New Drone owner took first flight today. Experience and questions

[dawgpilot]

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!

Isn't "Find My Drone" a function of DJI Fly, and not actually a separate app? You might want to update your Welcome script to clarify that.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Welcome from Canada. No UAV is a "toy", its a motorized projectile that can seriously injure and cause damage, even the "toy grade" drones. That said, all the advice you've received here is of high value. Best drone pilot is a well informed drone pilot. Fly safe!

 

[JayTea26]

This happens to me. When I get your kind of anxiety (often) I just take slow deep breaths and repeat I'm glad I have the refresh program and the AMA liability insurance.

My strobe lights keep it in sight. I prefer to keep it in site and at or below 400' but have seen many YouTube videos where there is no way the pilot could have the MA2 in sight.

 

[Ribbit74]

Practicing with a simulator also helps. I used Absolute RC to learn single rotor heli’s on my iPad. The graphics are lame but the controls and flight models are solid.

They also have a few drones, more emphasis on racing drones but you can work on your confidence and not worry about crashing.

 

[Flynz]

Welcome to the forum.

• First flight should be in learner mode which restricts distance and speed. Make sure you are not accidentally in sports mode till you know what you are doing.
• Altitude is usually your friend. If in doubt ascend. The exception is that winds can be stronger.
• If the wind is up a bit adventure upwind or come home early with lots of battery.
• The controls are very sensitive to inputs so if you are gentle with the sticks you can fly very slowly. Learn to be very subtle with the sticks. It should not fly away from you, unless in sports mode.
• As above get a GPS lock before flying, always. You must understand that you are not actually flying the drone, you are controlling it but it is flying itself with AI. You take your hands off the sticks and it will hover. All the time the drone is making corrections for wind etc. If not in GPS mode then it will potentially be very hard to control.
• If in doubt just stop of a minute. Look down with the camera, then look at 45 degrees down and do a slow 360. Maybe do another circle looking up to check tree top level etc. Then look up and proceed. I often just stop to ensure I have it all sorted, especially with objects around. The map will confirm you have completed the 360 and are facing where you need to be. My Mavick Pro has no backward sensors so I never back up unless I can see very clearly from the ground. Crashed into a tree once LOL.

Finally do read the manual and watch the training videos. They give you some simple tasks to try out like flying a figure of 8 so as to practice changing orientation. And again gentle on the sticks. Learn to fly slowly first.

These are amazing pieces of kit with outstanding capabilities for you to continue to explore for ages. Slow steps to start with.
Enjoy!

 

[bottomsup]

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum.

• First flight should be in learner mode which restricts distance and speed. Make sure you are not accidentally in sports mode till you know what you are doing.
• Altitude is usually your friend. If in doubt ascend. The exception is that winds can be stronger.
• If the wind is up a bit adventure upwind or come home early with lots of battery.
• The controls are very sensitive to inputs so if you are gentle with the sticks you can fly very slowly. Learn to be very subtle with the sticks. It should not fly away from you, unless in sports mode.
• As above get a GPS lock before flying, always. You must understand that you are not actually flying the drone, you are controlling it but it is flying itself with AI. You take your hands off the sticks and it will hover. All the time the drone is making corrections for wind etc. If not in GPS mode then it will potentially be very hard to control.
• If in doubt just stop of a minute. Look down with the camera, then look at 45 degrees down and do a slow 360. Maybe do another circle looking up to check tree top level etc. Then look up and proceed. I often just stop to ensure I have it all sorted, especially with objects around. The map will confirm you have completed the 360 and are facing where you need to be. My Mavick Pro has no backward sensors so I never back up unless I can see very clearly from the ground. Crashed into a tree once LOL.

Finally do read the manual and watch the training videos. They give you some simple tasks to try out like flying a figure of 8 so as to practice changing orientation. And again gentle on the sticks. Learn to fly slowly first.

These are amazing pieces of kit with outstanding capabilities for you to continue to explore for ages. Slow steps to start with.
Enjoy!

To your 3rd bullet what is the best way to get real time wind conditions in the micro climate we fly in?

 

[pdipasquale]

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

 

[pdipasquale]

Practice, stay above 100 ft, stay legal. Most crashes will happen below a 100ft. So get up stay up and don't play around at low heights. Don't run your battery real low and take a chance. So what about flight time the risk isn't worth it. Try DJI GOGGLES. They're a blast. Preflight check everthing everytime. Even if you just change batteries. BIRDS ARE COOL but they'll get hurt and you'll lose your drone. Use DJI app to fly and US FAA app-before you fly/kittyhawk app to stay legal UAS forecast is pretty good some like drone buddy.

