Airline Style Checklist

[JATO757]

Hey guys. First time poster, long time lurker. I know there's a million checklists for the Phantoms out there but I found many of them contained redundant, obvious, or common sense steps that just made for a long checklist with a bunch of extra stuff. I was sitting around on ready reserve at work today (I'm an airline pilot) and decided to spend a few hours creating a detailed yet simple pre-flight checklist for the P4 that mirrored the ones we use at my airline. I did my best to include everything important to check while leaving out the small stuff.

Take a peek at it and let me know what you think. As always, constructive criticizim is appreciated.

 

[rockydog]

Nice and simple. A couple of things I would add (although not essential for a safe flight) are 1. Check camera settings, and 2. Start video recording..... It's not uncommon for people to do an epic flight, only to realise when they land that they forgot to start recording!

 

[JATO757]

Thanks! That's a good point as I've forgotten to start my camera many times. My only concern with adding those items is that I tried to keep the checklist from getting too lengthy and focus on safety of flight issues only. It may be worth adding anyways though, since that is such a common misstep.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Gary Vaughan]

Just a quick question based on it - you turn your wifi off? I use my iphone 6s to control the P4 and I'm always concerned someone will call? If I put the phone into airplane mode, can it still control the P4? I haven't tried it, but your suggestion as to turning wifi off made me think about it and wonder. I just usually open the app and start to fly.

 

[JATO757]

You can still control the P4 in airplane mode, however you disable the GPS on your phone which isn't necessarily good either. DJI is actually the one that recommends turning the WiFi off on any devices you have near the transmitter. This is because most phone/tablet/laptop WiFi is on 2.4 GHz ISM which are the exact same frequencies used by the Phantom to communicate back to the controller. Having multiple devices in close proximity to each other on this band could result in interference and loss of control of the Phantom. I'll attach a highlighted page from the DJI safety manual to show you the official reference.

 

[snowghost]

Also wait to here the famous words: "The Home-Point has been updated. Please check it on the map".

 

[John Locke]

Hey guys. First time poster, long time lurker. I know there's a million checklists for the Phantoms out there but I found many of them contained redundant, obvious, or common sense steps that just made for a long checklist with a bunch of extra stuff. I was sitting around on ready reserve at work today (I'm an airline pilot) and decided to spend a few hours creating a detailed yet simple pre-flight checklist for the P4 that mirrored the ones we use at my airline. I did my best to include everything important to check while leaving out the small stuff.

Take a peek at it and let me know what you think. As always, constructive criticizim is appreciated.

Nice list. I suggest removing "GPS status" since "safe to fly" won't appear until you have a lock on 8 satellites. Redundant.

Also, I think most agree it's higher risk to calibrate the compass every time you fly. Should be Only when you fly more than 100 miles from the last calibration.

 

[JATO757]

Nice list. I suggest removing "GPS status" since "safe to fly" won't appear until you have a lock on 8 satellites. Redundant.

Also, I think most agree it's higher risk to calibrate the compass every time you fly. Should be Only when you fly more than 100 miles from the last calibration.

You know, these are both very good points. I was thinking of removing the GPS item anyway because you wouldn't have them for an indoor flight and you'd still get the SAFE TO FLY. I agree, as long as you have SAFE TO FLY, you're good to go.

As for the compass calibration, I did some checking and again, you're right, I found the following statement in the DJI manual "Only calibrate the compass when the DJI GO app or the status indicator prompt you to do so." So that's another good point. I'll remove them in the next revision.

You, sir, know your stuff.

 

[JATO757]

Here's a revised checklist incorporating your suggestions.

 

[kingkong90210]

You know, these are both very good points. I was thinking of removing the GPS item anyway because you wouldn't have them for an indoor flight and you'd still get the SAFE TO FLY. I agree, as long as you have SAFE TO FLY, you're good to go.

As for the compass calibration, I did some checking and again, you're right, I found the following statement in the DJI manual "Only calibrate the compass when the DJI GO app or the status indicator prompt you to do so." So that's another good point. I'll remove them in the next revision.

You, sir, know your stuff.

I didn.t know that had been calibrating compass whenever i move a significant distance