New Drone owner took first flight today. Experience and questions

[bottomsup]

Hi,

I bought a MA2 today and spent way more than I anticipated on a ‘toy’ but the obstacle detection and avoidance appealed to me and felt like an insurance of sorts over the mini.

I went to a local park and lifted off from a basketball court with some trees around. It lifted off and moved so fast I was shocked. I flew it out over a soccer field ~150 feet as I was fearful of trees. Quickly brought it back as it felt too far away at only 500 feet.

Then I practiced landing and taking off manually for awhile.

I then felt more confident and flew it over a forest are into a neighborhood and down this street~200 feet. I hit 1300 feet felt uneasy and brought it back.

I went with 3 batteries and didn’t even use 1. Flying this thing gave me anxiety...all I could think of it is just spent 1K and what if this thing goes down...

Came home, then decided to try again from my back yard. I live on a hill with a mountain view and have a 15’ area between fences so I lifted off and flew it 3500ft away to a cell tower I can see in the distance way up on a hill. The power of this thing is amazing. Played with the quicklook and returned home flying super high due to trees I’m too paranoid to get close to.

The feeling of going long distance is hugely exhilarating to me. That cell tower took me 90 mins to hIke to and the drone was there in 5.

Questions

1. I took off from my back yard being at that park and my house is probably 300 foot elevation above that park. When I took off the drone said I was at max altitude at ~20 feet. I landed it, reset “home point” and then it seemed to work fine. Does home point reset at every flight or am I doing something wrong? Any ideas what happened there?
2. I need an SD card and reader. Recommendations?
3. The charger with the fly more only charges batteries one at a time. Any options to charge all at once?
4. Can you hook an iPad to this remote somehow? I would prefer a bigger screen.
5. When I see people using the drone to track their car what do you do when the battery runs low? Pull over? How does it know where to land?

I’m sure there’s more. Enough for now.

Thanks

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum.
Please don’t take this as being rude but have you downloaded
the manual and read it. Have you looked at any YouTube videos.
You ask alot for your first post. We have a search function if you
ask it it will answer all your questions.
Im sure some will address some of your questions but do look around this section and just read. It’s all here and more .
You need to register with the FAA and put your #’s on your drone.
You need to know the flying restrictions .
Its way more than taking it out of the box ,reading the quick start
and flying. ?

 

[heisnuts]

After turning on the drone (with the remote already turned on first) I always wait until there are enough satellites locked so that the home point updates on the screen BEFORE taking off.

you can use an iPad (I use an iPad mini 5), but you will need a holder since it will Not fit in the built in holder on the remote.

when the battery gets low it will automatically return to home (assuming you don’t cancel it), but you should always be monitoring this during flight and know if you are flying into the wind or against it as you may not make it back if you flew out with the wind and are fighting it on the way back home.

you will need a card reader if your computer doesn’t not have a slot for a micro sd card.

the only way to charge more than one battery at a time is to bus multiple chargers.

like suggested above, I would watch several videos by people who have reviewed the new Mavic Air 2 as well as read the manual before going much further. I learned a lot about the MA2 by watching a lot of videos before it even arrived at my door, and this is coming from someone who has been flying a Phantom 3 for 5 years now. Just search Mavic Air 2 on YouTube and you will find a ton of videos already on it.

 

[ElkySS]

I use this cheap little card reader. Plugs into my laptop or my android. I'm sure they make one for Apple if your one of those guys. Lol

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B081VHSB2V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_O5rfFbXJ3ZWW8

And I've been using this charger. Charges up to 4 at one time.

Amazon.com: Mavic Air 2 Battery Charger, IRCtek 6 in 1 Rapid Charger Charging Hub for DJI Mavic Air 2 Battery and Remote Controller: Toys & Games

Buy Mavic Air 2 Battery Charger, IRCtek 6 in 1 Rapid Charger Charging Hub for DJI Mavic Air 2 Battery and Remote Controller: Toys & Games - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

smile.amazon.com

 

[bmwbob]

Just takes time to trust the technology!

 

[Torcan]

1. The charger with the fly more only charges batteries one at a time. Any options to charge all at once?

Nope..The batteries will charge the fullest one first leaving the battery that needs to be charged the most for last. This was designed so that people could get out and fly quicker with a fully charged battery in the least amount of time waiting.
If you want to charge all at the same time.. as heisnuts said, you will have to purchase more chargers.

 

[Greekislandlover]

Hi and welcome!

