Maiden Flight Advice?

[Astom22]

Will make my maiden flight in a few hours, any hints or tips from the experts, that you wish you knew before your first flight?

I have been building and flying fpv racing drones for a couple of years, so I'm not a complete newb and have flight time on more "primative" drones.

I must say all the tech they have crammed into such a small package is amazing. Especially when compared to my other home built drones.

 

[Former Member]

You could take a look at the checklist in this thread:

Preflight Checklist

For your first flight, you might want to take someone along with you for a variety of reasons. Have them stand behind you, just in case.

Most important, dont try to do too much on your first day. Keep it close, keep it low, and keep your eye on it at all times. If anything goes wrong, just land it.

 

[Mike_Flys]

If you have no to little RC experience fly tail in (Drone camera facing away from you) so that right is right and left is left. Especially fly tail in for take offs and landings until you feel comfortable.

The old RC helicopter box exercises are good to practice to improve your flying skills.

 

[Astom22]

Thanks guys, wish me luck. I'll post a first video later tonight or tomorrow. Don't have very good internet on the family farm, so may not be able to upload.

Did all my updates here at the house on the fast internet.

 

[Mike_Flys]

Thanks guys, wish me luck. I'll post a first video later tonight or tomorrow. Don't have very good internet on the family farm, so may not be able to upload.

Did all my updates here at the house on the fast internet.

Good luck, have fun.
Looking forward to seeing pics/video

 

[Astom22]

Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Just drove through a thunderstorm with 50+mph winds whipping the truck around.

Word is the rain has stopped at our destination. Fingers crossed.

 

[Former Member]

One more thing, did you buy DJI Refresh or have other drone loss insurance?

 

[Astom22]

I bought dji refresh from the factory. I guess I need to research how to activate it. I didn't know about insurance until after I ordered the refresh from dji.

One more thing, did you buy DJI Refresh or have other drone loss insurance?

 

[Astom22]

Lack sufficient bandwidth on the farm to upload the videos. Will have to wait until I get home tomorrow.

Good luck, have fun.
Looking forward to seeing pics/video

 

[Former Member]

I bought dji refresh from the factory. I guess I need to research how to activate it. I didn't know about insurance until after I ordered the refresh from dji.

You might want to activate it as soon as you can. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when it comes to dealing with DJI.

 

[Astom22]

I'll will figure it out when I get home tomorrow, since I already paid for it.

Question from my third flight today. I lost connection to the drone (not sure why) then it began its return to home. It all went fine and landed right from where it took off. My question is, can I reconnect to the drone in some way? I guess I missed that part in the manual. I'm back looking for the answer in the manual now.

You might want to activate it as soon as you can. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when it comes to dealing with DJI.

 

[Astom22]

You might want to activate it as soon as you can. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when it comes to dealing with DJI.

It was activated from the factory. You had me thinking, so I tracked down how to verify it and I'm all good.

Four flights down and only had the one hiccup with loss of signal. I may have not had the plug all the way into my phone.

Still looking for a way to reconnect if signal is lost. I have flown farther and higher than when I lost signal and had strong bars the whole time, even in the exact place where I lost connection before.

So much fun, even played with a few of the quick shots and follow mode. This thing will be awesome for some mountain biking shots.

 

[InvisibleName]

I bought dji refresh from the factory. I guess I need to research how to activate it. I didn't know about insurance until after I ordered the refresh from dji.

Good that you’ve got Refresh, I have had to use it once in the UK & got a replacement (new) MA within 10 days via DJI Netherlands. On the subject of insurance, if you haven’t already, I’d get 3rd party liability insurance sorted - crashing into someone could be expensive!

 

[kidroc]

Your going to be fine let it get gps signal and it flies itself.

 

[Astom22]

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Finally got the video uploaded. I have a long way to go as a video editor, but I am looking forward to learning that too.

 

[InvisibleName]

Not bad! Just one word of warning: power lines equals potential signal interference, I’d keep your distance!

 

[genesimmons]

nice vid, looks like u have her under control. when u get the nerve fly to those windmills and orbit around them. u got nice and close to the trees etc, nice control, use a few transistions bewtween your,,,,,transitions,,,haha and your vids will look more fluid. nice job so far

 

[Astom22]

nice vid, looks like u have her under control. when u get the nerve fly to those windmills and orbit around them. u got nice and close to the trees etc, nice control, use a few transistions bewtween your,,,,,transitions,,,haha and your vids will look more fluid. nice job so far

Proximity doesn't scare me too much after flying gates with my fpv drones. I thought about getting closer to the wind mills, but the mud from the recent rains made me not want to walk and recover a downed bird, if needed.

Will work on the transitions, I need to figure out clip editing too. I haven't used iMovie in forever, so I'm relearning the ropes.

If you have a suggestion to an editor, I'll take it too.

 

[genesimmons]

if ur using imovie i assume u use a mac,me to, i tried and have adobe premeier and final cut pro, they are prob awsome but wayyyyy to advanced for me haha, i settled on movavi editor, its pretty easy to use and enough options for me and comes with lots of transitions and even music and everything u would need to get a good vid, i like it so far,

 

[Astom22]

if ur using imovie i assume u use a mac,me to, i tried and have adobe premeier and final cut pro, they are prob awsome but wayyyyy to advanced for me haha, i settled on movavi editor, its pretty easy to use and enough options for me and comes with lots of transitions and even music and everything u would need to get a good vid, i like it so far,

The hardest part for me today was just cutting up my long clips I to shorter clips. With the gopro software it was easier to trim things into smaller pieces.

I will check out your suggestion, thanks.