Having monitored these boards for the past couple of months, I’ve come up with a few points that I thought might help people new to the Mavic Air. Some of you may know all of this, and all of you will know some of it, but it can’t hurt. In any case, I hope it stops newbies from making the most common mistakes, answer a few questions before they’re even asked. Please feel free to add to this, or to correct anything you think I might’ve gotten wrong.
1. So far as I can tell, about 80 to 90% of all flyaways, accidents, and the like are caused by one of two things: either a mis-calibrated compass, or an insufficient GPS signal. The first can be spotted by making sure that the little red arrow shaped thing on your map is pointing in the same direction as the aircraft itself. The second can be prevented by not taking off until you have 10 or so satellites locked in, even though the program will let you take off of you have only eight. Seriously, taking care of these two things will solve the majority of your problems.
2. Watch out for the wind. It’s not at all uncommon for somebody to fly out a certain distance and then find that they can’t get back before the battery runs out, because the wind is blowing against them. Don’t let this happen to you.
3. If you’re using any kind of unidirectional antennas, there’s a simple way to tell whether you are aimed directly at your aircraft: make sure that the aircraft in the compass at the lower left of your screen is lined up with the little white triangle in the circle around it. That tells you that you’re facing the right direction.
4. The pause button is your friend. It will stop the aircraft from doing pretty much anything it’s doing, including flying the wrong direction, landing in an unsafe place, and so on. Get used to having your finger on it, or knowing by instinct where it is.
4. Set your RTH higher than you think it needs to be. Trust me on this.
5. If you’re flying at night, which I do all the time, there are couple of things to bear in mind. First of all, it’s hard to know where your aircraft is, and what direction it’s facing. You’ll rely more on your tablet screen then you do in the daytime. I find it’s best to set the video exposures to “auto”: it may not always make for the best video, but it does generally give you the best picture of what the aircraft is seeing. Secondly, I fly higher at night than I do in the daytime, just because it’s more difficult to see wires and the like. This is especially true around things like lighting towers, telephone towers, and so on. You don’t want to run into them, so go over them. Thirdly, get a flashing strobe light to attach to the bottom of your craft. Depending on how far you like to fly, it won’t always make it more visible, but it will certainly help within the 1st km or so.
6. Get the DJI Care Refresh. You’re almost certainly going to need it, sooner or later, and if you don’t, it’s a pretty cheap way to buy some peace of mind. State Farm insurance is good, too – in some ways better, but not available everywhere.
7. If you’re having problems with range, and you live in Europe, the solution is very simple: look up FCC hack, and use it.
8. Some people abide by the Line of Sight law, and some people don’t. Whether you do or not is up to you, of course, but try not to be stupid about it.
9. It’s notably common for people to make one of two very basic errors: not unfolding the antenna on the front legs of the craft, and not taking off the gimbal cover. Do whatever you need to do to avoid this.
10. If you want to use the various autonomous modes, it's best to practice them somewhere where you won't crash the Air if you screw it up. "Autonomous" does not mean foolproof: on the contrary, it can be harder to control than regular flying.
11. The yaw and gimbal controls are set at the factory to be too sensitive for most people. There are Youtube videos on how to slow them down. Very useful.
What else?
1. So far as I can tell, about 80 to 90% of all flyaways, accidents, and the like are caused by one of two things: either a mis-calibrated compass, or an insufficient GPS signal. The first can be spotted by making sure that the little red arrow shaped thing on your map is pointing in the same direction as the aircraft itself. The second can be prevented by not taking off until you have 10 or so satellites locked in, even though the program will let you take off of you have only eight. Seriously, taking care of these two things will solve the majority of your problems.
2. Watch out for the wind. It’s not at all uncommon for somebody to fly out a certain distance and then find that they can’t get back before the battery runs out, because the wind is blowing against them. Don’t let this happen to you.
3. If you’re using any kind of unidirectional antennas, there’s a simple way to tell whether you are aimed directly at your aircraft: make sure that the aircraft in the compass at the lower left of your screen is lined up with the little white triangle in the circle around it. That tells you that you’re facing the right direction.
4. The pause button is your friend. It will stop the aircraft from doing pretty much anything it’s doing, including flying the wrong direction, landing in an unsafe place, and so on. Get used to having your finger on it, or knowing by instinct where it is.
4. Set your RTH higher than you think it needs to be. Trust me on this.
5. If you’re flying at night, which I do all the time, there are couple of things to bear in mind. First of all, it’s hard to know where your aircraft is, and what direction it’s facing. You’ll rely more on your tablet screen then you do in the daytime. I find it’s best to set the video exposures to “auto”: it may not always make for the best video, but it does generally give you the best picture of what the aircraft is seeing. Secondly, I fly higher at night than I do in the daytime, just because it’s more difficult to see wires and the like. This is especially true around things like lighting towers, telephone towers, and so on. You don’t want to run into them, so go over them. Thirdly, get a flashing strobe light to attach to the bottom of your craft. Depending on how far you like to fly, it won’t always make it more visible, but it will certainly help within the 1st km or so.
6. Get the DJI Care Refresh. You’re almost certainly going to need it, sooner or later, and if you don’t, it’s a pretty cheap way to buy some peace of mind. State Farm insurance is good, too – in some ways better, but not available everywhere.
7. If you’re having problems with range, and you live in Europe, the solution is very simple: look up FCC hack, and use it.
8. Some people abide by the Line of Sight law, and some people don’t. Whether you do or not is up to you, of course, but try not to be stupid about it.
9. It’s notably common for people to make one of two very basic errors: not unfolding the antenna on the front legs of the craft, and not taking off the gimbal cover. Do whatever you need to do to avoid this.
10. If you want to use the various autonomous modes, it's best to practice them somewhere where you won't crash the Air if you screw it up. "Autonomous" does not mean foolproof: on the contrary, it can be harder to control than regular flying.
11. The yaw and gimbal controls are set at the factory to be too sensitive for most people. There are Youtube videos on how to slow them down. Very useful.
What else?
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