SD card - don't skimp on a cheap one. It's got to write a LOT of data QUICKLY, so go with the ones DJI recommend. Mine is a 128G sandisk extreme pro with the U3 symbol on it.

I have a card reader (USB2 and cheap) but just plug the drone into the computer to transfer files. That's with the Mavic 2, so I'm assuming you can do the same with a MA2. However, I've never got that to work with a tablet, so use a card reader if I'm going to do that. The card reader doesn't have to be high spec - it just takes longer for file transfer.

Find a testing ground near you where you can practice. I practice things in my local park - over a lake. Now that sounds a bit counter-intuitive as many newbies would rather do it over solid ground so they can pick up the pieces if it crashes, but I've crashed twice - both into trees. Thankfully I could go and retrieve the drones as they just bounced off, but the sensors don't detect trees that well. Lakes don't tend to have trees, but there are dangers in flying over water that you need to look at the manual for. I just keep it well above the surface.

But my newbie advice is big, open fields without trees! And practice slow flying rather than seeing how fast it can go in sport mode. Sport mode has no sensors operational BTW.

Don't be fooled into thinking it has 360 degree protection and will avoid all obstacles, as that's not the case. It has some sensors and the technology is amazing, but it's not 360 degrees, and certain obstacles like tree branches, wire mesh fences it may or may not see.

Avoid trees!

If you are following a car, then as you say it will return to the home point at low battery. You would need to stop the car and land manually. Also, if you are taking off from a moving object such as a boat it will return to the take off point and go for a swim.

With following a car, you need to know the local regulations plus don't try it on the freeway!

Watch you tube vids as has been said, get it registered plus go steady on what you do as a newbie and trust will grow between you and your drone.

 

[Juggler]

1. Home point will reset every flight. there is a trigger alitiude to enable it.
2. Many opinions on this but the fastest you can get and about 32gb. if you lose the drone you done loose all you footage. get a few small ones and change them when you swap batteries
3. yes the standard will charge onlt one at a time. if you are charging one and put another in it will charge the one with the highest voltage first. After market chargers are availablt to charge simutaniously
4.yes you can but get a 4 or 5 and the older ones arnt powerrful enough.
5. It will go to the homepoint unless you have hover selected or have updatd the homepoint...

Best advice for you is read the manual and most of your questions and answers will be there,

enjoy and welcome aboard

 

[Mavic Mac]

Welcome to the forums - a lot of good info here. Also, the search function (magnifying glass icon upper right) is a great way to find answers to many of the questions a "newbie" will have. We were all "newbies" at one point.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Hi bottomsup Welcome to Mavic Pilots

New flyer advice.
Wide open space.
Slow & easy.
Power-lines & trees are evil.
Don't forget to read the manual
Download Air 2 manual HERE

 

[ATP]

Hello, welcome to the world of drones (very similar to rotary-wing aircraft). As a rotary-wing instructor I would suggest you find a flat clear field and practice flying square hover patterns at a 3-4 foot altitude keeping the drone heading constant. The next exercise could be place a 4 foot stick vertically in the ground a rotate the drone around it keeping the nose of the drone pointing at the stick, this will greatly increase multiple control coordination for you. Once you get some time under your belt, venture further keeping situational awareness high.
DJI refresh insurance also reduces the pucker factor.
Stay safe, cheers.

 

[dawgpilot]

I took off from my back yard being at that park and my house is probably 300 foot elevation above that park. When I took off the drone said I was at max altitude at ~20 feet. I landed it, reset “home point” and then it seemed to work fine. Does home point reset at every flight or am I doing something wrong? Any ideas what happened there?

This likely means you tried to take off before your drone got a GPS lock. The drone's maximum height is limited until the GPS lock is established. I highly suggest you wait for the GPS to lock on before taking off in the future, since flying without a GPS lock is a good way to lose your drone if you suffer a disconnect. (without GPS, the drone won't know how to return home to you)

 

[hiflyer201]

Welcome to the forum.
Please don’t take this as being rude but have you downloaded
the manual and read it. Have you looked at any YouTube videos.

Welcome! Dirk said it all...download the manual to your phone and you'll have it at all times. This forum will fill in the gaps, but you'll always have questions. and you're right..it cost a lot of bucks and it's NOT a toy

 

[Dbez1]

Keep reading this forum and learn from the mistakes of others. Also, use the open field a lot until you develop some skills and confidence. The drone is capable of flying in tight areas but new pilots usually are not. Best wishes and enjoy the sport.

