Any expert ATTI flyers out there?

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After my experience yesterday, I thought I would ask the question. I was in an area where the bird lost GPS and went to ATTI mode. Long story short, I bashed into a rock wall and broke 3 props. Didn't hurt the bird (I really need to name it) but I had to head home.

In ATTI mode at first I had the prop guards on and the 3 (maybe that will be it's name) was drifting all over the place. There was a very slight breeze and I thought the guards were making it drift more than usual. I then removed the guards to see if that would make any difference. Found out it really didn't and ending up with 3 chipped props.

So I'm just wondering if anyone out there classifies themselves as expert ATTI flyers. If so, what did you do to perfect your abilities?

I am going to fly mainly ATTI from now on to get used to it. And the guards are going to stay on.
 
My 1st drone was a syma X8hg it only has altitude hold. Meaning it won't rise or drop its height unless you touch the sticks. But it does drift with the wind left right forward backwards sideways you name it.

I learnt to fly this before ever touching my phantom.

The only way you'll ever learn to fly in Atti mode is to keep practicing. Somewhere open preferably lol.
I also took the prop guards off. It's a bit of a catch 22 really yes prop guards save the props and the arms of the drone but I also find they make the drone a little more arkwatd in the air and also get hung up on things.

The most difficult thing is loosing your orientation that's when you can really get in trouble. But again it's just practice. The good thing about the phantom is the motors are powerful enough to fight the wind so even in Atti mode you have far greater control than you do with a cheaper drone which really struggles to fight against the wind.

P.s I wouldn't personally fly lots in Atti mode if I were you. Yes it will build up your skills. It the phantom is an expensive way to up your skill level. Plus the reason it's got gps is to help pilots out do use it.

If you really wanna learn to fly manually but yourself a cheaper drone. That will sort you out for sure and doesn't matter if you scrape it.

Darren
 
buy something cheap that is hard to fly, like a tiny hubsan x4, and learn to hover it indoors, you literally have to make several corrections per second or you will crash. Once you have mastered that, the phantom in atti mode it ridiculously easy.
 
Yep, the others are right... practicing is the only way to learn it because your brain has to be trained to adjust to orientation. I bought my first Phantom a couple of weeks ago, but I was flying some cheaper drones before that. The biggest issue when suddenly going into ATTI mode when GPS fails is PANICKING. The drone starts drifting and the pilot slams on the sticks, and the drone crashes. In most circumstances when the GPS fails and you go into ATTI mode, the best thing to do is to immediately raise your drone to a safe altitude. Then, you can calmly adjust your orientation and bring your drone back home via line of sight or FPV.
 
Yep, the others are right... practicing is the only way to learn it because your brain has to be trained to adjust to orientation. I bought my first Phantom a couple of weeks ago, but I was flying some cheaper drones before that. The biggest issue when suddenly going into ATTI mode when GPS fails is PANICKING. The drone starts drifting and the pilot slams on the sticks, and the drone crashes. In most circumstances when the GPS fails and you go into ATTI mode, the best thing to do is to immediately raise your drone to a safe altitude. Then, you can calmly adjust your orientation and bring your drone back home via line of sight or FPV.


Yep, altitude is your friend :)
 
Only one word and that's already been said : Practice.

I suggest a nice open grass area or nice sized lawn ... and instead of trying to fly around circuits and distance etc. ... just take off into a hover ... flip the switch to pure ATTI and just maintain that hover ...

Once you can do that ... then start to move side to side ... forward ... back ... just small amounts to see and feel what happens. DONT go high ... you will not see the model properly ... you will lose orientation before you know whats happened.
You will likely get fed up before you actually learn it properly ... so get a fundamental idea and then you can try when in normal flights.

I'm lucky because I flew lesser multi-rotors and helicopters as well as most other fixed wing styles ... see my avatar at the side ..

Nigel
 
Only one word and that's already been said : Practice.

I suggest a nice open grass area or nice sized lawn ... and instead of trying to fly around circuits and distance etc. ... just take off into a hover ... flip the switch to pure ATTI and just maintain that hover ...

Once you can do that ... then start to move side to side ... forward ... back ... just small amounts to see and feel what happens. DONT go high ... you will not see the model properly ... you will lose orientation before you know whats happened.
You will likely get fed up before you actually learn it properly ... so get a fundamental idea and then you can try when in normal flights.

I'm lucky because I flew lesser multi-rotors and helicopters as well as most other fixed wing styles ... see my avatar at the side ..

Nigel

This all day long.
 
