Greetings all. Glad I found this forum.
After much reading, watching YouTube videos and such, I decided on a Phantom FC40. I just received it recently, and have some questions for the experienced pilots.
First, I am VERY glad I listened to my own instincts and decided not to try to fly this for the first time in my neighborhood. I took it to a turf farm near my house, where there are acres and acres of open space. I read the manuals, I watched videos, so I felt confident I could have a successful test flight.
When I first tried to take-off, it simply tilted sideways and flipped over on the ground. I righted the unit and this time gave it more "gas" and it lifted off the ground this time.
I tried letting it stabilize and for the most part, it did, so I went higher and then tried the different controls to see how it responds. It would do as commanded, but then it started to "drift" pretty fast away from me. I tried to get it to come back and it would not. I'm thinking "UH OH!" and was afraid I'd be one of those people I read in reviews on Amazon that has the thing fly away from them on the first try. I pulled the throttle back down quickly and even though it was drifting away VERY fast (horizontally, not vertically) it came down and crashed into the turf, scattering the camera and the rubber mounts. I ran to fetch it and after awhile I found two of the three camera mounts but gave up on the third. So I just left the camera off the unit.
Nervous, I tried again to launch the copter and was able to control it albeit with minor drifting away again. I never let it get out of hand and kind of jogged along with it as it drifted away from me again. This time I managed to bring it down to the ground somewhat gently. Launched a third time and was practicing having it go short distances at low attitude and was doing pretty good, and then sure enough it got a mind of it's own again and took off horizontally away from me pretty fast. I tried to spin it so it would drift towards me and it just kept going the other way, so pulled the throttle back down again and it crashed hard and tumbled several times and really messed up the props, damaging two of them badly. My test flight was over with so I gathered it up and went home.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or if there's just something wrong with my FC40? I just downloaded the NAZA assistant and updated the firmware, I just am gun-shy now to try it again. I think I was lucky that I didn't fly it very high or else it would have flown out of sight.
I am a little confused about the light sequences explainations and was hoping I could get some clarification. I have read where you WANT the flashing green to verify enough GPS sats, but then the manual talks about a RED blink??? When I first power up, I get flashing yellow, then as I wait a bit it goes to flashing green, never any red.
Is that how it's supposed to be? Sorry if it's a stupid question!
Thanks in advance for any assistance...
After much reading, watching YouTube videos and such, I decided on a Phantom FC40. I just received it recently, and have some questions for the experienced pilots.
First, I am VERY glad I listened to my own instincts and decided not to try to fly this for the first time in my neighborhood. I took it to a turf farm near my house, where there are acres and acres of open space. I read the manuals, I watched videos, so I felt confident I could have a successful test flight.
When I first tried to take-off, it simply tilted sideways and flipped over on the ground. I righted the unit and this time gave it more "gas" and it lifted off the ground this time.
I tried letting it stabilize and for the most part, it did, so I went higher and then tried the different controls to see how it responds. It would do as commanded, but then it started to "drift" pretty fast away from me. I tried to get it to come back and it would not. I'm thinking "UH OH!" and was afraid I'd be one of those people I read in reviews on Amazon that has the thing fly away from them on the first try. I pulled the throttle back down quickly and even though it was drifting away VERY fast (horizontally, not vertically) it came down and crashed into the turf, scattering the camera and the rubber mounts. I ran to fetch it and after awhile I found two of the three camera mounts but gave up on the third. So I just left the camera off the unit.
Nervous, I tried again to launch the copter and was able to control it albeit with minor drifting away again. I never let it get out of hand and kind of jogged along with it as it drifted away from me again. This time I managed to bring it down to the ground somewhat gently. Launched a third time and was practicing having it go short distances at low attitude and was doing pretty good, and then sure enough it got a mind of it's own again and took off horizontally away from me pretty fast. I tried to spin it so it would drift towards me and it just kept going the other way, so pulled the throttle back down again and it crashed hard and tumbled several times and really messed up the props, damaging two of them badly. My test flight was over with so I gathered it up and went home.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or if there's just something wrong with my FC40? I just downloaded the NAZA assistant and updated the firmware, I just am gun-shy now to try it again. I think I was lucky that I didn't fly it very high or else it would have flown out of sight.
I am a little confused about the light sequences explainations and was hoping I could get some clarification. I have read where you WANT the flashing green to verify enough GPS sats, but then the manual talks about a RED blink??? When I first power up, I get flashing yellow, then as I wait a bit it goes to flashing green, never any red.
Is that how it's supposed to be? Sorry if it's a stupid question!
Thanks in advance for any assistance...
