My new p4p finally arrived

[Phil Derrick]

Being a total newbie to the drone world I was very nervous about my first flight, for the last week or so I've researched and watched so many you tube vids, spoken to numerous pilots on this forum and to be totally honest I became really worried/confused.
So she arrived today in good shape and everything seems to be in order, but still I had to get her off the ground for the first time !

I can say that it was as nerve racking as my first ever solo flight when I done my PPL 20 years ago !!I was sweating from places that I'd forgotten I could sweat from lol
But I'm glad to say despite the wind getting up to 15 mph I managed to master the basic flight skills and yes she is still in one piece [emoji108]

Looking forward to my next flight tomorrow, the weather is forecast to be better tomorrow.

I'd like to thank all the guys that responded to my posts to give me advice, it was all good, I know from experience in the aviation world everyone has their own way of doing things but the drone world is not so different at all, respect from the guys that have the experience and their willingness to share.

Thanks guys

Regards

Phil

 

[awinn17]

Keep the P-lock on and give it some cushion from the nearest obstacles and you won't need to sweat much.

 

[Phil Derrick]

Keep the P-lock on and give it some cushion from the nearest obstacles and you won't need to sweat much.

My sweating will disappear with experience [emoji41] but saying that even after 20 yrs flying my plane with passengers, in certain circumstances the workload can become so intensive it would make anyone sweat. I.e. Fog or bad weather!

But it will be some time until I'm off p lock lol

 

[Bazza.]

Where are you flying Phil?

 

[Meta4]

But it will be some time until I'm off p lock lol

Probably >98% of all Phantom flying would be done in P-GPS mode and for most pilots, most of the time there's never any need to use anything else.
The Phantom has a feature that your plane never did - take your hands of the controls and it's like hitting a pause button.

Flying a Phantom is much easier to fly than most people imagine.
It takes about 5 minutes to learn the basics - but a lot of practice and experience to become proficient.
Don't let the simplicity make you get too adventurous too early.
There are many things that can go wrong and you need to understand what they are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

Do your early flights in a large open area, well away from trees, buildings and obstacles.
Be afraid, very afraid of trees, buildings etc. They are involved in most incidents.

Read up on return to home procedures, practise using RTH and cancelling it so you understand how it works and how you can resume control in an RTH situation.

 

[Phil Derrick]

Probably >98% of all Phantom flying would be done in P-GPS mode and for most pilots, most of the time there's never any need to use anything else.
The Phantom has a feature that your plane never did - take your hands of the controls and it's like hitting a pause button.

Flying a Phantom is much easier to fly than most people imagine.
It takes about 5 minutes to learn the basics - but a lot of practice and experience to become proficient.
Don't let the simplicity make you get too adventurous too early.
There are many things that can go wrong and you need to understand what they are and how to make sure they don't happen to you.

Do your early flights in a large open area, well away from trees, buildings and obstacles.
Be afraid, very afraid of trees, buildings etc. They are involved in most incidents.

Read up on return to home procedures, practise using RTH and cancelling it so you understand how it works and how you can resume control in an RTH situation.

Ye I'd say that's very good advice, I'll be putting the hours in to become proficient that's for sure.
I'm just one of those guys that have to master anything that I become interested in.
I also intend to do my caa drone license once I get a good feel of it.

 

[Phil Derrick]

Where are you flying Phil?

I'm flying near my home in Shipton Bellinger that's in UK

 

[Slickvolt]

Being a total newbie to the drone world I was very nervous about my first flight, for the last week or so I've researched and watched so many you tube vids, spoken to numerous pilots on this forum and to be totally honest I became really worried/confused.
So she arrived today in good shape and everything seems to be in order, but still I had to get her off the ground for the first time !

I can say that it was as nerve racking as my first ever solo flight when I done my PPL 20 years ago !!I was sweating from places that I'd forgotten I could sweat from lol
But I'm glad to say despite the wind getting up to 15 mph I managed to master the basic flight skills and yes she is still in one piece [emoji108]

Looking forward to my next flight tomorrow, the weather is forecast to be better tomorrow.

I'd like to thank all the guys that responded to my posts to give me advice, it was all good, I know from experience in the aviation world everyone has their own way of doing things but the drone world is not so different at all, respect from the guys that have the experience and their willingness to share.

Thanks guys

Regards

Phil

Phil AWESOME! My second day was much like your first...wind was blowing...in spite of one incident of drone turned instant weedwhacker...my day went very well , I marveled at p4p stability in the wind.

 

[Phil Derrick]

Phil AWESOME! My second day was much like your first...wind was blowing...in spite of one incident of drone turned instant weedwhacker...my day went very well , I marveled at p4p stability in the wind.

Yeh to be fair I was well impressed with the stability of it considering the strength of the wind.
It even gave me a severe wind velocity warning [emoji615]️ brilliant because being an actual pilot for twenty years I'm fully aware about what the wind can do.
No wind on the ground to speak of but 500 ft it could be 25knots !
It's like electricity "you can't see it until it bites you" [emoji23]

 

[Bazza.]

I'm flying near my home in Shipton Bellinger that's in UK

Nice area, I’m in Essex. Have you sorted yourself an app for Pre flight yet? There’s a few out there which include no fly zones for drones, they can help you planning where your going to fly. I’m sure you have already found the check lists from dji as well.

