Three good flights

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Had three good flights last couple of days in the mountains of Pa. Didn’t fly exceptionally far but took her up 370 feet. At what point do you get enough guts to fly close to the max distance lol. Kept looking at the trees and mountains and didn’t go more than 500 to 600 distance. Soon as my old but learns to post the videos I will.
 
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Learn the machine.

Something that too many new pilots don't take time to do. If you understand how your machine functions and reacts to various inputs and conditions, that just may keep you from coming back here later on and posting, "I flew my Phantom on a real windy day and it flew away. Why didn't it come back like its supposed to?"
 
Yea I had one pucker moment. Had my finger on F1 just ready to practice atti mode. A big gust of wind came along and I decided “ not today “. It was Friday 13.
 
I thought of something else while posting on a different thread about someone's lost Phantom that I feel is well worth mentioning, especially if you're a new pilot. PUT YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR DRONE SO, IF IT GETS LOST, YOU HAVE A BETTER THAN ZERO CHANCE OF SOMEONE RETURNING IT TO YOU. Your registration number should be visible but, it's a lot easier for someone to contact you if there's a phone number, even if it's long distance. OK, I'm done. Carry on.
 
I thought of something else while posting on a different thread about someone's lost Phantom that I feel is well worth mentioning, especially if you're a new pilot. PUT YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION ON YOUR DRONE SO, IF IT GETS LOST, YOU HAVE A BETTER THAN ZERO CHANCE OF SOMEONE RETURNING IT TO YOU. Your registration number should be visible but, it's a lot easier for someone to contact you if there's a phone number, even if it's long distance. OK, I'm done. Carry on.

Thanks did that. Also going to contact Stare Farm just Incase
 
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Thanks did that. Also going to contact Stare Farm just Incase

Speaking from experience, those are probably two of the smartest decisions you could make concerning your Phantom, because you don't always know when things are about to go wrong. If my contact information had not been on my Phantom when it disappeared during what should have been a routine flight last summer, I'd be looking at an empty hardshell case right now. Good luck to you.
 
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Had three good flights last couple of days in the mountains of Pa. Didn’t fly exceptionally far but took her up 370 feet. At what point do you get enough guts to fly close to the max distance lol. Kept looking at the trees and mountains and didn’t go more than 500 to 600 distance. Soon as my old but learns to post the videos I will.

Where at in PA? I too fly in the mtns of PA.
 
I live in Pittsburgh but I have a camp in Elk County. I do most of my flying in north central Pa. lots of beautiful country up there. Where are you located ?
 
I live very near State College. I fly mostly in Centre County, but I've added a more portable flyer that I can take along on my many motorcycle rides into the norther counties. So much nicer once you get above I-80.
 
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Re learning how to do videos. Definitely going to try to video the Pa Grand Canyon once it greens up AND I become a more seasoned pilot.
 
I agree 100% with what others have said. Practice, practice, practice and learn how the AC behaves.

Today while flying at a local beach over a frozen lake (but no longer safe to walk on) and taking some shots of the sailing club, my phone suddenly died probably due to a combination of cold weather and a low battery. My P3S was about 130m out and about 20m high. I still had control of the AC but couldn't really tell which way it was oriented. It took me a little bit to figure out its orientation but I started flying it back and then heard the RTH beep. In the meantime, my phone restarted automatically and I re-launched Litchi and it reconnected while it was auto landing, which I cancelled and hand caught.

A number of things helped me get my AC back without incident:

RTH worked as it should - probably went into RTH due to the loss of connection likely caused by lots of interference.

Was able to see my drone the whole time since I always fly within VLOS.

I had practiced RTH so I knew what to expect and what the RTH beep sounds like.

I had practiced turning off my phone to see how the drone would behave and what kind of control I had.

I had flown a non GPS enabled drone (see my profile pic) so was familiar with how to control it without GPS (atti mode).

I was calmer than I would have been if I had not practiced all of these scenarios.

Hope this helps.

Chris
 
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I agree 100% with what others have said. Practice, practice, practice and learn how the AC behaves.

Today while flying at a local beach over a frozen lake (but no longer safe to walk on) and taking some shots of the sailing club, my phone suddenly died probably due to a combination of cold weather and a low battery. My P3S was about 130m out and about 20m high. I still had control of the AC but couldn't really tell which way it was oriented. It took me a little bit to figure out its orientation but I started flying it back and then heard the RTH beep. In the meantime, my phone restarted automatically and I re-launched Litchi and it reconnected while it was auto landing, which I cancelled and hand caught.

A number of things helped me get my AC back without incident:

RTH worked as it should - probably went into RTH due to the loss of connection likely caused by lots of interference.

Was able to see my drone the whole time since I always fly within VLOS.

I had practiced RTH so I knew what to expect and what the RTH beep sounds like.

I had practiced turning off my phone to see how the drone would behave and what kind of control I had.

I had flown a non GPS enabled drone (see my profile pic) so was familiar with how to control it without GPS (atti mode).

I was calmer than I would have been if I had not practiced all of these scenarios.

Hope this helps.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I’m still in practice mode.
 

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