When I first purchased my Bird, I searched all over the Internet for useful tips on what I should do and what I shouldn't do. Things that may not have necessarily been in the instruction booklet!
I was given some of the below tips from a Facebook page and I decide to add to it as I go.
Thought I would post it as it may help others like it helped me.
HELPFUL TIPS FOR NEW PHANTOM PILOTS:
• Do not fly with partial battery. Top up the battery the morning of the flight. If you plug it in and the lights do not come on to charge, unplug the battery, turn the battery on then plug it back in. This will charge the last bit of depleted battery to full.
• When you put the battery into the battery terminal, make sure it snaps in and clicks secure. You do not want the battery falling out mid flight - disaster!
• Hand tighten props until they fit snug. I always turn a touch more to make that 'secure' feeling. You'll know when you've done it right.
• If you have to do an IMU calibration, it has to be done on a completely level surface. Use a level to make sure it's perfect. Immediately after the IMU is calibrated, make sure you conduct a glimbal calibration. Always do an IMU calibration after firmware (subjective to some people but I say do it)
• If your horizon is crooked when looking through your monitor, hold down the button under controller with right middle finger whilst spinning the above dial with right index finger to correct tilt whilst flying.
• Firmware upgrade only with a freshly formatted card and only with BIN file on the card. Make sure you do not put the zip file on the card. Leave the controller during upgrade, the upgrade can take 20-30 minutes. D-D-D-D then D-DD when finished. Check SD card whilst on but after D-DD for results file to indicate success. Power bird down and power back up with BIN files still on cars to update each battery. After this, do the controller with the bird off. Restart everything then conduct IMU/Glimbal calibration. Make sure to verify everything in the APP that it was successful.
• Keep the bin file on the sd card so your batteries are always at latest firmware
• Always way for the GPS to be well connected on your monitor screen before take off.
• I never auto takeoff or land. Why? Because auto take off or land you can't control with your own hands. Practice doing it yourself and do it. Only use auto takeoff if you really have to.
• Set your return to home (RTH) mode to RTH and the height appropriate to the highest object you are flying near.
• Let motors warm for 15-20 seconds before takeoff to make sure everything is good and running smoothly.
• Don't fly behind things - the bird will try to come straight back when it loses signal. Do not fly through things or in tight spaces in GPS mode. It will lose signal may become distorted, fly into something and crash.
• Set your height lock to 400' to avoid accidental ceiling breaches. (This isn't always best case scenario but is good to begin with when you're learning to fly)
• Remove the clear plastic film over lens. Remove the hard to see white foam near the glimbal camera, but save it for any transport.
• Make sure you remove the plastic housing holding the camera in place before flight.
• Yes there is only supposed to be two plastic clips, not four holding the gimbal on.
• Always buy your replacement spare propellers from DJI or know DJI dealer. Do not buy props on Amazon. Lots of counterfeit out there that are not properly balanced and can cause motor issues.
• Create a DJI account in the app to sync your flight records. Sync with the cloud after each flight. You may need them some day to find your bird if it gets lost. Also, the DJI app writes separate low resolution video to your iPad or other monitor when recording on the bird. Keep this turned on and delete from the iPad when it gets to be too much. Again you may need this video to find the bird.
• You may see people on here and/or videos hand-catching their Phantom at the end of a flight. There are pros and cons to this method and much discussion on the topic, bur regardless of that DO NOT TRY THIS unless you are very comfortable with the controls AND with having the Phantom very close to you (not everyone likes that I'm sure).
• If your horizon is crooked when looking through your monitor, hold down the button under controller with right middle finger whilst spinning the above dial with right index finger to correct tilt whilst flying. NOTE: (The P3S doesn't have that buttom, but you can adjust the level in the app. It's under advanced settings)
I was given some of the below tips from a Facebook page and I decide to add to it as I go.
Thought I would post it as it may help others like it helped me.
HELPFUL TIPS FOR NEW PHANTOM PILOTS:
• Do not fly with partial battery. Top up the battery the morning of the flight. If you plug it in and the lights do not come on to charge, unplug the battery, turn the battery on then plug it back in. This will charge the last bit of depleted battery to full.
• When you put the battery into the battery terminal, make sure it snaps in and clicks secure. You do not want the battery falling out mid flight - disaster!
• Hand tighten props until they fit snug. I always turn a touch more to make that 'secure' feeling. You'll know when you've done it right.
• If you have to do an IMU calibration, it has to be done on a completely level surface. Use a level to make sure it's perfect. Immediately after the IMU is calibrated, make sure you conduct a glimbal calibration. Always do an IMU calibration after firmware (subjective to some people but I say do it)
• If your horizon is crooked when looking through your monitor, hold down the button under controller with right middle finger whilst spinning the above dial with right index finger to correct tilt whilst flying.
• Firmware upgrade only with a freshly formatted card and only with BIN file on the card. Make sure you do not put the zip file on the card. Leave the controller during upgrade, the upgrade can take 20-30 minutes. D-D-D-D then D-DD when finished. Check SD card whilst on but after D-DD for results file to indicate success. Power bird down and power back up with BIN files still on cars to update each battery. After this, do the controller with the bird off. Restart everything then conduct IMU/Glimbal calibration. Make sure to verify everything in the APP that it was successful.
• Keep the bin file on the sd card so your batteries are always at latest firmware
• Always way for the GPS to be well connected on your monitor screen before take off.
• I never auto takeoff or land. Why? Because auto take off or land you can't control with your own hands. Practice doing it yourself and do it. Only use auto takeoff if you really have to.
• Set your return to home (RTH) mode to RTH and the height appropriate to the highest object you are flying near.
• Let motors warm for 15-20 seconds before takeoff to make sure everything is good and running smoothly.
• Don't fly behind things - the bird will try to come straight back when it loses signal. Do not fly through things or in tight spaces in GPS mode. It will lose signal may become distorted, fly into something and crash.
• Set your height lock to 400' to avoid accidental ceiling breaches. (This isn't always best case scenario but is good to begin with when you're learning to fly)
• Remove the clear plastic film over lens. Remove the hard to see white foam near the glimbal camera, but save it for any transport.
• Make sure you remove the plastic housing holding the camera in place before flight.
• Yes there is only supposed to be two plastic clips, not four holding the gimbal on.
• Always buy your replacement spare propellers from DJI or know DJI dealer. Do not buy props on Amazon. Lots of counterfeit out there that are not properly balanced and can cause motor issues.
• Create a DJI account in the app to sync your flight records. Sync with the cloud after each flight. You may need them some day to find your bird if it gets lost. Also, the DJI app writes separate low resolution video to your iPad or other monitor when recording on the bird. Keep this turned on and delete from the iPad when it gets to be too much. Again you may need this video to find the bird.
• You may see people on here and/or videos hand-catching their Phantom at the end of a flight. There are pros and cons to this method and much discussion on the topic, bur regardless of that DO NOT TRY THIS unless you are very comfortable with the controls AND with having the Phantom very close to you (not everyone likes that I'm sure).
• If your horizon is crooked when looking through your monitor, hold down the button under controller with right middle finger whilst spinning the above dial with right index finger to correct tilt whilst flying. NOTE: (The P3S doesn't have that buttom, but you can adjust the level in the app. It's under advanced settings)
