What are some best practices after initial take off?

[wardtom084]

When I take off I make sure home point is established, then it is altitude, and altitude. I have no 200 foot trees around here.

 

[Yaros]

Do I have it all wrong?

No, as I already mentioned it is mainly personal preference.
Back in the days it mattered in some occasions (at least that's what I heard, I'm relatively new to drones) but now with advanced tech and DJI drones it doesn't really matter.

 

[lensimages]

I do. I use the following checklist, prior to take off and immediately after takeoff. I open the checklist on my phone, which I don't use for my UAV'S. Open to feedback though.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Sorry but thought the question was after take off, I of course check my drone out BEFORE taking off as well as checking if I was ok to fly in my chosen location , and before leaving home I check for firmware and geofencing updates, again all BEFORE take off, cheers Len

 

[EpicFlight]

After home point recorded, take off fly about 20 feet high and away, test all controls to see if drone is behaving itself, if satisfied enjoy yourself, cheers Len

However, if you want Precision Landing to be available, do not yaw, pitch, or roll the tiniest little bit as you ascend to 20-25', pause for a few seconds, then fully operate the aircraft without any further initialization after that.

Any yaw/pitch/roll input at all will cancel PL for the duration of the flight. If you want PL to be available after accidentally canceling it, you must land, and take off again.

 

[EpicFlight]

I do. Basic check, here are the steps:

Before Takeoff:
- Make sure the propellers are attached correctly, I lift the drone up a little with the part of the propeller that is attached to the motor, to make sure that the propellers will not fly off when spinning, repeat this with each motor/propeller.
- Before turning on the drone, make sure the gimbal can rotate freely and will not bump into anything when turning on and calibrating.
- Always turn on the controller, then the drone, to turn off use reverse order.
- Make sure no scratches/missing parts are visible on drone and especially the propellers.
- Make sure GPS Lock has been established (the satellite icon is white).

Takeoff:
- Hold both sticks diagonally inwards (CSC Command) for about 1 second, the motors will start spinning.
- Push gently the left stick up (assuming you're using the default RC Mode 2), the drone will start to rise up.
- When the drone ascends to 7 meters (23 feet) hover for about 5 seconds, let the drone record its precise RTH location (using Visual Positioning System)
- Ascend a little more, to about 15 meters (50 feet) and test all inputs, make sure the drone responds correctly.
- Check homepoint on the map
- Fly off and have fun

Man, you are thorough It will definitely pay off in aircraft longevity, reliability, and maximum performance.

Me? I'll crash my plaything before I'll go through that every time I fly

 

[EpicFlight]

@Skyryder, In my opinion, it's a very good idea to pause immediately after takeoff and do some common sense checks. Many of the crash and lost drone incidents reported here would have been avoided by simple checks before proceeding with a flight.

• GPS ok
• homepoint established and correct
• compass direction correct
• drone battery status ok
• controller and phone/tablet battery status ok
• control function ok
• altitude and distance readout ok
• Area clear
• Ascend and pause for precision landing photos, if applicable
• ...

Now  there is pretty much my "checklist", which is automatic and from memory.

 

[EpicFlight]

Home point lock should be waited before taking off,

YES!!!

or really even starting motors.

Impossible. The system performs a home point update when the motors are started.

Of course, you can go in to the menus in DJI Fly and update the home point, but that's not the issue here.

 

[EpicFlight]

The main reason being that when I turn on the drone, there is less possibility to have the propellers starting while I have my hands on the drone, the controller being off. The same for the way back. I shot the controller first avoiding any signal from the controller to the drone.
Do I have it all wrong?

First of all, it doesn't matter which order you turn things on in terms of successfully connecting and operating the drone. Such sensitivity is long in the past with home-built analog RC systems. Remember that our current systems are designed to handle disconnection...

I turn the aircraft on first for one reason: To get a good GPS fix as soon as possible so I can take off.

 

[Meta4]

The system performs a home point update when the motors are started.

Your drone gets its zero altitude reference when it's powered on, but the homepoint isn't recorded until the drone has good GPS location data.
That could be before or after starting the motors.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The pre flight checks are probably seen as the most important for drone pilots, but checks after flight are also a good idea.
You really need to develop little procedures for pre, during, and even post flight routines.
Sometimes it is good to type up and print up a list to start, but these should be almost automatic after a while.

My HP is generally recorded before I take off, usually get the 'green' good to go, if not I will wait whatever very short time is required.
Then always check the map arrow direction the drone is facing with the ground direction, lift off.

