Mavic Pre Flight Checklist

ikasper · Nov 10, 2016

DrPeppar said:
Add liftoff slowly

Not too slow, or you might slide off the "bubble" and crash. Lift off fairly quickly to about 5 feet and then you can hover or go slow

kmaluo · Nov 10, 2016

ikasper said:
Not too slow, or you might slide off the "bubble" and crash. Lift off fairly quickly to about 5 feet and then you can hover or go slow

Yup, one of my first hard knock lessons of flying helicopters, take off quickly and clear the wash before it gets you.

scalci · Nov 10, 2016

Thank you, will definitely use this..

Mattman · Nov 10, 2016

ikasper said:
Not too slow, or you might slide off the "bubble" and crash. Lift off fairly quickly to about 5 feet and then you can hover or go slow

Liftoff is part of flight, not preflight...

ikasper · Nov 10, 2016

Mattman said:
Liftoff is part of flight, not preflight...

I know. But if you see the comment i was replying to you would know why i wrote it

Glim1000 · Nov 12, 2016

Added "Check that gimbal vibration mounting board is under the three drop hooks." to the checklist

Did anyone else notice that "Smiley DJI Ty guy" forgot to unfold the propellers before flight and when they cut scene back to the aircraft it had the propellers unfolded.

GameDemocom · Dec 3, 2016

One consideration would be to add - reference points to each line item in user manual.

Example:
RC in P-Mode - (ref MPUMV1.0 Page 11)

(ref MPUMV1.0 Page 11) = Mavic Pro User Manual Page 11.

Joe Cosentino · Dec 4, 2016

Glim1000 said:
Hi All,

Anxiously awaiting a Mavic along with everyone else here, while waiting I have been pouring over this site, DJI's site and the FAA UAS site trying to find info on a pre-flight checklist. I referenced Adam Savage's Inspire 1 checklist, the Mavic user guide, quick start manual and quickly put this together.

Lets add/remove/modify this document and post back here for all to use.

Link to docx and PDF files

Thank you, I just joined the group, my Mavic came Friday and the weather has been cold windy and snowy. hope to fly this afternoon. I was looking for a checklist to make sure I don't miss anything. My first quad and I want to keep it past the first flight.
Joe

Bxiie · Jan 3, 2017

Hello. I expanded on the checklist for my own purposes... What was here was a great start so I thought I'd share my results back to the group.

Unfortunately for some reason I can't upload a .doc file so here is a PDF. I'd be happy to share the .doc directly.

Marlon · Jan 3, 2017

Glim1000 said:
Added "Check that gimbal vibration mounting board is under the three drop hooks." to the checklist

Did anyone else notice that "Smiley DJI Ty guy" forgot to unfold the propellers before flight and when they cut scene back to the aircraft it had the propellers unfolded.

Hi great work! Got my Mavic for about 2 weeks now, and I want to be better and more professional flying with it, so thanks for helping me with that.
I just saw this nice clip from Drone Valley ( ) He talks about 3 single points of failure: batteries, blades and boundaries. There are some nice checks in there that could be helpful on the checklist.
Also in another video, he came to the conclusion that leaving the gimbal cover on can lead to overheating, because there's a vent that will be blocked.

I've digested the tips from Drone Valley + some extra:

Pre-flight
- check overall conditions with app like UAV Forecast, Airmap, Hover and Kittyhawk
- remove gimbal cover (will overheat drone when powered)

battery physical concerns:
- no cracks
- no debris in connections
- fully seat battery in drone

battery electrical concerns:
- cells have approx. equally charge levels (otherwise use other battery and reset faulty one)

take blades of and psychical check for:
- no deformation on top and bottom surface
- no damage on end of blades
- no deposit/debris
- no cracks in base attachment part

- clean blades with alcohol-only wipes

blade mounts on drone:
- spring has no fatigue (gently pull spring to check)
- no cracked plastic, loose screws, metal fatigue (if damaged, replace with new (metal) mount)

boundaries:
- walk location, and identify tallest structure
- identify second (and third) location to land in case of emergency
- no cellphone, broadcast towers and power lines nearby (can interfere or override communication between RC and drone)

Post-flight
- protect battery connections with (electrical) tape

Glim1000 · Jan 5, 2017

Hi Marlon and Bxiie,

Great work

I have updated the share settings - Try posting the word doc again

Syphon · Jan 5, 2017

Needed this today. I forgot my SD card. Still flew just couldn't record.

