Pilot training

[rwilliam99]

I've looked thru here a bit and didn't see this topic discussed (apologies if I missed it). I would like to improve my flying skills and I've been searching for things to help improve - I've found several YouTube videos with drills or things to practice but i'm wondering if anyone here has found something that has been useful or resources that would be helpful? Some of the things I've found have been more related to getting better pictures or video - for this I'm not really interested in that - I'm strictly interested in flying skills.

Thanks for any info you have.

 

[Deleted member 170899]

I've looked thru here a bit and didn't see this topic discussed (apologies if I missed it). I would like to improve my flying skills and I've been searching for things to help improve - I've found several YouTube videos with drills or things to practice but i'm wondering if anyone here has found something that has been useful or resources that would be helpful? Some of the things I've found have been more related to getting better pictures or video - for this I'm not really interested in that - I'm strictly interested in flying skills.

Thanks for any info you have.

"normal," or FPV?

 

[old man mavic]

@rwilliam99 to be perfectly honest with you ,learning to fly a camera drone, as opposed to a FPV drone is really just about mastering the basic skills ,with those drills you mentions flying squares,circles ,figure,of eights etc ,and gradually blending all those aspects together ,to be able to confidently fly your drone ,and then once in a while go back to those basic manoeuvrer's and run through them for a battery just to refresh the old muscle memory ,the very best way to become really good at flying after the initial practice is really to get out and fly as much as possible ,never become over confident ,and always do your pre flight checks before taking to the air ,but above all enjoy yourself

 

[rwilliam99]

"normal," or FPV?

"Normal",not FPV.

 

[rwilliam99]

@rwilliam99 to be perfectly honest with you ,learning to fly a camera drone, as opposed to a FPV drone is really just about mastering the basic skills ,with those drills you mentions flying squares,circles ,figure,of eights etc ,and gradually blending all those aspects together ,to be able to confidently fly your drone ,and then once in a while go back to those basic manoeuvrer's and run through them for a battery just to refresh the old muscle memory ,the very best way to become really good at flying after the initial practice is really to get out and fly as much as possible ,never become over confident ,and always do your pre flight checks before taking to the air ,but above all enjoy yourself

Years ago I used to fly RC planes, so I get the practice aspect of it. I'm just trying to see if there is anything that anyone found particularly useful/helpful. I know there is no "quick fix" for this - it takes time - and I really want to build that muscle memory so that if/when I get into a tight spot I don't panic and end up crashing. I crashed my RC planes a few times, especially at the beginning. I'll never forget one time - I was flying (I had been flying for a while and was reasonably good by that point) - all was good until it wasn't - it had to have been some sort of interference because I had zero control over my plane - it ended up doing a full power dive into the ground - there wasn't much left of it after that. Although I've crashed my drone twice now, I'm really trying to make sure I don't crash again and really want to be a better, more confident pilot.

 

[Deleted member 170899]

"Normal",not FPV.

Then everything OMM wrote is true.

I received a free course from Pilot Institute with my 107 training. It's too bad you don't have to prove some basic skills to get a license.

 

[Deleted member 170899]

Years ago I used to fly RC planes, so I get the practice aspect of it. I'm just trying to see if there is anything that anyone found particularly useful/helpful. I know there is no "quick fix" for this - it takes time - and I really want to build that muscle memory so that if/when I get into a tight spot I don't panic and end up crashing. I crashed my RC planes a few times, especially at the beginning. I'll never forget one time - I was flying (I had been flying for a while and was reasonably good by that point) - all was good until it wasn't - it had to have been some sort of interference because I had zero control over my plane - it ended up doing a full power dive into the ground - there wasn't much left of it after that. Although I've crashed my drone twice now, I'm really trying to make sure I don't crash again and really want to be a better, more confident pilot.

Exactly! I flew (still do) RC planes for years. Drones are SO much easier. If you're nervous, just let go of the sticks. That doesn't work with planes.

 

[rwilliam99]

Exactly! I flew (still do) RC planes for years. Drones are SO much easier. If you're nervous, just let go of the sticks. That doesn't work with planes.

Yeah, planes are definitely require "active" control - at least if you want to keep them in the air.

Drones are certainly a lot easier, but my last crash was due to me not having a good, positive GPS lock before flying - and it kind of went wonky and into a tree. I now have what I think is a pretty good pre-flight checklist that I will be using on every flight from now on. I'm also starting to use the DJI simulator to practice some of this stuff when the weather isn't good. That simulator is amazingly accurate and since I can use the actual controller, it helps with the muscle memory too.

 

[Deleted member 170899]

Yes, let the satellites get discovered. I also hover just a bit on takeoff just to get a good home position set. Practice makes (almost) perfect!

 

[rwilliam99]

Yes, let the satellites get discovered. I also hover just a bit on takeoff just to get a good home position set. Practice makes (almost) perfect!

Lessons learned the hard way unfortunately.... After my first crash, I thought I was doing the right things, but apparently I still had a lot more to learn - I'm trying REALLY hard not to make the same mistake again, hence this thread.

 

[old man mavic]

the hardest part of controlling any RC equipped device ,is the fact that you are in a fixed position relative to the device you are controlling ,this requires a good grasp of spacial awareness,and also the ability to be able to know exactly what your device is going to do ,when it reacts to your stick imputes , because as we have all found out ,it all depends on the orientation of the front of the device relative to your position,and getting that part to become second nature, is what causes most people to end up crashing ,because the device went a different way than was expected ,thats something that some people find easy to do while others struggle with it

 

[rwilliam99]

the hardest part of controlling any RC equipped device ,is the fact that you are in a fixed position relative to the device you are controlling ,this requires a good grasp of spacial awareness,and also the ability to be able to know exactly what your device is going to do ,when it reacts to your stick imputes , because as we have all found out ,it all depends on the orientation of the front of the device relative to your position,and getting that part to become second nature, is what causes most people to end up crashing ,because the device went a different way than was expected ,thats something that some people find easy to do while others struggle with it

I recall from RC plane flying days that two things were always challenging even after I had a few years of experience under my belt:

1. Knowing what orientation the plane was in (normal, inverted, flying towards you, flying away from you, etc)
2. Dealing with inverted controls when the plane was flying towards you

A drone in normal flight makes it a little easier, since it will always be flying in the same orientation (props up - I'm assuming one is not trying to do "trick" flights) - the challenge is in knowing where the front of the drone is and making appropriate control inputs. The other thing that was a challenge for a newbie RC flyer was to be gentle on stick inputs - I think a lot of new flyers tend to push the sticks to their limits which in most cases only require a small amount of input in order to do what is needed. That is where experience kicks in I think and leads to smoother flying.

 

[MA2 317]

the challenge is in knowing where the front of the drone is and making appropriate control inputs.

If you have a water tower in the area on the outskirts of town, I've found this POI perfect for practicing memory control of the sticks to achieve orbit and related shots.

The onboard map helps a lot when you need a quick reference of orientation.

Strobes help too.

Having a spotter (visual observer) really helps with the flying skills if trying to capture a shot with the drone.

They should PAY ATTENTION to the safety of your aircraft while you focus on the telemetry and the shot during the flight.


Practice, practice, practice....

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