Oh boy, Line of Sight Flying - What a CHALLENGE!

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Noobie still flying and learning. Flown my Phantom only several times.

Is it just me or is it everyone when flying a Phantom up high and away and once it gets that far away - it's hard to figure out which way the copter is going because it's so dang far away. Makes me nervous extending the range of sight where I can't tell which way it's going.

I guess that's why the FPV is necessary!

Soon on the FPV as I'm waiting on all the components to arrive.

Safe flying everyone!
 
I had that same challenge. 50 feet up and about 500 feet away the lights just became one. I was trying to get a nice little video clip but that particular part of the video didnt come out good. I'm stopped and I spin some and go back and forth before I figure out which way was which. FPV would have really been helpful. Decided to buy the ios ground station instead. I'll probably regret that decision.
 
I use the LED light too. But I also tied a one foot long ribbon onto the bottom left skid. That is the easiest way for me to determine orientation.

EDIT:
As KSC predicted in a couple of posts below, I did have the ribbon get tangled in the props which caused a crash. Make sure the ribbon is only about 5 inches long so it can't reach the props.
 
1+ BRIGHT LED light on the front battery cover...........although in retrospect I wish I had drilled a hole for the LED power cord THRU the front cover, fed the LED powerline thru, the covered the hole/line with the LED itself held by stickey tape.

I saw mention here someone had rigged a switch for the front LED. That assumes a more permanent installation. I would like to know more details about that. Connecting the LED power line to the short battery balancing plug, then stuffing everything in and getting the front door closed is a PIA!
 
mikrob said:
I use the LED light too. But I also tied a one foot long ribbon onto the bottom left skid. That is the easiest way for me to determine orientation.

I thought about doing this. I was concerned that it might somehow find its way into the props. I know that seems impossible with the props pushing all that air down but still a thought. I assume that its a stupid concern since it works for you.
 
justsomeguy said:
I sense another flyaway story coming soon...

FPV is not necessary, despite your claim that it is.

If you lose orientation, small inputs can help you determine orientation (see how the Phantom reacts to those inputs and you can figure out orientation).

If that doesn't work for you, just instigate homelock and pull the stick back towards you until you can figure out the orientation.

When it's so far away, very challenging to judge where it's going without a major distance and direction change to help get a sense of direction.

I like the LED light idea. That's on my next to do list! Thanks everyone for your inputs!
 
Flying LOS is quite an art form at longer range, I did do some 1km LOS flights early on. Just in GPS or ATTI mode and at long range I found it quite easy to just fly forward with a slow yaw if I wasnt sure about orientation. Then see if its moving to my left or right and this gives the nose direction and I could bring it back. Flying LOS any longer range I also always made sure that I was above any objects I could run into and flying towards something I find it almost impossible to judge how close I am to something once more then 50m away from me. I always turned early making sure I error on the safe side but flying a fairly basic pattern out then yaw 90 degrees fly a bit further yaw till heading back towards me was fairly straight forward.

You do obviously need good eyesight and also make sure the phantom is as visible as possible with any changes you can think of to make seeing the orientation any easier for you.
 
RedFishChaser said:
Noobie still flying and learning. Flown my Phantom only several times.
Is it just me or is it everyone when flying a Phantom up high and away and once it gets that far away - it's hard to figure out which way the copter is going because it's so dang far away. Makes me nervous extending the range of sight where I can't tell which way it's going.
I guess that's why the FPV is necessary! Soon on the FPV as I'm waiting on all the components to arrive.
Safe flying everyone!

FPV is a better way for far flight orientation as you said. You won't be afraid again because all time you know were is the phantom front direction, you can see it !. Doesn''t matter if day or night, even flying straight to sun line you are sure were to point your controls.
Also a bright front Led Light helps a lot. Better if it is a strobo/ flashing pointing front. I use self-powered "frog strobos" from bike store. 500 mts tested and its own battery keeps more than 15 hours in flashing mode. 18gr, US$ 3.00 on ebay.

Frog-Strobo-Ligths.jpg
 
What I do that works well is not rotate the phantom if I can't tell what direction its facing. Just use the right stick to move it forward, back, left and right. If I do rotate to change the camera shot, I will then just move in a direction to re-orient which way its pointing.
 
If you are new to the phantom and copters, as soon as humanly possible go out and learn how the home lock feature works. Really, use a whole battery flying away and returning on home lock. It will save you. Watch the videos, do it and save your butt.

FPV is much harder than it looks and can take a large amount of discipline to be successful. If your goggles go out of range and you don't know home lock you are flown away.

Lastly, if you understand the relationship of motion to what you see it should not be too hard to bring the phantom back.

1. Give forward motion input to phantom
2. Is it moving in relationship to background?
2a no - it is flying either at you or away....give left turn input...does it go left? If yes it is flying away from you. Continue left turn until it is not moving related to background, if is now coming at you. If left turn makes it go to the right, it was Already coming at you, reverse this with slight right turn until it is flying at you.
2b yes, it is moving in relationship to background....to the left? Give left turn input until motion relative to background stops. It is now coming at you, if it was traveling to the right, give right turn until motions stops. It is coming at you.

All turns should be gentle long sweeping turns. After a few flights you I won't know the steps, but you will know the process.