Marlon · Jan 5, 2017

Glim1000 said:
Hi Marlon and Bxiie,

Great work

I have updated the share settings - Try posting the word doc again

Hi again,
I've added and changed some things into some new checklists. I stumbled upon this great app for creating and checking off these lists. I use this iOS app that's about $20 with a website to curate your lists:

ForeFlight Checklist Pro for iPhone by ForeFlight
https://appsto.re/nl/pDmCr.i

But there're also cheaper apps out there I've just found out

Pilot's Checklist Cessna 172 Skyhawk by Hayri Safak Oner
https://appsto.re/nl/3cuAX.i

I can share with anyone the Checklist-app file and I've also made an Excel sheet out of it. Use as you wish

Excel file
Dropbox - Normal Checklists - Preflight.xls

Checklist app share
foreflightchecklist://share?uuid=9f34fc60-d390-11e6-befb-0a8fa3324c37

Happy safe flying!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

halley · Jan 5, 2017

Syphon said:
I forgot my SD card.

As a personal rule, I never close the little door on any camera or other device if the memory card is not present. For the Mavic, I never fold up the drone if the little door is open and/or the memory card is not present.

MavicMo · Jan 17, 2017

I really think this should be a "sticky". Been reading some new threads and see that if the user had a checklist and used it, they could have potentially avoided some situations, had a question answered, or been better prepared to fly.

I use a modified version of the checklist in this thread...

twinchrissy · Jan 20, 2017

As a newbie may I make a suggestion for indoor flying. I know that is tricky and I won't be attempting it anytime soon but I think it might help others having a bad experience.

1. Turn off obstruction avoidance.
2. Make RTH height 1.5m (4ft) or something like that.
3. Put MP into Tripod Mode.

There may be other good settings for indoor flight so please feel free to comment. Also, can the originators of the list please update them or let me know how I could. Thanks guys. I'm luvin this forum.

JLane · Jan 20, 2017

twinchrissy said:
2. Make RTH height 1.5m (4ft) or something like that..

You can't actually set RTH to that low, and you wouldn't in fact want the Mavic to ever use RTH while flying indoors. It's not likely to have enough satellite signal to even record a home point or find it's way back to it, anyway. The best thing to do is to set the signal loss option to "Hover" or "Land" rather than RTH.

twinchrissy · Jan 20, 2017

Thanks JLane. I appreciate your input.

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

neoblitz · Jan 20, 2017

Marlon said:
Hi again,
I've added and changed some things into some new checklists. I stumbled upon this great app for creating and checking off these lists. I use this iOS app that's about $20 with a website to curate your lists:

ForeFlight Checklist Pro for iPhone by ForeFlight
https://appsto.re/nl/pDmCr.i

But there're also cheaper apps out there I've just found out

Pilot's Checklist Cessna 172 Skyhawk by Hayri Safak Oner
https://appsto.re/nl/3cuAX.i

I can share with anyone the Checklist-app file and I've also made an Excel sheet out of it. Use as you wish

Excel file
Dropbox - Normal Checklists - Preflight.xls

Checklist app share
foreflightchecklist://share?uuid=9f34fc60-d390-11e6-befb-0a8fa3324c37

Happy safe flying!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This is a great preflight list. (Xls file)
+ I use a few more items.

-phone: disable auto brightness and set to 60-70% brightness in daylight
-mavic : check the craft switch is set to RC and not wifi
- mavic: check sd card storage space and whether sd card in place or no sd card inside.
- mavic: turn off sport mode (optional)
- app: check gimbal and stick sensitivity settings
- app: check if all the calibration are normal.
- app: review camera and video settings (optional)

[emoji4]

Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

twinchrissy · Jan 20, 2017

I also noticed on both the checklist they switch on the aircraft before the controller. This is opposite to what it says in the manual and I have also seen a comment on a youtube video also that states, "you should never ever turn on the aircraft before the controller on any RC system. You want the transmitter fully in control of the aircraft. If you turned on the aircraft it could connect to some other radio source and fire up....".

Just my tuppence worth.

They are both great checklists and I would really appreciate if the authors could upload them in .doc format. I saw that the permissions have been changed to allow this. Thanks.