 

[bottomsup]

OP here. Thanks everyone for the responses. I did read the entire manual. I did not register with the FAA as I thought that was part of the activation process but I will do that now.

Also great tips on card readers thank you.

Question, is there a way to see the flight data center in the app on a computer or web browser? Seems not. I did find this which seems interesting

Telemetry Template for DJI (Adobe AE) FAQ | DJI video caption data in Adobe After Effects

How to use DJI flight logs in After Effects?. Most DJI drones record flight logs as subtitle data. Learn to import it in After Effects to create custom overlays

goprotelemetryextractor.com

One other thing I‘ve learned from reading here is if you get the poor signal warning to increase altitude. Last night i got that, freaked out, and raised altitude. I didn’t realize the remote is directional so it helps if you point the top of it at the drone.

Thanks again all

 

[dawgpilot]

OP here. Thanks everyone for the responses. I did read the entire manual. I did not register with the FAA as I thought that was part of the activation process but I will do that now.

Also great tips on card readers thank you.

Question, is there a way to see the flight data center in the app on a computer or web browser? Seems not. I did find this which seems interesting

Telemetry Template for DJI (Adobe AE) FAQ | DJI video caption data in Adobe After Effects

How to use DJI flight logs in After Effects?. Most DJI drones record flight logs as subtitle data. Learn to import it in After Effects to create custom overlays

goprotelemetryextractor.com

One other thing I‘ve learned from reading here is if you get the poor signal warning to increase altitude. Last night i got that, freaked out, and raised altitude. I didn’t realize the remote is directional so it helps if you point the top of it at the drone.

Thanks again all

You can sign up for a free account at Airdata.com, and once signed in enter your DJI credentials. Airdata will then sync your flight logs from DJI and let you view them on their webpage.

As far as FAA registration, that costs $5 and can be done at the FAA's site: FAADroneZone (choose the recreational option)

 

[MsDrone]

Question, is there a way to see the flight data center in the app on a computer or web browser? Seems not. I did find this which seems interesting

Telemetry Template for DJI (Adobe AE) FAQ | DJI video caption data in Adobe After Effects

How to use DJI flight logs in After Effects?. Most DJI drones record flight logs as subtitle data. Learn to import it in After Effects to create custom overlays

goprotelemetryextractor.com

[/QUOTE]

I had a similar question and got several replies, including I think the one you referenced. I wanted to be able to record the flight display. I think the easiest for me will be to use the screen record function, which I didn’t know you could do. There’s some other suggestions about telemetry data in this thread.

Newbie questions

2nd day flying MA2 today, still trying to figure things out of course. For videos I’m wondering how to get the screen specs on the video (altitude, distance, speed, etc). I see it on YouTube videos but can’t figure out how to do it, and I can’t find it in a search. I think I did figure out my...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Hauptmann]

Welcome to our forum, from Hauptmann in North Texas!

The MA2 is a great machine with a great camera. Lots of cool stuff to shoot in California. Read the manual, and be conservative at first. Practice using the "Find My Drone" app. Don't wait until you lose your MA2 before you try to learn the app.

Use small SD cards, and swap them out after each flight. I have about 6. An iPad Mini 5 will make a great addition to your kit, as will a multi-charger (from Amazon).

We have over 100,000 members world wide to help you advance as a pilot and photographer. Ask for help when you need it. Share your work when you can.

Thanks for joining!

 

[anon67]

SD card reader for pc or mac

https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-TS-RDF5K-microSDHC-Reader-Black/dp/B009D79VH4/

been using that reader for 2 years no problems
Best bang for buck sd card (own several)

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128GB-Extreme-microSD-Adapter/dp/B07FCMKK5X/

you can use that sd card reader with an android phone by spending under $10 for a usb otg cable. I would link one but idk how you charge your phone if it’s micro usb or usb-c. If you want to get on iPhone you can buy Apple brand sd card reader to lightning for $29. If you don’t want to download RAW files the dji app will transmit the full size jpg file to your phone wirelessly at about 5mb a sec. so for a 4K 60fps video it can take some time but it doesn’t require you to buy anything other than sd card to hold the footage or images. I’m sure you are aware the drone has 8gb of on board storage but I do recommend getting an sd card

 

[Laborous]

Welcome to the forum from the beautiful woods of Maine!
Check out the videos on YouTube by Flytpath, he has a good series that covers just about all your questions,,