But really, just learn home lock.
 
Idahomojo said:
If you are new to the phantom and copters, as soon as humanly possible go out and learn how the home lock feature works. Really, use a whole battery flying away and returning on home lock. It will save you. Watch the videos, do it and save your butt.

FPV is much harder than it looks and can take a large amount of discipline to be successful. If your goggles go out of range and you don't know home lock you are flown away.

Lastly, if you understand the relationship of motion to what you see it should not be too hard to bring the phantom back.

1. Give forward motion input to phantom
2. Is it moving in relationship to background?
2a no - it is flying either at you or away....give left turn input...does it go left? If yes it is flying away from you. Continue left turn until it is not moving related to background, if is now coming at you. If left turn makes it go to the right, it was Already coming at you, reverse this with slight right turn until it is flying at you.
2b yes, it is moving in relationship to background....to the left? Give left turn input until motion relative to background stops. It is now coming at you, if it was traveling to the right, give right turn until motions stops. It is coming at you.

All turns should be gentle long sweeping turns. After a few flights you I won't know the steps, but you will know the process.

But really, just learn home lock.

From what I read online and the videos I saw, home lock basically put your directions locked to the starting position. But what I don't understand is

1) How do go diagonal? I guess you can't?

2) What would happen to home lock when it goes to the opposite direction of home? Do all the directions suddenly become reverse? Like say when I press backward, the phantom should move closer to me when it's in front of me. But what happens when it's behind me? Does pressing backward now send it further away from me?
 
Home lock does this:

It takes the stick on the right and changes the meaning of the up and down movement from:

Regular: Stick forward= DJI flies forward in relationship to the front of the craft (heads in the direction of the red lights however they point) Stick Down - DJI flies in reverse, towards the green lights on the copter.

Home Lock - Stick forward - DJI flies away from the launch point no matter which way it is pointed. Reverse is true, when the stick is pulled down, it flies back to where it was launched no matter what way it is facing.
 
Idahomojo said:
Home lock does this:

It takes the stick on the right and changes the meaning of the up and down movement from:

Regular: Stick forward= DJI flies forward in relationship to the front of the craft (heads in the direction of the red lights however they point) Stick Down - DJI flies in reverse, towards the green lights on the copter.

Home Lock - Stick forward - DJI flies away from the launch point no matter which way it is pointed. Reverse is true, when the stick is pulled down, it flies back to where it was launched no matter what way it is facing.

Yea so if I understood it correctly, pulled down can mean different thing depending if it's in front of you or behind you?
 
Yes you can go in any direction if you have the right stick at a corner then it will go diagonal. It doesnt just go forward back left and right but if you have it half way between say forward and left it will go diagonal at 45 degrees to the left relative to you in home lock.

IOC modes are quite useful but I dint use them much preferring to fly in regular modes. If you do lose orientation going to home lock and pulling the right stick towards you will bring it back to you.

Learning to fly in LOS and especially bringing it back after losing sight and orientation is a very important skill even if flying fpv. If you ever lose your video link you need to know how to bring it back without panicking.
 
martcerv said:
Flying LOS is quite an art form at longer range, I did do some 1km LOS flights early on. Just in GPS or ATTI mode and at long range I found it quite easy to just fly forward with a slow yaw if I wasnt sure about orientation. Then see if its moving to my left or right and this gives the nose direction and I could bring it back. Flying LOS any longer range I also always made sure that I was above any objects I could run into and flying towards something I find it almost impossible to judge how close I am to something once more then 50m away from me. I always turned early making sure I error on the safe side but flying a fairly basic pattern out then yaw 90 degrees fly a bit further yaw till heading back towards me was fairly straight forward.

You do obviously need good eyesight and also make sure the phantom is as visible as possible with any changes you can think of to make seeing the orientation any easier for you.

Thanks martcerv!
 
Idahomojo said:
If you are new to the phantom and copters, as soon as humanly possible go out and learn how the home lock feature works. Really, use a whole battery flying away and returning on home lock. It will save you. Watch the videos, do it and save your butt.

FPV is much harder than it looks and can take a large amount of discipline to be successful. If your goggles go out of range and you don't know home lock you are flown away.

Lastly, if you understand the relationship of motion to what you see it should not be too hard to bring the phantom back.

1. Give forward motion input to phantom
2. Is it moving in relationship to background?
2a no - it is flying either at you or away....give left turn input...does it go left? If yes it is flying away from you. Continue left turn until it is not moving related to background, if is now coming at you. If left turn makes it go to the right, it was Already coming at you, reverse this with slight right turn until it is flying at you.
2b yes, it is moving in relationship to background....to the left? Give left turn input until motion relative to background stops. It is now coming at you, if it was traveling to the right, give right turn until motions stops. It is coming at you.

All turns should be gentle long sweeping turns. After a few flights you I won't know the steps, but you will know the process.

But really, just learn home lock.

Thanks, you're right on flying more! Plus, I MUST Not fly the Phantom far away as I'm almost losing sight of the Phantom! That's when my heart goes thumping as I'm moving the sticks to get a sense of direction where it's moving and it's too far to judge without a great distance change. I MUST practice using the home lock. I understand that the home lock only works in GPS mode, correct?
 

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