To New Pilots:

[Dbez1]

The following contains some basic information I put together for my grandson when he first started to fly. These basics are points that new pilots should be aware of before taking off. I’m sure other experienced pilots will want to add to this list and that is welcomed. (I want to keep it simple, however, and not turn into a Part 107 course. Remember who our readers are.)

To my grandson:
The following are some things I’ve learned through experience, by reading the DJI Mavic forum, and especially reading the threads where mini’s have been lost (we learn by other’s mistakes). If you absorb these points, you have a good chance of keeping your drone and flying safely.

1. Always check your UAV forecast to see how windy it is at 200 feet. I wouldn’t fly above 20-22mph wind gusts with the mini1. UAV is a free app.
2. Always make sure your ”return to home” setting is high enough to avoid trees, powerlines, and houses. Don’t set it unnecessarily high though because it’s more windy the higher up you go.
3. If the wind is approaching 20mph, fly into the wind so that if it becomes too strong for the mini, at least it will be blown back toward you on the return to home.
4. Always start with a full battery and try to land with 25% battery.
5. If you get in trouble with the wind, do not use the “return to home” feature as it will only fly in P mode that way. Rather, use S (sport) mode and fly it manually back to you as low as safely possible (there’s less wind low).
6. Do not fly it low over water as the water confuses the downward facing sensors. If you have to do an extended flight below 20 feet above the water, put tape over the downward facing sensors so they do not get confused by the water.
7. Do not take off or land in a dusty environment. Rather, learn to take off and land from your hand or, better yet, put down a pad to keep the dirt from getting into the motors. If using your hand, use extreme caution as those propellers will cut you badly! Watch uTube videos on this technique!
8. Do not fly in rain, fog, or snow, as moisture does not mix well with the delicate electronics. This is somewhat controversial.
9. In order for your camera to keep the exposure correct, once you get airborne, tilt the camera down until there is no sky visible and then lock the exposure. At this point you can angle the camera any way you want and the exposure should remain correct. If you turn the bird around and the exposure is off, just redo this process. This is the simple method, there are more sophisticated and complicated methods of controlling exposure for you to learn later.
10. Be sensitive about people‘s privacy. They often get freaked out by a drone flying too low over their house and they might beat you with a stick. Even at 200’, people can hear it and never hover over someone’s house.
11. There are some places that are NFZ (no fly zones). Get the free app B4UFLY and check it out before flying to make sure you are legal.
12. While we’re talking legal...it’s illegal to fly above 400’, it’s also illegal to fly beyond your line of sight, and you can’t fly over people or moving vehicles. You will see many uTube videos breaking these rules and some have gotten stiff fines from the FAA for their moment of fame. Don’t do it!
13. Bring it down immediately if you see or hear a chopper or small private plane in the vicinity. Also, don’t fly anywhere near a traffic accident or other emergency.
14. Re birds: most will leave it alone but eagles, hawks, seagulls, and pelicans etc. have been known to occasionally attack. If this happens, go UP immediately as they can’t go up as fast as down. Then get outta there.
15. When taking off, go to about 10-15’ and hover until it says “home point updated”. This means there are enough satellites locked for the drone to know where it is and where home is.
16. If you get a strong winds message, lower altitude (if safely possible), or put in Sport mode (or both) and bring it home.
17. Tap the lower left of your screen to make the map appear and it will show you the most direct route home.

Best wishes and enjoy the sport.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

A great idea but if I may I would suggest some modifications.
1) It needs to be said that that app should not be taken as absolute truth, as back up I'd suggest looking at trees or flags if they are available, I also occasionally switch the gimbal to FPV mode and do a slow 180 or 360 deg yaw. Roll of the image shows wind strength.
2) Great but you could point out that it can be changed whilst the drone is in flight (BUT NOT whilst in an actual RTH (I had need to try the latter and the change would not 'take')). Changing could be useful if he spots something tall of interest and wants to have a momentary look at the far side. He could measure the object's height with the drone then set a suitable RTH height. Drones have been lost because people did not make such changes when a curio has been discovered and investigated.
3) In general try to fly the outbound leg of any flight upwind especially if going to 'distance'.
5) In principal I think that is correct but I think that if the RTH is initiated whilst in S mode it is possible to increase the speed above the automated P speed, by giving forward stick. I am pretty sure someone demonstrated this in an old thread but, with your "keep it simple" idea in mind, it's just a technical point and an unnecessary complication.
6) Hmmm a lot of my flying is over water and as yet I have yet to have any such problems, I know other's have reported it. That said, my transits over water are probably at 60ft+ but I have descended in 'hovers' or 'creep alongs' to pretty close to the landing protection threshold but in the latter instances I have always been ready to give it full throttle if I saw any descent or even thought I saw descent.
Covering the sensors has a draw back, if your grand-son habitually lands whilst 'relying' on landing protection to slow the drone's descent, disabling those sensors could permit the drone to crash land.
7) Agree with but I would suggest it be demonstrated to him rather than being reliant on written guidelines.

