pro. The “flyaway bag”? So far, they’ve stayed grounded during flight with their anchor lines…especially in very window conditions. Not looking for an inspection point, but, trying to make it a point to make an inspection.

Safe and happy droning

 

[akdrone]

Do you have black flies up there? Enough to drive one mad and make a strong man weep…

OMG...yeah...seriously. I sent this to all my family and friends who have all dealt with them at times. Once, while kayaking in Prince William Sound we had to camp in the back of a small bay without the benefit of a shore breeze we generally depended on. In order to get dinner supplies and such out my wife had to "crawl" or at least stick her head and arms up into the upper reaches of our double klepper. I stood above the area she had to reach far into and tried to wave the mosquitos and black flies away to no avail. She screamed and cried as she could not brush them away with her head stuck inside the kayak, coming out in tears with black flies biting at her eyes and face. There have been times when we have had dinner with our head nets on, lifting it quickly to put a spoonful of food into our mouth then dropping the headnet and immediatly pinching the mosquitos and blackflies that had entered during those few moments. Black flies. Worse than mosquitos. As I sit here I am literally shaking my head in recollection of the many times camping with those buggers swarming around. Really bad news.

 

[YVRGUY]

i don't quite understand...the tag is there to remind you to DO a preflight checklist?

Yes, for those who may need it. We’re not spinning up a 747… just a suggestion to maybe lessen the drone losses…not everyone has Care Refresh. Gimbal check, prop check, battery check, ensuring during your hover that you get a RTH confirmation. That’s it…the KISS approach. Not telling you what to do…just throwing it out there for those who might appreciate this novelty.

 

[akdrone]

Yes, for those who may need it. We’re not spinning up a 747… just a suggestion to maybe lessen the drone losses…not everyone has Care Refresh. Gimbal check, prop check, battery check, ensuring during your hover that you get a RTH confirmation. That’s it…the KISS approach. Not telling you what to do…just throwing it out there for those who might appreciate this novelty.

Got it. My preflight check process has other issues LOL.

 

[Robert Prior]

Not telling you what to do…just throwing it out there for those who might appreciate this novelty.

It was funny.

I use Drone Pilot Canada to log all my flights. It has customizable checklists, and you can record them for each flight as well as crew, drone, and so forth. Handy little app, and I'm very happy with it. But then I'm a plodding, by-the-book kinda guy.

Drone Pilot Canada

dronepilotcanada.com

 

[akdrone]

It was funny.

I use Drone Pilot Canada to log all my flights. It has customizable checklists, and you can record them for each flight as well as crew, drone, and so forth. Handy little app, and I'm very happy with it. But then I'm a plodding, by-the-book kinda guy.

Drone Pilot Canada

dronepilotcanada.com

I do find it interesting, the degree to which many people (not just you) go to set things up, log things, check weather apps and such. I do absolutely none of that. Get out of the car, look around, feel the wind, fly. No judgment...just interesting to learn about other people's procedures.

 

[LoudThunder]

Just like the big girls and boys

The Big Boy and Girls probably find it more useful to put this tag on their Gimbal Cover... And in every Welcome Note I respond to a Newbie Member. This is what I write to those newbies in the Pilot Check In Forum...

"The Gimbal is the most delicate item on the Drone and banging or bumping can damage it. I also fastened a short "Remove Before Flight" ribbon to the cover so it's more noticeable and I do not forget to remove it…"

 

[Robert Prior]

Get out of the car, look around, feel the wind, fly. No judgment...just interesting to learn about other people's procedures.

When I started flying it was a legal requirement to log flights, same as for an airplane. This seemed a simple way to do that — and it incorporated the NRC map showing restricted areas so it was easy to tell if I could legally fly somewhere or not. Once I got into the habit of logging I just kept doing it.

(I live in the Greater Toronto Area, between two of Canada's busiest airports and with smaller airports scattered around. Quite possibly more restricted airspace than you! )

A big reason for getting my Mini was the ability to fly legally without a longish drive to get out of controlled airspace and more than 30 m from people (which is even more difficult). The Mini has significantly fewer restrictions.

In between your feel the wind and fly steps, I turn on Drone Pilot Canada, check for flight restrictions/NOTAMs, if legal to fly turn on controller and while it's booting run through the preflight checklist (inspect area and drone), set the drone up, turn on, wait for the nice lady to tell me the home point has been established, and start the flight. When I land I tell DPC I've landed and it logs the flight.

I expect you do your inspections while setting things up and don't have nearly the level of flight restrictions/bystanders to worry about. On the bright side, I don't have to worry about bears or black flies

 

[rwilliam99]

One thing about the gimbal cover - I have forgotten to remove it on a few occasions but it is painfully obvious because I get the "gimbal lock failure" (or something like that) in the Fly app - which reminds me I forgot to remove it.

It is interesting the different approaches to flying that people have for sure.