So far, the thing I have noticed the most about Atti mode, is that the aircraft doesn't brake and hover as in P-GPS mode. In GPS mode, you let go of the sticks, and the drone stops pretty quickly and stays put.
In Atti mode, the drone doesn't stop quickly. Depending on how fast you're going, the drone can continue for quite a distance. Its simple to control this, but ya gotta know its gonna happen. It feels different than GPS when the drone doesn't stop. Ya just gotta experience it a few times. Then plan, and execute your stops and turns earlier.
 
I keep a Syma X5C, sells on Amazon for $50. I keep it ready to fly in the house. I call it my Flight Simulator. You'll only be confident with your skills when they become reflex. I fly it a couple of minutes most days. I'm 70 years old, but have enough skills to fly it around our living area and do landings on the Dinning table. It weighs 3.75 oz, never brakes anything and seldom gets damage. I have built several custom drones and now have Phantom 4, I occasionally switch it to Attitude mode when I'm in the open and get some experience. The day will come when the only way you'll get home is switch to Attitude and manually fly it back. Good luck.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
buy something cheap that is hard to fly, like a tiny hubsan x4, and learn to hover it indoors, you literally have to make several corrections per second or you will crash. Once you have mastered that, the phantom in atti mode it ridiculously easy.
Now this is really good advise. I fly a little hubsan x4 it is great fun. if you can fly one off these little fellas you can fly anything.
Practice Practice Practice
 
I started flying helicopters before the drones came out and have a lot of time logged on flight simulators like real flight or FS one. flight simulators are very good way to learn how to fly and a helicopter is very similar to a drone but a little more challenging. If you can fly helicopter on a simulator you will be able to fly drones no problem. Also now most of the updates on the simulators have drones available very good way to brush up on your skills.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
I also flew RC helicopters before drones like busaboy. I think the gps makes me feel a little to relaxed sometimes and so i fly a cheap drone to help to remember the sticks in a quick emergency.
 
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+1 for the Syma X5C: my son has one, it's incredibly stable and fun to fly, and it's $27 on Newegg. Get yourself a few batteries and a little multi-port USB charger (both available for cheap on eBay), and you really have a great training platform for the P3S.
Flight simulators - as others have said - are also very useful as you can put in a couple flights after dinner or whenever you have time. If you go this route, force yourself to fly as you would in reality, not like a videogame: take off, hover on a spot (pointing the drone away, then toward you, then sideways), do figure-eights, circles, etc... then land. Don't just push the sticks in all directions to see what happens... I mean, that's fun and useful too, but try to use it as a real simulator.
In any case, nothing beats real practice... the wind, the unpredictable environment, the noise of the propellers, the sense of danger... all things you will get used to, with a cheap drone.
 
Could not agree more. I have flown (and crashed) single rotor helicopters from micro size to 600 size so flying the Phantom requires very little conscious effort, meaning it is like writing my name. Now, once you get used to flying a drone, going back to single rotor takes a couple flights to get the feel back!!

If you want to soften the stick movement affect on the Phantom, you can change the gain and/or expo on the Go App just a little at the time, but don't do it until you understand it fully. Soften it too much and you won't get it back in the wind. Fly in ATT some and increase the sensitivity back up to the default as you gain skill.
 
In response to those who in ATTI would like to stop quickly, you have to pull back and add a bit of power which would help.

Flying full scale and R/C beforehand, my advice is to try pulling back to stop but adding a little power. Most likely it will climb a little, but should stop faster in terms of horizontal velocity. Hard to say without playing with it - because although in ATTI, it will still hold alt using the barometer.

Just my .02

Fly safe!
 
Quadcopter 101 has a great guide for flying lower end quads, which is pretty much what you have in Atti.

Quadcopter Flight School: Quadcopter Orientation Tips for Distant Flying


Sent from my E6653 using PhantomPilots mobile app
In addition to quadcopter101, phantom give you the heading, home location and distance in the screen. Watch the red triangle which tells you the heading of the quad, the apex tells you where the quad is flying to, the blue dot is your home port.
When you lost orientation, use your left stick and turn (yaw) the triangle until it points to the blue dot and push the right stick forward (pitch), watch the distance, it should be decreasing. Also watch the attitude indicator, push the left stick (throttle/pitch) forward to maintain a constant attitude. If you are afraid crashing your quad, you can practice this procedure with the simulator. Keep practicing until you can guide your quad home without gps and video feed. The red triangle and the blue dot are your safety guard, learn to use them.
 
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