I take it up a few meters, do the quick stick movements to make sure all perform fine, then go fly.

I rarely go up the 10m (M1P) to set precision landing (rarely use RTH at all), but the app (Go4) tells you when that is done, and I assume the Fly app gives you a window notification of precision landing activated too ?

The forum here would have numerous threads about check lists pre flight etc, but this would be tailorable for each drone model and feature idiosyncrasies, and what each individual pilot feels is right for them.

Probably pre flight tasks up to flying away is one list to start with, but this could even start day previous to a flight with battery charging etc . . . and then a post flight check list is good to do to ensure batteries are cared for and everything ready to start at the beginning next time flying.

You could go whole hog and do a during list of things to watch, but in general you're too busy flying to be trying to monitor in some specific way.
A list to cover absolutely everything for a drone flight would be pretty huge and hard to get your head around.

 

[dirkclod]

YES!!!



Impossible. The system performs a home point update when the motors are started.

Of course, you can go in to the menus in DJI Fly and update the home point, but that's not the issue here.

Correct and I have never took off till she tells me HP is set.
I can fly ATTI but still never fly up till it is set.
I Know it’s already been said

 

[snowghost]

Correct and I have never took off till she tells me HP is set.
I can fly ATTI but still never fly up till it is set.
I Know it’s already been said

ATTI is a challenge in the wind, but still much easier than the toy drones most of us started with.

 

[dirkclod]

ATTI is a challenge in the wind, but still much easier than the toy drones most of us started with.

Yes it is but with the P2’s you could switch to it. How I knew when I got to the height i was going in which way the wind was blowing as not to fly in that direction but you knew all that.

 

[Scona]

The first thing I do after takeoff when flying anything is start a stop watch function
on my wrist watch. For an old fashioned back up on timing the flight.

 

[Faster]

Yes it is but with the P2’s you could switch to it. How I knew when I got to the height i was going in which way the wind was blowing as not to fly in that direction but you knew all that.

That was the easiest way to really know the wind direction/force at any given altitud, unfortunately its gone with newer models.

 

[EsaT]

The forum here would have numerous threads about check lists pre flight etc, but this would be tailorable for each drone model and feature idiosyncrasies, and what each individual pilot feels is right for them.

Don't forget condititions.
Bet you don't have to worry about propeller leading edges starting to look like this:
Icing Research - Glenn Research Center | NASA
That's what kind of spikes started growing in to them in -25C in January when DJI Go4 warned about high motor current and told to check propellers/fly with care...

Again I don't have to worry much about batteries getting too hot outside without keeping them in shade, but just the opposite for most of the year.

Probably pre flight tasks up to flying away is one list to start with, but this could even start day previous to a flight with battery charging etc

If flight is early morning, then charging battery previous day is sensible.
But otherwise it would be better to do charging in the day of flight, or at least do charge from 70-80% to full in day of flight.

For lithium chemisty cell sitting at full charge/voltage is torture.
And even charging to 100% itself puts heavy stress on cell...
Keeping phone in charger for the night with battery at 100% whole time is how people kill capacity of batteries of their smartphones fast.
(my 2018 bought Galaxy S8 still has 96% of battery capacity according to AccuBattery)

 

[EpicFlight]

Keep in mind everyone the purpose of the HP is safe, autonomous return in the case of a catastrophe (like a failure of your transmitter).

If something goes seriously wrong, it's coming back and landing where that HP was set. This is another reason I'm careful to set up PL every time – not just my lazy, RTH‐using butt.

 

[Xitor]

Aside from many of the good tips mentioned, first thing I do when I take off in a new location is fly to the height of any nearby trees, power lines, or buildings, then set up RTH height above that.

 

[EsaT]

Aside from many of the good tips mentioned, first thing I do when I take off in a new location is fly to the height of any nearby trees, power lines, or buildings, then set up RTH height above that.

Unless in flat place, you have to remember that height is from take off position.
Hence when flying to above higher ground, those same obstacles reach higher and that has to be taken into account.

Though obstacle detection and avoidance can change that.
Just wouldn't trust on it detecting thin objects like power lines.

 

[Skyryder]

Aside from many of the good tips mentioned, first thing I do when I take off in a new location is fly to the height of any nearby trees, power lines, or buildings, then set up RTH height above that.

I thought of that, but here's another question: When you see the very top of the tree in you view finder, is upper tip of the tree in dead center in your viewfinder, it that accurate? In other words, if I marked it at 80 feet, and I ascended 5 more feet would I clear the top of the tree? Or does that thing need to be totally out of the frame?