Anxiety and age! Reassure the NOOB :)

[MedicineMan4040]

Hello to all.
B&H has shipped the Phantom in my direction. Great excitement and of course some trepidation-at my age and never having flewn anything-well you can imagine.
I didn't see an 'intro' thread, so posting it here-apologies if in the wrong spot.
Goals, just to spice up my youtube vids of some of our travels...if ever bored I'm MedicineMan4040 there.
I can tell I'll spend much time here and I'm glad you all are out there!

 

[HenryAUS]

Be reassured that assembly of the phantom is straight forward, just watch the video and follow the instructions from the DJI website. http://www.dji-innovations.com/tutorial/phantom-tutorial/
One of my props was hard to push down to locate it correctly, but everything else assembled perfectly
Charge your battery, but be careful to match the output lead positive & negative input plugs to the correct output socket.
It is possible to insert them into the incorrect outputs and this could ruin your battery if not noticed.
You may also find yourself buying extra batteries later, as you only get around 10 minutes flight or less per charge.
(I have 4 currently)
Pick an open field, (away from trees, overhead obstacles and water) and days without strong winds for your first few flights.
I had never flown any remote control device before, and found it was easy to fly in GPS mode.
The new phantoms have a remote control where the left joystick control self-centres, unlike the one in the DJI instruction video.
After a couple of test flights, I was happy to add the GoPro to the Phantom, but I notice a lot of people like to record their first flights.
Happy flying

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Thanks HenryAUS

Appreciate the tips and confidence builder.
I"m in no hurry to put the Hero under--that will come in time.
To be honest I also ordered a Blade MQX as 'sacrificial lamb'...don't know how much cross over there
will be but thinking it would not hurt to destroy it first.
I'll follow your advice to the letter

 

[martcerv]

I think the Blade will fly very similar to the phantom in manual mode so the phantom will actually be quite a lot easier to fly in the GPS or ATTI modes. But learning on the blade will not be that tricky and once you master that you will have no issues with the phantom.

With the Phantom just make sure to read the manual and watch the DJI videos becoming familiar with all the LED sequences and flight mode options. Learning to fly it in GPS mode in a nice open area in calm winds will be very easy for most and the GPS mode also does quite well in a bit of wind but best to have your first flights on nice days.

 

[halfpipe]

What is your age btw I'll be 65 before Christmas
Keep hard focused on the phantom in flight and maybe a companion at flight time would be a distraction (unless an experienced flyer)
The instructions are in Chinglish so one never can be sure what is meant and research the hell out of any questions because on this and other forums answers can be given in such a definitive manner that you'll assume it to be fact when in reality it's just passed on misinformation.
have fun

 

[Roadkilt]

The time on the Blade and phantom will be well spent as you will discover how LITTLE input you provide to make big flight moves. Most noobs overfly and are always reacting to an over steering issue. Also, be alone in the grassy field. Just sit and watch it hover (you do have a timer stuck to your transmitter and your name on your phantom). Then touch the controls lightly and play little games, how smoothly you can fly to that tuft of weeds, what home lock, course lock feels like. A nice slow smooth yaw rotation. It would bore a companion to death to watch so you don't want them there. Spend lots of time doing this and gain the feel like a bicycle. In a little wind, drift in atti, bring it back. You will never get bored of just watching it hang there like a good dog waiting for a stick to be thrown.

 

[halfpipe]

"good dog waiting for a stick to be thrown"
righton

 

[Nwales]

Fairly new myself , advice stay away from water for time being lol

And don't try catching mid air , as I did today an I nearly had finger chopped off by carbon props

 

[GearLoose]

I'm one of the older noobies here and have learned many lessons about the Phantom -- the hard way, by crashing. Here's a selection of my tips:

-- practice flying in the largest, quietest field you can find. Ten acres was ok for me but 80 acres was even better. Never take your eyes off the Phantom, don't talk to strangers!