 

[KLRSKIR]

#1. ALWAYS check and RESPECT the Kp Index!

 

[Deleted member 137163]

Dbez1 good for you making this list. I am glad that "so far" there have not been "OH YA well I do not agree with this or that!" You can complicate it with more detail but you kept it to the basic and useful thoughts. Your thoughtful mentoring of your grandson will be the "fill in the blank" details as he progresses. Great idea and good job! As a flight instructor for 35 years the phrase "Never Stop Learning" applies to all pilots.

 

[tjp505]

As a relative newcomer I would say that is excellent advice and something I would have welcomed with gratitude when I started flying. Sometimes we forget what it is like when we start learning something new. How many times have we been stuck behind a driving car learner .. doing 20mph in a 30 mph zone? We were all there once!

 

[offtheback]

In reference to#9."In order for your camera to keep the exposure correct, once you get airborne, tilt the camera down until there is no sky visible and then lock the exposure. At this point you can angle the camera any way you want and the exposure should remain correct. If you turn the bird around and the exposure is off, just redo this process. This is the simple method, there are more sophisticated and complicated methods of controlling exposure for you to learn later."

This will work in some cases but if the area you're locking exposure to is above average in brightness or below in darkness your exposure will be off.You can either bracket(AEB) or use the zebra overexposure warning to get the right exposure.I find on the M2P that just a big of zebra showing is about perfect for correct exposure.In many cases you can adjust to show no zebra and the exposure will be ok.With any small 1/2.3" or even a 1" sensor it's best to have as much light as possible to hit the sensor without blowing out the highlights.

 

[Dbez1]

Dbez1 good for you making this list. I am glad that "so far" there have not been "OH YA well I do not agree with this or that!" You can complicate it with more detail but you kept it to the basic and useful thoughts. Your thoughtful mentoring of your grandson will be the "fill in the blank" details as he progresses. Great idea and good job! As a flight instructor for 35 years the phrase "Never Stop Learning" applies to all pilots.

Thanks for the kind words Broker. Yes, I just wanted to get him up and flying safely and within the law. I am a believer in KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). As you said, we should never stop learning, and he can build on the basics. Thanks again.

 

[ThatBeardedDroneGuy]

Appreciate the list.

Went to the beach the other evening for some sunset shots and thought I was gonna have to duke it out with the seagulls.

 

[ischonfeld]

Excellent list.

Some additional suggestions on my "always" list:

-When you take it up and hover, check each of the controls (up/down, rotate, left/right, forward/reverse). This verifies the stick controls and also you may sometime fly someone else's drone (or a company drone) and the stick settings might have been changed.
-If you're flying near a wooded area, take it with the gimbal at zero degrees and find the height of the highest tree. Good knowledge for confirming RTH height and also if you need to come back quickly you'll know how high to avoid obstacles.

 

[SRSeaHorse]

I wanted to thank you all for those posts. Like your grandson I’m getting used to flying.

I don’t not know about flying over water, thank you very much.

 

[Dbez1]

I wanted to thank you all for those posts. Like your grandson I’m getting used to flying.

I don’t not know about flying over water, thank you very much.

Best wishes and enjoy the sport up there in Jamestown.

 

[SRSeaHorse]

Not to hijack this thread but that leads me to two questions.
Can or should I use the Mini 2 on the boat and over the water?
DJI says it’s prefect for boat use. If the sensors get fouled by the waters movement is there a way around it?
IF it’s not good for the boat which one is? I did see one for over 2g that was water proof and self righting but wouldn’t it have the same sensor issue?

 

[slozukimc]

Not to hijack this thread but that leads me to two questions.
Can or should I use the Mini 2 on the boat and over the water?
DJI says it’s prefect for boat use. If the sensors get fouled by the waters movement is there a way around it?
IF it’s not good for the boat which one is? I did see one for over 2g that was water proof and self righting but wouldn’t it have the same sensor issue?

Flying over water is a touchy subject. Some of us, like me, have had pretty good luck skimming around the surface of the water and playing in the rain while others say their drone fell out of the sky because the water confused the sensors. I did smack my M1P down too hard once because the sensors were blocked by water drops and I expected the safe dji landing reaction when pushing the stick down. Instead I got full throttle down in sport mode. Oops.

Hardest thing about boat use is making sure RTH doesn’t land your Mini in the water where you launched from after the boat has moved.

If you are talking about the Swellpro Spry+ it doesn’t have any downward sensors like the Mini 2.

Anyone flying a dji near water should check out @Phantomrain.org products and if that isn’t enough protection you can sacrifice video quality for durability and get a Spry.

Mike