You have no idea how frustrating it is watching people needlessly, carelessly, recklessly crashing their Phantom 3s into trees and buildings. It's so incredibly avoidable if you don't jump into flying beyond your ability as a newb pilot as well as using a little common sense.
Here are some preventative steps you can take to prevent a newb crash into a tree or building.
1) Read the FULL manual and I don't mean the quick start guide to the point you have a decent understanding of your new Phantom.
2) If you have an IOS Device first fly using the built in flight simulator inside the DJI Pilot app.
3) If you're new to flying do NOT fly near trees or in confined spaces. Until you've got a reasonably good understanding of how to fly keep it in a wide open grassy area which will minimize damage if something did fail.
4) Calibrate your compass the first time you fly only in an open field preferably with grass underneath you to minimize the chances of power lines or other sources of interference. Do not however calibrate your compass every time you fly. It it not necessary and can introduce it's own problems. Only recalibrate if you see your Phantom flying in what's called a Toilet Bowl effect, if you see a compass error message, or if you change the area you're flying in by a significant distance, i'd say at least 50 miles.
5) As a new pilot you should mainly fly your Phantom nose pointed away from you, with you behind the quad copter. That way as you get used to the flight characteristics left will always be left and right right. It eliminates the confusion of the nose facing in or being sideways which completely alters the corrective movements you would need to make to avoid something.
6) Flying an aircraft is not like driving a car. There are delayed reactions. If you need to stop it will not stop on a dime. Air craft take time to slow down from the moment you release the controls, that applies both to decent as well as forward flight.
7) Set your RTH Altitude higher than any obstacle you may possibly encounter in your flight area, such as nearby trees or buildings. That way if you do fly behind something and trigger an RTH your Phantom will gain enough altitude to fly over anything it may hit on the way back to the home point.
8) Upon initial take off stay put and hover at least 6 feet or more off the ground for a minute or so to make sure that the Phantom is behaving as it should. Battery is as it should. GPS sats and such are good. Many a time if something is going to go wrong or show a hint of it, it's within this first minute or two of testing.
9) If anything, the controls, etc don't seem to be reacting as they should then immediately land, don't take off higher or father. Recycle the power and start again.
10) Fly slow at first, not pushing the air craft too fast. Keep away from tight or confined spaces. if the only convenient areas you have to fly do have too many nearby obstacles then fly above anything you may hit.
11) The antennas on your remote should be parallel together and pointed straight up at the sky, the sides of the antennas always facing the Phantom. This will ensure optimal signal. The weakest transmission comes from the tips of the antennas.
12) Fly in line of seight of the Phantom ALWAYS. That ideally means that you should have absolutely no obstructions between your Radio Control and your Phantom. This is especially critical if flying at further distances. The further away you fly, the higher you will also need to go to keep the signal strong as any obstacles between you and your Phantom that were not in the way of line of sight now suddenly will be at long range.
13) If flying at very high altitude directly above yourself. You now need to change the orientation of the antennas so they are not facing up, but down so the sides of the antennas reach the Phantom. It's really best not to fly too high directly above the location your standing because it will always be the point of weakest transmission. As the signal coming from the bottom of the Phantoms legs / antennas is going to be the weakest. You should always keep a little distance from your standing point.
14) Do not full speed descend straight down. You end up flying into your own prop wash which will cause turbulence and instability. The safest way to descend is during forward flight, or sideways it doesn't matter, just not straight down at full speed.
15) do not move both of your sticks to both corners at the same time. this is called a CSC and will auto shut down your motors regardless of where or how high you are flying.
16) Be very mindful of where you are flying the Phantom, what is beside it and above it. Don't do silly things like aimlessly flying backwards or sideways without first knowing that there is a clear path in that direction.
There you go, some of the more important points to keep in mind as a newb pilot. Granted there is more I can say but I covered some of the major bullet points. If there's anything you'd like to add feel free to chime in. There are also some pilot training material on DJI's web site with things and exercises you can do to learn orientation of your air craft such as practicing doing circles, then figure 8's and so forth. Until it's second nature knowing where you are and how to do a corrective movement regardless of which direction you are facing.
