starting up for flight

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Still a little nervous about putting my quadcopter up in the air. Any advise on any tutorials i could watch that will explain how to set my quad up for flight. How to find the web site to down load the SW, or does that come up when I plug in the quad. i"m not sure so any help will be appreciated. I got a lot invested and don't want to do anything wrong. I'm doing the charging up of everything now. I would like to fly this weekend so I'm reaching out.
 
appreciate the sites, Ill view them. I'm planning on taking it out this weekend for it first flight. so i'm crossing my T's and dotting my I.
 
Keep it low, max circa 20ft and learn what the controls do and how quickly they do it.

Make sure you are in Phantom mode S2 and S1 fully away from you and that you have calibrated the compass and have GPS lock.

Take your time and have fun.

Choose an open area with no-one about.
 
Thrash113 said:
Still a little nervous about putting my quadcopter up in the air. Any advise on any tutorials i could watch that will explain how to set my quad up for flight. How to find the web site to down load the SW, or does that come up when I plug in the quad. i"m not sure so any help will be appreciated. I got a lot invested and don't want to do anything wrong. I'm doing the charging up of everything now. I would like to fly this weekend so I'm reaching out.

Here's a hint: read the manual enough times that you understand the difference between "Home Lock" and "Return to Home"; read it so thoroughly that you understand what "ATTI" means, and the what is the difference between updating the Phantom Assistant Software and updating the DJI Smartphone App.

Your question "How to find the web site to down load the SW, or does that come up when I plug in the quad" indicates that you really haven't read the user manual, and failure to understand that information probably will lead to your posting in a "flyaway" thread in the near future.
 
Read the manual. Keep S2 and S1 at 12h. Stay in GPS mode. You have all the time to discover what is ATTI, HL and CL.
Do calibrate the compass. Learn how to do it through the manual and watching the videos. Do not start the engine before completing it.
Position the phantom heading in the opposite direction of where you are standing.(admire its back...)
Wait to have 6 satellites or more locked before starting the engines: That means having the back green leds flashing every second or so. NO RED FLASHING at all.
Start the engines, check they are all on, then push firmly on the LEFT STICK ONLY, (you need a good amount of throttle in one go to get its *** off the ground. Do not be progressive on this.)
Once at 3 meters high release the stick back to central and admire your phantom hovering above your head.
Celebrate!
 
Don't be fooled by how stable the Phantom is and start throwing it around at high speed. Quick direction changes by an inexperienced pilot will cause crashes! Both by confusion of what control to press, and by causing VRS (Google it).

Learn to hand catch ASAP. It is incredibly easy if you let the phantom hover then reach up to it.
Write down and follow some pre-flight checks. There are some examples on the forum.

Think about where you are going to fly - especially if using FPV. It is very easy to fly out of transmitter range (e.g. behind a building) when you are just watching the screen.
 
doug86 said:
what is the difference between updating the Phantom Assistant Software and updating the DJI Smartphone App.

And understand that the Phanton 2 (non vision) doesn't have (or require) a smartphone app! That one took me a while to work out.
 
I purchased the P2 with gimbal. However, I thought I would learn to fly it before attaching the gimbal. I do not know for sure, but the P2 when sold with the gimbal may be calibrated so that if the gimbal is not attached it will fly slightly out of whack. This will panic a newbie (like me). In my case, the P2 wanted to drift away from me and I had to pull back the stick just to stay in one place (yes, GPS mode was enabled and working).

I decided to go ahead and learn the software, firmware upgrade, and calibration. The software detected that I did need to calibrate for level (this is why I assume it was slightly off without the gimbal). I calibrated (still with gimbal off), upgraded the firmware, calibrated, and bam! Perfect flying.

My advice before the first flight is:

(1) If you bought the P2 with gimbal go ahead and install the gimbal.
(2) Check for firmware updates and calibrate.
(3) They warm you not to use Naza but I think that is crazy advice. Activate Naza so you can activate IOC. I would not set S1 to allow for manual flying at this point but definitely activate S2 modes (IOC). HomeLock is a must for first timers. It is the panic button.
(4) Also set max ranges. I set to 400 ft altitude and 800 ft range (my estimate of the size field in which I was flying) until I was comfortable.

Hope this helps. I am open to others disagreeing that the P2 with gimbal is calibrated for them together and will not fly right without the gimbal but this was my experience.
 
Again thanks everybody for your comments duely noted, will be reading the manual and continuing these forums which i believe are the best way to learn again thanks. I was fortunate enough to call on DJI site to find a place in my City , so I call support to help me fire it up aswell as install my firmware Shout Out go Out to (NYC ELECTRONICS STC - 300 w 49TH St. NEW YORK, NYC 10019) Ill KEEP EVERYONE POSTED ON THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE. TIll then they are square in my Book and have found themselves a good customer. Thrash 113
 
fixedwing said:
Learn to hand catch ASAP.
Perhaps I have the minority opinion on this, but my advice would be the opposite. Learn to land it properly. It's not hard. The only injury videos/photos I've seen were from those who had their hands on or near it while the props were spinning.
 
Mike said:
fixedwing said:
Learn to hand catch ASAP.
Perhaps I have the minority opinion on this, but my advice would be the opposite. Learn to land it properly. It's not hard. The only injury videos/photos I've seen were from those who had their hands on or near it while the props were spinning.

So let me join the minority then... Hand catching, with 1 hand, grabing the short landing gear is not safe to say th least. Would be the very last resort.
Do they take off by hand as well?
 
sergekouper said:
Mike said:
fixedwing said:
Learn to hand catch ASAP.
Perhaps I have the minority opinion on this, but my advice would be the opposite. Learn to land it properly. It's not hard. The only injury videos/photos I've seen were from those who had their hands on or near it while the props were spinning.

So let me join the minority then... Hand catching, with 1 hand, grabing the short landing gear is not safe to say th least. Would be the very last resort.
Do they take off by hand as well?


I hand catch mine whenever I have the chance to as to avoid a tip over on landing due to a tuft of grass or minor gust of wind etc.. don't want to damage the props as it's very easy to tip it over.
GPS position hold does wander around a little and on landing a forward or backward movement by the GPS control system may cause tip over.
I guess the trick is to come down to around 6 inches then "full down" on the left stick to plonk it down quick.

I'd rather hover at above head height and hold a leg whilst I pull full down on the left stick.
 
TeamYankee said:
I hand catch mine whenever I have the chance to as to avoid a tip over on landing... it's very easy to tip it over.
Maybe I'm a better pilot than I think I am (seriously doubt that), but after 6 months with my phantom I've yet to experience a tip over on landing. If the only way you feel confident landing is to catch it then so be it. But I would still strongly suggest that new pilots learn and practice proper landings simply to avoid possible injury from hand catching. Of course, this is only my opinion. To each his own.
 
Having flown all types of r/c a/c I find learning to execute all phases of flight to be the fun and challenging part.

Many Phantom pilots are new to r/c aviation so hand catching is just easier for them I guess. It was never an option with fixed-wing and just too dangerous for CP heli flying.

Thus I had to learn so now it just comes natural.

TEHO ;)
 

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