Newbie

[tbird68]

Hello everyone.
My first post.
I brand new to the whole drone world.
Have always been interested in aviation and photography. My son is a newly qualified A320 pilot for Easyjet. He is the 3rd youngest commercial pilot in the UK at age of 20! Anyway I love planes.
I have for my sins just bought a phantom 4. So far I have updated all firmware. Registered with DJi. Been practising on the simulator.
Obviously very nervous about the first flight.
I would really appreciate any help, advice etc before my first flight.
Many thanks
Tony.


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[msinger]

Welcome to Phantom Pilots!

If you haven't done so already, download and read the Phantom manual in its entirety.

 

[xlebullx]

Congrats on your new Phantom. Read the manual as mentioned above, and find an open space for your first flight. Happy flying!

 

[George Race]

Hello everyone.
My first post.
I brand new to the whole drone world.
Have always been interested in aviation and photography. My son is a newly qualified A320 pilot for Easyjet. He is the 3rd youngest commercial pilot in the UK at age of 20! Anyway I love planes.
I have for my sins just bought a phantom 4. So far I have updated all firmware. Registered with DJi. Been practising on the simulator.
Obviously very nervous about the first flight.
I would really appreciate any help, advice etc before my first flight.
Many thanks
Tony.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Hi there, and welcome to the world of DJI Drone flying!
I have been flying a P3P since last November, but not a lot of time since then, due to much terrible WX. Also just got my P4 a few days ago, and what a great improvement it is over the P3! Don't be afraid to take it out and fly it, it darn near flies itself. As someone else already said, do read the manual, it will answer a lot of questions for you. The one important thing to do is calibrate the compasses! The IMU is probably good from the factory, but if you are getting long warm up times, after startup, that should also be done. Other than that, leave it in beginners mode and go out and enjoy that very first flight. Let it hover at about 20 feet and get the feel for the controls, you will not believe just how easy it really is.
All the best,
GR

 

[realsting]

Hello everyone.
My first post.
I brand new to the whole drone world.
Have always been interested in aviation and photography. My son is a newly qualified A320 pilot for Easyjet. He is the 3rd youngest commercial pilot in the UK at age of 20! Anyway I love planes.
I have for my sins just bought a phantom 4. So far I have updated all firmware. Registered with DJi. Been practising on the simulator.
Obviously very nervous about the first flight.
I would really appreciate any help, advice etc before my first flight.
Many thanks
Tony.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

I'm new too!! I got mine on Thursday, spent Friday getting to know the manual and settings and fumbled my way through the f/w upgrade as there weren't any proper instructions on that I could find!

Anyway, Saturday (yesterday) was my first flight. I found myself a large open field away from overhead cables etc.. I set up went through the pre-flight checks, compass calibration and got the 'good to go' on the Go app.

Up she went with the auto-take off to about 3m above ground. Adrenaline starts to kick in as I prepare to increase altitude of my £1200 investment! I raise the quad to about 25m keeping an eye on the Go app and watching the quad. I increase power and up she goes gently to around 42m.. The view is amazing; the higher she goes the more the adrenaline starts to pump! I'm watching for aircraft as I'd seen earlier a military helicopter at a fairly low altitude racing by even though I am in a safe-fly zone - a double check online confirms this. But common sense prevails, I'm doing no altitude testing!

With my P4 now at a safe 30m I try to get a feel for the sticks and carefully practice Manoeuvres; I try to orientate myself with the machine. I didn't fly any further than about 200 m in a horizontal direction, nor higher than 40m (especially after seeing the helicopter!) - I found this enough to help me become familiar with its control, at least for my first flight! I will go to a more remote location for my next flight.

I got the feeling of dread that others must have on a first-flight.. The greater the distance between myself and my machine, the greater the feeling of dread.. This will lessen with practice I'm sure.

I'm a novice at all this.. So the only advice I can give is be safe and have fun!

