What I have learned in my first few weeks

[Tanushiheadbash]

Well, I have had my Mavic Air about a month all in now, and doing my best to get out with it at every opportunity. Unfortunately with the weather over the last few weeks that's not actually that much.(About 2 and a half hours total flying time)
Nonetheless I have learned a few things.

• My piloting skills are pretty rubbish- I still feel incredibly nervous at the controls of my drone.
• My sense of spatial awareness when flying is really bad! I think I have the drone MUCH further away from me than I actually do. I think there are a few things at play here though. One is I have been flying the drone with the camera in D-Cinelike and an ND filter on. While it gives good footage you can work with, it also makes flying much harder than when it is in full auto and normal mode. Its easier to see stuff on the phone display, probably the increased saturation and contrast restores some of the visual queues.
• The other is how small it looks even when only 100 metres or so away. How could you possibly keep one of these things in visual range at all times. I can't see it in the next field if it drops below the height of the horizon with trees and hills!
• I need to get a checklist pre flight to make sure all the right settings are in place. Especially RTH and screen brightness on the phone.
• I will, due to the filming I want to do, be flying it from a boat quite often so need to be able to rely on landing to hand and RTH being where the controller is. At least by experimenting with these things in a field I know what settings I need without worrying about a watery ditching!
• Slow seems to be best for filming.
• Battery life has been a lot less than I anticipated- at two levels. I am astonished at the distance tests some people put these things through, I get a field away and the battery low sometimes kicks in! The first few flights it was very cold and I did expect battery to be compromised slightly. However, it did surprise me once by sounding the battery low warning then insisting on landing within about 10 seconds of that. Only did this once though and think it was the cold.
• I have also noticed the intelligent flight modes seem to dent battery life a fair bit.
• Also despite fully charging the batteries, I was surprised how fast they drain unused. I fully charged mine about 10 days ago and tonight took it out and each battery was one third depleted. I knew they did some sort of discharge cycle but wasn't expecting it to be quite so aggressive.

Not to worry though, I haven't crashed, lost or otherwise had any flights ending in tears. Though have forgot to hit the record button a few times! I think practising in a quiet fileld though is proving to be a wise move and I am getting a lot more familiar with where all the settings are and the wee quirks you encounter. In a few weeks I will be using it in anger so to speak when I go on holiday to the USA so patiently learning the ropes has a decent goal at the end of it. Onwards and especially upwards.