 

[awinn17]

Phil, let's be friends! I'm a new pilot with a P4P too. (I first bought a P3 SE and crashed it a few times, half because of communication problems with the controller and half me. The problems were too much, so I exchanged it at the store). Fingers crossed, I haven't wrecked this one yet, but I learned a lot from some crashes on the other one. Namely...!
1) Gusty wind is worse than steady wind, which you probably know from being a pilot. Gusty wind can flip your drone sideways. They handle it extremely well, but like all things they have limits. So I avoid gusty areas if I can.
2) If you want to fly it fast and zoom it around, do it but do it higher up out of the trees. My first wreck clipped a finger size branch on a midget cherry tree in my driveway and cause the gimbal to pop out of socket. I thought I had broken it, but it popped back in and survived.
3) Last, teach yourself the RTH function and all it's ins and outs. It can use visual positioning to land exactly where it took off, and I've had success doing this even in light winds, but it has to be launched right and returned right. I'm still learning all the ins and outs. It seems to land differently when initiated from far away vs when initiated nearby. Then at first it drops scary fast but it seems to catch itself at about 3m or so. Make sure your RTH elevations are good. I prefer manual landing actually, I can land it smoother than it does by itself.
4) The obstacle avoidance is pretty good in bright light from what I've tested, but I wouldn't trust it moving fast, in windy conditions (obstacles can move) and in too-bright light like into the sun. It's too expensive to trust to stuff like that, so I use it as a backup and that's about it.

Oh, and cinema tips I'm learning...
1) Always move it like you're filming something great- chances are it will look 10x better on the screen when you're viewing it at home and you'll wish you were smoother on the controls. Slow acceleration is key, especially when the camera is moving radially. 30 fps is good until you whip it around, it gets choppy fast past about 30m.
2) Film everything a little longer. For the same reason. I've seen some cool stuff by accident later and wished I'd spent more time on it. Smooth gimbal and sticks you'll be much happier with yourself! These shoot AMAZING video in the right light.

I flew mine into a group of circling turkey vultures the other day and about had a panic attack when a wing blew by the camera. I'm editing the video now, I'll post it when it's done. Fly safe! Please post updates!

Edit: Oh- and the battery has a self discharge. I guess I didn't read my manual close enough assuming I knew enough about LiPo batteries but just recently learned about it. To save you time, you can set the time in the days to self-discharge in the DJI Go 4 app in the battery settings 1-10 days. Target storage percentage for optimal battery life is about 25-50%. Batteries will last longer if you don't discharge them past 10% and don't keep them high charged too long. Sorry if I made it too long winded.

 

[Slickvolt]

Yeh to be fair I was well impressed with the stability of it considering the strength of the wind.
It even gave me a severe wind velocity warning [emoji615]️ brilliant because being an actual pilot for twenty years I'm fully aware about what the wind can do.
No wind on the ground to speak of but 500 ft it could be 25knots !
It's like electricity "you can't see it until it bites you" [emoji23]

Yes, my one incident was a sudden gust right at auto takeoff...it cleanly cut the grass as a result...

 

[Alicatt]

Hi Phil another newbie here too. Not had much opportunity to fly yet as there are severe restrictions on what and where I can fly, therefore I have a second lighter drone that I can fly on my own property or friends where I have been invited and have permission. I can't wait to get back to Scotland and unleash the P4P

This afternoon I have to go to my son's house and take some pictures of his party tent for his 40th birthday ... so I will be using my Syma X8 it is remarkable that it is the same size as the P4P but about 1kg lighter

 

[Sky Wombat]

Well Phil I was so excited with my 1st P3P I forgot to charge the batteries /7 wondered why it wouldn't start. Good thing was I actually read the instructions
Now have a new P4P & P3A (don't ask) & still learning. So get out there and flog the thing.

 

[John Tarvin]

My sweating will disappear with experience [emoji41] but saying that even after 20 yrs flying my plane with passengers, in certain circumstances the workload can become so intensive it would make anyone sweat. I.e. Fog or bad weather!

But it will be some time until I'm off p lock lol

I promise you'll be more comfortable the more you fly. If you flew in 15mph winds and didn't soil your britches, good on you! I've only manually landed in 12.5mph winds so far. Piece of cake.

If you are flying to shoot video or still images, leave it on "p". The only time I go from 'p' to 's' it's if I need to get somewhere fast. Once I get there.... Back to 'p'. I have an attitude, but I don't fly in attitude! Most of all...HAVE FUN!

 

[Phil Derrick]

I promise you'll be more comfortable the more you fly. If you flew in 15mph winds and didn't soil your britches, good on you! I've only manually landed in 12.5mph winds so far. Piece of cake.

If you are flying to shoot video or still images, leave it on "p". The only time I go from 'p' to 's' it's if I need to get somewhere fast. Once I get there.... Back to 'p'. I have an attitude, but I don't fly in attitude! Most of all...HAVE FUN!

Hi Buddy yes I'm having great fun with it so far, be a while before I fly in s mode though!
Have to say it's much easier that I thought it would be to fly !
That could be because I used to fly model helicopters 8 Chanel servos!
Different experience but I'm loving it and has potential to take it to another level!
I have plans to take the caa license soon so hopefully then I can take full advantage of what this beauty is capable of and hopefully earn a few quid along the way.

 

[Phil Derrick]

Whoops had a near miss today!!
I had a giant buzzard trying to attack my drone today..... I crapped myself! Didn't really want to use s mode until I had more experience but I have to say it was what saved my drone for sure