Any tricks to only flying fpv

[Tony Cowan]

I'm just wondering. It appears I just can't find any good places to fly. Even over water at certain distance I can't really see the bird. Just kinda blends in with the sky. I'm up higher than anything. Just wondering how to get use to it. iPhone is useless. I'm gonna put my iPad Air on a tripod and not look at bird at all. Just look at data on tablet and let her fly. Is this bad idea? Any thoughts? Tips or suggestions. I'm still too new at this.


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[movius]

Hi Tony. I have the same problem. In cloudy UK, the phantom blends in perfectly with the clouds and grey sky's so within seconds, it's pretty much lost from sight. Under these circumstances, the FPV has limited value unless of course you know all the local landmarks and can use these to locate your p3. Like you I only have limited experience but this is where the map comes in really handy. It identifies your location with respect to your p3 allowing you to practice orienting the p3 flight direction and then bringing it back towards you. However, you need confidence in using this so please use the simulation mode on DJI Go to practice flying, orientation, map reading, take-off and landing. It's pretty basic but it's a useful way to build confidence.

The only other thing I suggest is to use beginner mode while you get familiar with the controls and the p3 capabilities and then, when you turn this off, practice take-off, landings and simple flying, all within view, until you feel really comfortable. Finally, don't get complacent, stick with P mode until you can fly blindfolded (metaphoricaly speaking).

Good luck and enjoy

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[Tony Cowan]

I have since pasted beginners mode. Hehe. Actually took it out over water yesterday. I need to know if possible to just depend on my tablet and not actually look at the drone in the sky.
Video of water view yesterday.

SkyPixel




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[katzmix]

I have lost video while flying. NOT RECOMMEND

 

[Tony Cowan]

Ok. Thank you so much. I guess I just need to pick my locations carefully and not go to far out. I guess losing video does not mean losing control of bird. Wow.


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[Sabalon]

I have my RTH set pretty high - paranoid about something being there. But if it does get out of video range, I usually bring it right back into range. And if I am getting way out there, I make sure it's someplace it could ascend and RTH. It does make for a scary half minute though!

 

[katzmix]

I flew out maybe 1800 ft screen went black and white. I got in my truck drove to the last spot I seen it and it was still there. Flew it home while driving.

 

[Dirty Bird]

To be perfectly honest I hardly ever see my Phantom in flight except for the first thousand feet or so heading out & coming back. I almost always fly via FPV & it's a piece of cake once you get the hang of it. You have direct video feed, map, radar, & full telemetry right in front of you. If you lose the feed, just engage RTH & in a few minutes she'll come home. Honestly I believe you can fly her better via FPV than you can VLOS with the only possible exception being when you are flying within a few hundred feet.

Make sure you can see your display clearly with brightness at max & a sunshade in bright sun, fully understand the controls, screen indicators, how to use the radar & map views, how to engage/cancel RTH, & be sure to set your RTH altitude higher than any obstacles you might encounter on the way back home. Err on the high side on the RTH altitude.

I'm just wondering. It appears I just can't find any good places to fly. Even over water at certain distance I can't really see the bird. Just kinda blends in with the sky. I'm up higher than anything. Just wondering how to get use to it. iPhone is useless. I'm gonna put my iPad Air on a tripod and not look at bird at all. Just look at data on tablet and let her fly. Is this bad idea? Any thoughts? Tips or suggestions. I'm still too new at this.


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[TheTanger]

To be perfectly honest I hardly ever see my Phantom in flight except for the first thousand feet or so heading out & coming back. I almost always fly via FPV & it's a piece of cake once you get the hang of it. You have direct video feed, map, radar, & full telemetry right in front of you. If you lose the feed, just engage RTH & in a few minutes she'll come home. Honestly I believe you can fly her better via FPV than you can VLOS with the only possible exception being when you are flying within a few hundred feet.

Make sure you can see your display clearly with brightness at max & a sunshade in bright sun, fully understand the controls, screen indicators, how to use the radar & map views, how to engage/cancel RTH, & be sure to set your RTH altitude higher than any obstacles you might encounter on the way back home. Err on the high side on the RTH altitude.

Great advice for anyone new to flying further DirtyBird. Like you, after 1000 feet or so and exclusively use FPV to fly and rely on the GPS location on the map and which way the arrow is pointed (provided your compass hasn't gone wacko-over 70 flights and no issues w/compass so far).

The whole LOS rule is honestly just a good guideline but in practice it is impossible to keep VLOS (visual). If the FAA gets serious, why not range limit manufacturers? There would be tremendous blow back from consumers is my guess.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Agreed. We fly a white aircraft that can be seen for perhaps 1000' if lucky, you can't really discern front from back at a distance, but it can be remotely piloted from 3-4 miles away. The whole VLOS thing was from early RC days when you had nothing but visual sight on the aircraft. There was NO telemetry whatsoever...not even battery or fuel level. In fact I remember how cool it was when I got my first Hitech Aurora RC controller that allowed you to have battery telemetry. Before that we relied on a timer to estimate how long we could fly. With Hitech Optima receivers we could actually see the battery voltage from the aircraft in real time.

Phantoms, with GPS, full telemetry, & FPV, are a totally different beast from what VLOS rules were drawn.

Great advice for anyone new to flying further DirtyBird. Like you, after 1000 feet or so and exclusively use FPV to fly and rely on the GPS location on the map and which way the arrow is pointed (provided your compass hasn't gone wacko-over 70 flights and no issues w/compass so far).

The whole LOS rule is honestly just a good guideline but in practice it is impossible to keep VLOS (visual). If the FAA gets serious, why not range limit manufacturers? There would be tremendous blow back from consumers is my guess.

 

[TheTanger]

Ah...that makes complete sense. The FAA just hasn't caught up to the technology and is trying to implement/blend decades old rules to aircraft that function very differently now.

GPS, FPV, full telemetry including altitude and velocity, battery statistics. Like you said, these have very little in common with the RC flyers of the past. Even current RC flyers now have full telemetry!

 

[Jay H]

after a few hundred feet, its out of visual line of sight for me. i use the map for general location, radar for direction.