New to drone flying

[heyjack19]

I have just recently got back into r/c. Back in the day I used to race r/c trucks and buggies. Within the past couple weeks I purchased a P3S and some extra goodies for it. Ordered my Nvidia Shield yesterday. I have only flown it for about 15 minutes and still have it in beginner mode. I have done a lot of reading on here and I must say I'm almost deathly afraid to even take it out of the case. With all the posts about flyaways and firmware problems. Am I just being to paranoid think my expensive hobby is going to take off into the sunset? I don't really want all this money I've put into it just collecting dust but at the same time I don't want to loose all the money I've spent on it in the wind. What is the likelihood of this stuff happening?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[msinger]

There are 65,401 members in just this forum. How many of them have you seen post about a flyaway?

It sounds like you're worrying about something an extremely small number of Phantom owners are talking about.

 

[heyjack19]

I did a search earlier and read through about a dozen post. I know compared to all the people flying drones the numbers are very low. Guess I was just trying to figure out how often it occurs.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[DoubleV]

If this is your first quad without any prior rc flying experience I would suggest learning the ropes on a toy quad first like an Eachine e010, or other tiny whoop clone. For 20 bucks learn to hover in all orientations and then forward flight in your living room. This will help you gain confidence and get some stick time before you take the P3S out.

Call me old school but I wish more first time flyers would do this instead of jumping right in.

 

[stephan_du_pless]

From all of the "bad stuff happening" posts I've read. A whole lot of them are people not reading instructions or watching the tutorials first.

So just do your preparation, read the manuals and you'll be fine.

My drone sat on the table for a week while I read/watched all I possibly could.

Enjoy your hobby.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[Neon Euc]

As msinger said there is thousands of people in this site, if we all wrote how good our day was it will def out number all the bad posts. For example today I had a great day, fantastic day, tomorrow will no doubt be the same. But I don't write it on here.... I usually write if I had a problem. It's the same with most people here. We only write if we are stuck on something [emoji4]

Neon Euc

 

[heyjack19]

I've had some of the smaller toy drones in the house. I've just always loved r/c. I've been reading forums for a couple of weeks now and I downloaded the manual and read the entire thing before UPS delivered it. I have some open and spacious fields to practice in. I plan on doing a lot of close proximity practicing before even thinking about taking it out of beginners mode. What little I have flown it seems fairly easy though.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[jkers10]

I've had a couple of fly away issues. But they've all been related to having a LOT of steel in the vicinity. Skimming over railroad tracks and flying too close to very large all steel structures. Neither of them caused real damage as I always have a plan for ditching if takeoff is a problem. It pays to keep a finger on the mode selector. Manual mode can be your friend.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[kennedye]

As long as you're running on a good compass/IMU calibration and you've got a sufficient number of satellites locked in, your chances of a genuine random flyaway are quite small these days.

 

[Dr. Klutz]

I'm with you hayjack19. I've been reading the manual. Watching YouTube and looking all over this forum.
I'm totally freaked out about my first flight. Got me and my son one each for Christmas. So I still have a few days left.

Sent from my XT1254 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Sfgiants24]

If this is your first quad without any prior rc flying experience I would suggest learning the ropes on a toy quad first like an Eachine e010, or other tiny whoop clone. For 20 bucks learn to hover in all orientations and then forward flight in your living room. This will help you gain confidence and get some stick time before you take the P3S out.

Call me old school but I wish more first time flyers would do this instead of jumping right in.

Your new drone is incredibly easy to fly. You don't need to.start with anything other than a phantom. Read everything, watch as many videos as you can, Find an open, flat field and fly. If you're anything like,me, you'll take a while to get over the pucker factor. But once you learn to trust the hardware and software, you'll enjoy the hell out of it.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Cookie$Dough]

Get some stick time in the simulator. That's the safest and cheapest way to prevent any damage to the real bird.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Tmmedic20]

I've worked my way up to the P3A over the last year. Have bought so many 50-150 dollar drones that my wife thinks im obsessed.

The fear is real when you put a thousand dollar "toy" in the air.

For me that went away when I bought the insurance, added a tracker and finally just realized like any other hobby its money spent on entertainment and you might as well be entertained!

 

[heyjack19]

What kind of tracker do you use and what's the price? I've been checking into those also and they seem rather expensive.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Tmmedic20]

I wanted something with its own power source, and not using cell (since I fly a lot where there is no signal) so i bought the Marco Polo unit. Ya its pricey, but 200 for peace of mind was worth it to me.

 

[Oso]

@heyjack19 and @Dr. Klutz - I realize that you guys were asking for tips, but just in case you're interested click here for a bullet list of tips that I often share with new P3A and P3P owners. Hopefully you'll find a couple of useful pointers. Disclaimer: Since this is a Pro/Advanced forum, I can't say for sure if every tip also relates to a P3S but I'm sure that most should.

Cheers!

 

[kirk2579]

I did a search earlier and read through about a dozen post. I know compared to all the people flying drones the numbers are very low. Guess I was just trying to figure out how often it occurs.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

I have just recently got back into r/c. Back in the day I used to race r/c trucks and buggies. Within the past couple weeks I purchased a P3S and some extra goodies for it. Ordered my Nvidia Shield yesterday. I have only flown it for about 15 minutes and still have it in beginner mode. I have done a lot of reading on here and I must say I'm almost deathly afraid to even take it out of the case. With all the posts about flyaways and firmware problems. Am I just being to paranoid think my expensive hobby is going to take off into the sunset? I don't really want all this money I've put into it just collecting dust but at the same time I don't want to loose all the money I've spent on it in the wind. What is the likelihood of this stuff happening?


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

half of all posts mentioning the term flyaway are folks ASKING about all the flyaw.....
they just don't happen for real that often to be concerned especially about that.

now ask about operator error and crash--yep, it happens. often.

go fly and enjoy!

keep in mind,
having it but not using it = not flying drone
Losing/crash it =not using = not flying drone
Matters not , so have fun flying!

 

[Alan Russel]

Most of us pilots have been there! do your homework, then face your fears and then jump in with both feet!