 

[CafeRacer]

Hello everyone.
My first post.
I brand new to the whole drone world.
Have always been interested in aviation and photography. My son is a newly qualified A320 pilot for Easyjet. He is the 3rd youngest commercial pilot in the UK at age of 20! Anyway I love planes.
I have for my sins just bought a phantom 4. So far I have updated all firmware. Registered with DJi. Been practising on the simulator.
Obviously very nervous about the first flight.
I would really appreciate any help, advice etc before my first flight.
Many thanks
Tony.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Nothing to be nervous about. Just always remember to do your pre-flight check. Go at your own speed, 10-15 feet is a good height at first and I would also recommend not using sport mode until you have mastered every other function. There is a lot of technology integrated in that little bird so be confident in its abilities as well as yourself. I was very nervous when I first flew as well, though with time and plenty of YouTube video watching you will be a pro in no time. Again, ALWAYS do a pre flight check for even the smallest crack in a prop can spell disaster. Most importantly, enjoy the technology and being one of the fortunate people in this world to have such a great piece of engineering at your disposal. Be sure to post some pics and videos after you are confident in your flying. Last thing, very important, register with the FAA also, you can do it online and it's only 5 dollars, and if you want check out eBay for vinyl stickers of your FAA registration numbers. If you have any other questions let me know, Fly safe brother!


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[tbird68]

Thanks for the feedback. I have been practising on the simulator on the go app. Seems to give a bit of a feel for the controls at least. If it is as easy to control
As the sim then I feel a little more confident. I am based in the UK so not sure if I need to register with the CAA which is the same as the FAA in the U.S.
I been watching some YouTube vids on IMU calibration on the 3 but guess must be similar to the 4.
Also is the compass calibration required before each flight?
My son has dropped by this evening in his way to Paris and he so excited about me getting into this! Some
Very similar tech to
Big jets.
Re sport mode. Will
Be keeping well
Away from that for long while! I want to be fully confident in my ability before I go fast.
Have any of you guys got plans to use your drones in a commercial capacity in the future? Or will
They be purely for pleasure? It would be my dream to turn such a great hobby into a business. But for now it will be all about learning the basics over the coming months and becoming proficient in the controls etc. Are there any training courses or again is it best to learn as you go along?
Again thanks for the welcome and here is to safe flying!
Tony.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[CafeRacer]

Thanks for the feedback. I have been practising on the simulator on the go app. Seems to give a bit of a feel for the controls at least. If it is as easy to control
As the sim then I feel a little more confident. I am based in the UK so not sure if I need to register with the CAA which is the same as the FAA in the U.S.
I been watching some YouTube vids on IMU calibration on the 3 but guess must be similar to the 4.
Also is the compass calibration required before each flight?
My son has dropped by this evening in his way to Paris and he so excited about me getting into this! Some
Very similar tech to
Big jets.
Re sport mode. Will
Be keeping well
Away from that for long while! I want to be fully confident in my ability before I go fast.
Have any of you guys got plans to use your drones in a commercial capacity in the future? Or will
They be purely for pleasure? It would be my dream to turn such a great hobby into a business. But for now it will be all about learning the basics over the coming months and becoming proficient in the controls etc. Are there any training courses or again is it best to learn as you go along?
Again thanks for the welcome and here is to safe flying!
Tony.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

As far as commercial use I know here in the states there are some hoops you need to jump through in order to do so. As far as compass calibration, I personally do it before every flight. It's not absolutely necessary, especially if your flying within a 50 mile range from last flight. Though in the unfortunate event of a crash, if you didn't do the calibration and send your phantom to DJI for warranty coverage, they may be inclined to deny strictly on the basis that you didn't calibrate, that could give them an out according to your flight log. Believe me, DJI has a horrible reputation for customer service. In my opinion it can't hurt and is just part of my preflight check. I have family in Canterbury, hopefully next time I'm in the UK we could fly together. That would be bad ***. Keep in touch and enjoy flying!


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[msinger]

if you didn't do the calibration and send your phantom to DJI for warranty coverage, they may be inclined to deny strictly on the basis that you didn't calibrate, that could give them an out according to your flight log

Can you show us a case where the warranty was denied because someone did not do a compass calibration prior to taking off?

 

[CafeRacer]

Can you show us a case where the warranty was denied because someone did not do a compass calibration prior to taking off?

This was taken from our forum, unless I read it wrong I still feel like DJI could deny because of no calibration, am I wrong in assuming that?

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[CafeRacer]

Should I not calibrate, or even Tbird68? I'm assuming and have been calibrating every time in fear that I could be screwed in case of a flyaway?


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[msinger]

This was taken from our forum, unless I read it wrong I still feel like DJI could deny because of no calibration, am I wrong in assuming that?

Well, you read it correctly. That doesn't make it so though

I've read a lot of posts (a lot). I've never seen a case of DJI not honoring their warranty for that reason. Nor do they state that anywhere in the warranty information on their website.

If you find some proof to back that up, then please let us know. Otherwise, it would be better to assume the warranty is as stated on DJI's website.