-- it is extremely easy to lose track of the Phantom's orientation. Tape a 12 inch pink or orange pool noodle to the left landing strut and a green one to the right. Port/starboard.

-- don't try to turn the Phantom 180 degrees and fly toward you until you have at least a basic feel for orientation. Just go forward and back, stick-forward/stick-backward.

-- Don't go very high.

-- Fly in GPS mode until you understand all of the control options. I printed up a "crib sheet" in large type of essential information and had it on a clipboard near me, so I could review it before every take-off.

-- If you get confused or too excited, or panic, drop the left switch to Home Lock and pull back the right stick. Don't worry about orientation, the quad will come home to you.

-- Once you feel a bit of confidence, consider setting up a training course using colored plastic cones or pool noodles. An experienced pilot here suggested this to me and it really helped. I did it in our yard -- mark the corners of a square, maybe 20-40 feet wide, then fly around the square in both directions, weave between the noodles (I put them vertical on thin rods stuck in the ground). I practised this a lot and it really helped.

-- Finally, I learned the hard way not to offer my friends amazing demonstrations of the Phantom. Every time I did something went wrong, mainly because of my lack of skill and nerves, and I had a pretty bad crash.

Speaking of crashing... I've hit trees and seen the Phantom tumble from quite a height and I've crashed into a rocky stream. I've lost count of my other softer crashes. The Phantom is a bit scuffed but it soldiers on.

Go for it!

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Wow to everyone for such responses! Much time you spent writing back and I appreciate it.
I'll take everything to heart...and have already begun studying the vids.
Halfpipe I'm 54 and too old to have a finger lopped by a carbon prop!
Well I'll chime in soon enough with stories of loss and destruction, repair and queries on how to.
I guess everyone has a goal with their quad, mine as stated above is just to add a different angle on my youtube
vids...if it can go straight up and down and carry the gopro I'll be quite happy for quite a while....now if I can get it to
actually follow my partner as she hikes then even better. So for me its creativity and getting that different angle for
no other reason than I like watching my own vid
Thanks again to all for such thought out answers and suggestions.

 

[stogey]

I'm the youngin' (44) of the anxiously aged noob. Just bought a phantom this weekend. Weather has prevented me from taking it out... but today appears to be the day.
Appreciate the tips for flying - I like the idea of an obstacle course - makes sense.

To the OP: do you have any stories to follow up? You've had the flying carpet for a week... hope it all worked out!

 

[Firestat]

Sit back and take a stress pill, Dave. It is a lot of fun. IMO, get a little Blade first, a lot less stressful.

 

[Audaciter]

Medicineman4040; You are only a year older than me, and younger than some of the guys posting here.

You'll fit in just fine. Before long, you'll be giving advice to the newbie's . Enjoy your Phantom.

 

[cbpagent72]

Don't waste money on carbon props for quite some time just sticek replacement props. Don't attempt manual mode, I did and it did a flip and crashed within about 10 seconds..lol.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 2

 

[stogey]

Maiden voyage success.

I must say this is the easiest thing to fly, ever. I'm an in-experienced RC flyer (couple hours with an electric Super Cub).

I flew the Phantom with Home Lock (HL) and GPS modes engaged. It hovered very well... it seems very maneuverable. I was in a big open field (twice as big as a football field in all directions) with lots of room to maneuver and virtually no vertical obstacles on the perimeter. I tested the GO Home feature by turning off the receiver and praying a bit. Sucker ascended to the requisite 60 feet, hovered, flew over the landing site, made a few (10 feet ish) descending circles and touched down on the ground.
I managed three take-off and landings, a number of orbits around my fixed point and another Go home (using the re-configured ATTI switch toggled all the way down).

I didn't time the flight, in all I estimate a bit over 10 minutes.
I can see more batteries in my future.

I must say, it's very re-assuring to know that as long as the thing is more than approximately 5 feet AGL, letting off the controls will put it into a hover.