Wind, wind, wind, wind.....and avoid falling in love with the tech - it actually has limitations - reread first four words.....
Biggest Tips to Avoid Flyaways/Crashes
- Thread starter Ratfus
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Learn atti mode. P is like an autopilot and great as long as you don’t have any risk of losing GPS and your bird doesn’t suddenly start flying away for a variety of reasons. Read lots of lost bird reports where atti mode could have saved it.
This, and compass errors in general during your preflight check, need to be taken seriously and addressed prior to take-off or you can unexpectedly find yourself in a situation that you're not prepared for.
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Before you fly an expensive drone, buy a cheapie and learn to fly it well. It will save your butt (and your drone) when your DJI drone flips out on you some day and you have to actually KNOW how to bring it back and land it safely in ATTI mode.
Another very good suggestion. I bought a cheap Syma drone and learned the basics of manually flying (no automatic functions) a drone for nearly a year before I invested in my P3S. The cheap drones are less costly to repair when they do crash than most Phantoms. Nowhere as much fun to fly, but a cost effective way to learn basic piloting skills. Looking back now, I'm glad I chose that path because I likely would have destroyed the Phantom very early on. Valuable lessons learned along the way. Some might say "priceless". I wouldn't have done it any differently.
Im pretty amazed by what has happened in the RC world this last 5 years. Having a whole group of people want to get an RC aircraft and fly it without doing what we've been doing for 100 years. Learning to fly a model in the "old" days consisted of getting a model kit, building it (and by doing so learning all there is to learn about it and how it works) , joining a club and learning from one of the old timers or instructors at a model field. Rotary OR fixed wing. To see people crash there hard earned money needlessly breaks my heart! The BEST way to learn to fly a model is to get mentoring from someone that already knows about all the mistakes you will make. They have already done all the crashing for you. They will teach you what you need to learn with out wasting much of the time doing things you dont need to do. The side bennies of joing a model club is you're exposed to all kinds of different models up close and personal, different pilots that do things diff than you-that you never thot of doing, help with your problems, and lots and lots of kabitzing and roasting. Especially if you make a mistake!!!! I mean how else will you learn SO GOOD not to do something again!!!
Good luck and fly safe! I had to put my 2 cents in, (just like at the model field.....
oh and forgot, the instruction at the model field is usually free......
There are many things you don’t want to learn through personal experience. Crashing your drone is one of them. So ... go on YouTube and try to see ALL the ways others have crashed their drones. Now build a check list to prevent crashes or run-always.
No shortage of wisdom above. This thread just might be the definitive collection of how to avoid fly-aways or, more correctly, how to ensure that your drone returns home safely.
To answer your question, "Can the RTH feature be trusted"? After nearly 300 flights, I can honestly say, without reservation, yes. In fact, were it not for the RTH feature, there have been more times than I can remember where RTH is the only reason why my P3S is sitting safely in its case right now.
To answer your question, "Can the RTH feature be trusted"? After nearly 300 flights, I can honestly say, without reservation, yes. In fact, were it not for the RTH feature, there have been more times than I can remember where RTH is the only reason why my P3S is sitting safely in its case right now.
PhantomWetSuits
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To answer your question, "Can the RTH feature be trusted"? After nearly 300 flights, I can honestly say, without reservation, yes. In fact, were it not for the RTH feature, there have been more times than I can remember where RTH is the only reason why my P3S is sitting safely in its case right now.[/QUOTE]
I have to agree, I remember when I lost visual on my very first flight with the drone and I pressed the RTH key and than I shut off the controller thinking I had lost my drone because it was some 15 minutes went by and , the Fed Ex guy told me something was landing in my yard , and I was already feeling the pain. So yeah RTH a life saver.
Here is a small video of the flight back the drone took to get to me, notice how it negotiated the trees , and the post man took off and that it landed in the exact same spot it took off at , but just a few inches off the the concrete circle.
I have to agree, I remember when I lost visual on my very first flight with the drone and I pressed the RTH key and than I shut off the controller thinking I had lost my drone because it was some 15 minutes went by and , the Fed Ex guy told me something was landing in my yard , and I was already feeling the pain. So yeah RTH a life saver.
Here is a small video of the flight back the drone took to get to me, notice how it negotiated the trees , and the post man took off and that it landed in the exact same spot it took off at , but just a few inches off the the concrete circle.
Or just use beginner mode until you catch the hang of it. ATTI mode is also crucial to understand and practice it.
That's just the problem, is you absolutely CAN learn to fly a drone in 5 minutes. It's being "proficient" as you say that takes many hours of research and practice. If all you wanna do is take off, fly around, and land, it's extremely easy. However, if anything goes wrong, you're screwed. It's the problem solving that people aren't prepared for. I think that's because there's such a disparity between the ease of flying and the difficulty of troubleshooting.
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