First Flight Questions

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Hi there,

I recently purchased my Phantom and had a few questions regarding flight and fixes to see if things I experience are normal and what I can do/check to correct them. I have the Phantom flying with a GoPro Hero 3 Black.

1. Take Off - I have seen on youtube footage that the launch seems very quick to ascend. When I launch my Phantom there seems to be a delay. I bring the controller to full and the props seem to be spinning at full capacity, but there is about a 3-5 second delay before it lifts off the ground. Is this normal, if not, is there something I can do to fix it.

2. Again with take off, once it does begin to lift off the ground, it seems to lean and fly forward a little bit even though I am not touching any other directional control other than the ascend direction. I have ensured that I am launching from level ground.

3. Jello Effect on recorded footage from GoPro - I have an anti-vibration/anti-jello carbon fiber mount that I thought would eliminate the shakiness. It did not. Granted, today was a bit windy, but this footage was very shaky, even while just hovering in one place.

I guess that covers my beginners questions for now based on my first flight. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick
 
I am fairly new, I never launch at full throttle, just slowly ease it up. Let it hover
about 6-8 ft off the ground to make sure satellites are keeping it level. Rotate left right yaw etc
before taking it on its journey.
After landing, check screws etc to make sure that nothing has come lose.
Also, make sure you have all the firmware updates installed.
Hope this helps.
 
In GPS and ATTI mode during take-off the motors gradually increase speed if you give full stick. It will depend on the weight of your bird how long it takes to reach take-off thrust. If you want a speedy launch just try Manual mode. It launches like a rocket if you give it full thrust. Take Manual mode very seriously though. It is not to be trifled with. Be ready to flick to ATTI/GPS mode any moment and don't try it anywhere near obstacles. You can try a take-off in Manual mode and switch to GPS mode immediately once it's in the air to see the effect in a fairly safe way.

With a (gimbal+)camera at the front the Phantom will drop nose a bit. Only when airborne it can correct its attitude. Try pulling a bit on the right stick during take-off to get a more level lift-off.

Vibration really should be seen to comment on.
 
Normal. Because you're in GPS or Atti mode, it has to kinda find itself first. It has no idea what you've attached and how much it's going to have to thrust in order to hover, so it's figuring that out as it lifts off. If it just shot up without first measuring the thrust needed to lift off, it'd have to figure that out in the air after you've started flying. So the delay is it measuring the liftoff thrust.

I need to pull my right stick back a bit on takeoff too. Again, it hasn't figured out the balance yet. You could be flying with or without the GoPro, you might have added a gimbal since you last flew, etc. Until it takes off and tips forward due to the GoPro, it doesn't know to give more thrust to the front props because it's front heavy which is why it tips forward at first and then levels out. AFAIK, it doesn't try to store or "memorize" the last setup so it seems to start out each flight assuming bare Phantom with no GoPro. Kinda wish there was a way to calibrate the front bias and hover thrust needed or at least get it to "remember" what it used last time.

I got a good prop balancer and balanced all my props and still get plenty of jello. I believe at times the props just get in "sync" and their natural buffeting frequency (even on a perfectly balanced prop) can still cause jello. The solution for me was to fly near dusk when it isn't as bright, or get an ND filter so that the shutter speed slows down on the GoPro. That eliminates it completely for me.

Mike
 
Thanks guys for the advice. I'm sorry to report that living in Florida has taken its toll on my equipment. I collided with a bird tonight and it crashed my Phantom. Props bent, arms cracked, you name it. Looks like I'll be back in the market for a new one.
 

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