Here are some preventative steps you can take to prevent a newb crash into a tree or building.
1) Read the FULL manual and I don't mean the quick start guide to the point you have a decent understanding of your new Phantom.
2) If you have an IOS Device first fly using the built in flight simulator inside the DJI Pilot app.
3) If you're new to flying do NOT fly near trees or in confined spaces. Until you've got a reasonably good understanding of how to fly keep it in a wide open grassy area which will minimize damage if something did fail.
4) Calibrate your compass the first time you fly only in an open field preferably with grass underneath you to minimize the chances of power lines or other sources of interference. Do not however calibrate your compass every time you fly. It it not necessary and can introduce it's own problems. Only recalibrate if you see your Phantom flying in what's called a Toilet Bowl effect, if you see a compass error message, or if you change the area you're flying in by a significant distance, i'd say at least 50 miles.
5) As a new pilot you should mainly fly your Phantom nose pointed away from you, with you behind the quad copter. That way as you get used to the flight characteristics left will always be left and right right. It eliminates the confusion of the nose facing in or being sideways which completely alters the corrective movements you would need to make to avoid something.
6) Flying an aircraft is not like driving a car. There are delayed reactions. If you need to stop it will not stop on a dime. Air craft take time to slow down from the moment you release the controls, that applies both to decent as well as forward flight.
7) Set your RTH Altitude higher than any obstacle you may possibly encounter in your flight area, such as nearby trees or buildings. That way if you do fly behind something and trigger an RTH your Phantom will gain enough altitude to fly over anything it may hit on the way back to the home point.
8) Upon initial take off stay put and hover at least 6 feet or more off the ground for a minute or so to make sure that the Phantom is behaving as it should. Battery is as it should. GPS sats and such are good. Many a time if something is going to go wrong or show a hint of it, it's within this first minute or two of testing.
9) If anything, the controls, etc don't seem to be reacting as they should then immediately land, don't take off higher or father. Recycle the power and start again.
10) Fly slow at first, not pushing the air craft too fast. Keep away from tight or confined spaces. if the only convenient areas you have to fly do have too many nearby obstacles then fly above anything you may hit.
11) The antennas on your remote should be parallel together and pointed straight up at the sky, the sides of the antennas always facing the Phantom. This will ensure optimal signal. The weakest transmission comes from the tips of the antennas.
12) Fly in line of seight of the Phantom ALWAYS. That ideally means that you should have absolutely no obstructions between your Radio Control and your Phantom. This is especially critical if flying at further distances. The further away you fly, the higher you will also need to go to keep the signal strong as any obstacles between you and your Phantom that were not in the way of line of sight now suddenly will be at long range.
13) If flying at very high altitude directly above yourself. You now need to change the orientation of the antennas so they are not facing up, but down so the sides of the antennas reach the Phantom. It's really best not to fly too high directly above the location your standing because it will always be the point of weakest transmission. As the signal coming from the bottom of the Phantoms legs / antennas is going to be the weakest. You should always keep a little distance from your standing point.
14) Do not full speed descend straight down. You end up flying into your own prop wash which will cause turbulence and instability. The safest way to descend is during forward flight, or sideways it doesn't matter, just not straight down at full speed.
15) do not move both of your sticks to both corners at the same time. this is called a CSC and will auto shut down your motors regardless of where or how high you are flying.
16) Be very mindful of where you are flying the Phantom, what is beside it and above it. Don't do silly things like aimlessly flying backwards or sideways without first knowing that there is a clear path in that direction.
There you go, some of the more important points to keep in mind as a newb pilot. Granted there is more I can say but I covered some of the major bullet points. If there's anything you'd like to add feel free to chime in. There are also some pilot training material on DJI's web site with things and exercises you can do to learn orientation of your air craft such as practicing doing circles, then figure 8's and so forth. Until it's second nature knowing where you are and how to do a corrective movement regardless of which direction you are facing.
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