 

[ElkySS]

Airdata.Com is nice. I put the app on my phone and it pulls data right from dji fly app. Gives heaps of data with the free account. I am not sure that I need the data from the premium account right now so I'm sticking with the free stuff.

 

[Pappy]

Try DJI GOGGLES. They're a blast.

What? I didn't know the Goggles worked with the MA2.

 

[bottomsup]

OP here. had an interesting experience today. I hiked about 2 miles into a regional park to fly my drone from a new place. I couldn't find cover so I was totally exposed in the sun. I launched from my mat on a dry creek bed that was super rocky. I've been using my iPad air 2 with no issues but about half way through the flight the screen started to glitch and freeze. I started to fly back and then the iPad said it overheated and shut down.

Brief moment of panic. Hit the RTH button and waited. The drone was probably around 5-6K feet away at this point. I waited staring into the sun and then heard it. I've been having some trouble with precision landing as I have not done that enough times successfully yet to trust it...especially not in this dry creek bed so when it came into visual I manually landed it.

I've come a long way in only a week in trusting the technology. The RTH is amazing.

Note to self don't fly in the direct noon sun anymore. It was too hot anyway. I need to go earlier in the day next time.

 

[Nocomment]

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.

This is an awesome set of tips. Me being a first time Drone flyer (actually waiting for it to show up in hours) really appreciate the tips. I will most certainly do these exercises, Thank you for posting them.

 

[hayc59]

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)

Now this is cool (Airdata.com) thank you
I synced with my iphone and dji but no data??

 

[hayc59]

Is it maybe stored on the microsd card?

 

[dawgpilot]

Now this is cool (Airdata.com) thank you
I synced with my iphone and dji but no data??

Maybe sure your DJI app on your iPhone is set to sync your data up to DJI first. Then Airdata can retrieve the records.

 

[hayc59]

thank you

 

[vindibona1]

I strongly advise the OP to watch a lot of video. I cut my teeth on a Mavic Mini and decided I needed something more robust so I have a MA2 Pro due in on Saturday. Even (now) as as semi-experience DJI flyer (I won't call myself a pilot yet) the MA2 features are making my head spin. Everything on the MA2 is bigger faster stronger, more agile and has so many features I can't imagine learning them all.

Card reader: Multi card reader I have owned this reader for a few months and think it's terrific. If you're going to buy one, get one that can accomodate any card format. This particular one can transfer data between multiple cards installed in it at the same time. I've owned several card readers and this is my favorite one so far.

 

[Flynz]

Thanks.

To your 3rd bullet what is the best way to get real time wind conditions in the micro climate we fly in?

Tough. I use my nose in the wind and watch trees etc. Also track progress and see what the ground speed looks like. Finally I use a safe to fly app in NZ which provides air speed estimates in metres s-1

 

[itsneedtokno]

OP here. had an interesting experience today. I hiked about 2 miles into a regional park to fly my drone from a new place. I couldn't find cover so I was totally exposed in the sun. I launched from my mat on a dry creek bed that was super rocky. I've been using my iPad air 2 with no issues but about half way through the flight the screen started to glitch and freeze. I started to fly back and then the iPad said it overheated and shut down.

A sunshade works wonders.

Brief moment of panic. Hit the RTH button and waited. The drone was probably around 5-6K feet away at this point.

I mean, I get it... New drone owner, just like a new car owner, is going to push the limits. Don't make a habit of flying BVLOS though. For all our sake. Not trying to be the drone police in any way, there's always that "impossible to drive closer than you are" spot. Either understand you'll never fly it, or break the law... I personally don't care, but there's way more risk than reward involved.

I waited staring into the sun and then heard it. I've been having some trouble with precision landing as I have not done that enough times successfully yet to trust it...especially not in this dry creek bed so when it came into visual I manually landed it.

?

I've come a long way in only a week in trusting the technology. The RTH is amazing.

Note to self don't fly in the direct noon sun anymore. It was too hot anyway. I need to go earlier in the day next time.

There's something called the "Golden Hour" when it comes to Photography. It's right after sunrise and right before sunset. The shadows are long and the sky is not as overexposed.

 

[anon67]

Also with the mavic air 2 sensor being so small you don’t have a lot of time at golden hour before it’s too dark. Though your eyes will see fine and it won’t seem dark but the sensor will struggle towards the end of golden hour. This isn’t a diss on the mavic air 2 just a suggestion to make good use of every second during your shoot.