What do I need to know as a new Phantom 3 operator??

[massphantomguy]

I'm a new Phantom 3 pilot with fairly minimal quad flying experience, and RC flying experience, period. From what I've seen so far, flying the Phantom 3 is easy, very easy. It seems like it goes everywhere you want it to go and stays everywhere you want it to stay without any interference from wind or other factors. I haven't flown it far away from myself yet, but I have flown it high (over 300' above ground). It almost seems like it's too easy and I worry I might not know what I don't know. On top of that, I've seen all sorts of videos on YouTube, forums, etc. of people losing their drones or crashing them. I don't want that same fate to happen to me. I apologize for asking such an open ended question- but how do I keep something like that from happening to me. I want to fly high and far, but I don't want to lose my quad, crash it or worse. I feel like I don't know what I don't know about my Phantom 3 and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!


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[Rogerdodger]

Read more,..watch more,..and ccalm down,...

 

[0DRK3RT]

That everyone on here has strong opinions, lots of bickering, but in the end we're all here to help, learn and share our passion for the hobby.


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[rcheing]

Let me google that for you

 

[gringorio]

I'd say it's important to practice flying in atti mode. Pick a windless day and a wide open space and practice flying away from yourself and back again, figure-eights, circles, all line of sight... Anything that helps you develop an understanding of controls and orientation. When you fly forward away from yourself, if you give right stick the quad moves right. But when you fly forward toward yourself, if you give right stick the quad will move to your left. It's these kind of orientation-flying skills you should practice in order to become a more proficient operator. I usually only fly in GPS mode in windy or tight situations like a canyon. If you always fly in GPS mode you'll never really learn how to truly fly the quadcopter. When you become confident flying in atti mode and understanding how to fly (camera forward) to, from and around yourself your confidence will increase and so will your skills and then you can start to move on to more complicated flying (backwards, sideways, upside-down). Practice as often as you can and you'll get better pretty quickly. Good luck!

 

[IBeSnoopy]

Get a cheap little quad for practice. I would suggest that over all so that you get the feel of flying without GPS. Also if you crash it you wont be spending lots of money to fix it. I have an Dromida Ominus that I bought for training people to fly on. It's cheap and easy to fix. It's good to know how to fly without the GPS so if you lose it you can still bring your P3 home.

 

[kevinm]

100% agree with @IBeSnoopy. Buying a small, cheap, quad to practice is the best way to ease yourself into the flying experience.

There's also flight simulators that you can purchase that are pretty close to the real thing. Some people like those better because of the flexibility it gives you (you can fly with different types of aircraft in different conditions/flying modes) but it's really just a matter of your personal preference.

 

[mrcrane2u]

Be ready to never see your drone again

 

[Outta Control]

I'm a new Phantom 3 pilot with fairly minimal quad flying experience, and RC flying experience, period. From what I've seen so far, flying the Phantom 3 is easy, very easy. It seems like it goes everywhere you want it to go and stays everywhere you want it to stay without any interference from wind or other factors. I haven't flown it far away from myself yet, but I have flown it high (over 300' above ground). It almost seems like it's too easy and I worry I might not know what I don't know. On top of that, I've seen all sorts of videos on YouTube, forums, etc. of people losing their drones or crashing them. I don't want that same fate to happen to me. I apologize for asking such an open ended question- but how do I keep something like that from happening to me. I want to fly high and far, but I don't want to lose my quad, crash it or worse. I feel like I don't know what I don't know about my Phantom 3 and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice or can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

Buy a $90 Blade Nano and practice and learn to fly better.

Seen and heard enough stories of new inexperienced operator spending $$$$ just to crash or loose their aircraft just to also put a bad image on the sUAS community.

 

[rcheing]

Buy a $90 Blade Nano and practice and learn to fly better.

Seen and heard enough stories of new inexperienced operator spending $$$$ just to crash or loose their aircraft just to also put a bad image on the sUAS community.

Out of all the recommendations I have read about in the forums, I have seen this advice and I totally disagree on this one. The Phantom flies NOTHING like a Blade Nano or any other toy grade quadcopter for that matter. As a matter of fact, my very first quadcopter was a Propel Altitude 2.0 drone I purchased at Costco for $80. I couldn't even take that thing off the ground and overturned it a few times. I spent no more than 5-10 minutes on it. Thinking something was wrong with it, I took it back to Costco and had such a bad experience on it, I asked for a refund.

Fast forward a week later, I purchased a Phantom 3 Pro and never have looked back since. It took off the very same day I got it and I am happy to say I have not crashed it once.

For the kids, I purchased a pair of Cheerson CX-10's to keep them from flying the Phantom. 'Till this day, I still cannot fly a CX-10, but my P3 flies beautifully in both ATTI and GPS mode and I haven't crashed it once.

So I don't know why everyone is saying to get a cheap drone to "practice" on when in my experience, the Phantom is unlike anything else on the toy market.

 

[Outta Control]

Out of all the recommendations I have read about in the forums, I have seen this advice and I totally disagree on this one. The Phantom flies NOTHING like a Blade Nano or any other toy grade quadcopter for that matter. As a matter of fact, my very first quadcopter was a Propel Altitude 2.0 drone I purchased at Costco for $80. I couldn't even take that thing off the ground and overturned it a few times. I spent no more than 5-10 minutes on it. Thinking something was wrong with it, I took it back to Costco and had such a bad experience on it, I asked for a refund.

Fast forward a week later, I purchased a Phantom 3 Pro and never have looked back since. It took off the very same day I got it and I am happy to say I have not crashed it once.

For the kids, I purchased a pair of Cheerson CX-10's to keep them from flying the Phantom. 'Till this day, I still cannot fly a CX-10, but my P3 flies beautifully in both ATTI and GPS mode and I haven't crashed it once.

So I don't know why everyone is saying to get a cheap drone to "practice" on when in my experience, the Phantom is unlike anything else on the toy market.

It is not about it being a toy but it is about education into controlling the aircraft is ATTI mode.

When things go wrong reliance in GPS mode or any Band-Aid mode is worthless to your skill as an operator.

If you can't see the practicality of learning the real way it is good to do your own research.

Here is an analogy if you were to learn to ride a motorcycle would you learn on a 1200cc Harley or KawaBusa 2300 or would a Kawasaki 250 or CBR250R would be good.

 

[kevinm]

If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball, right?

Jokes aside, I agree the P3 is much easier to fly than the toy ones and may seem different to the point of overkill. But practicing on a quad that's harder to fly, cheaper to replace, and less risky to crash, will certainly prepare you and give you confidence to fly a P3 that's easier to fly.

 

[massphantomguy]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I did have a Parrot drone prior to this. It definitely gave the feel of flying a quad copter for the first time. It was cheaper than a Phantom. It sort of did what it wanted to do and I have to agree with rcheing, it's more difficult to fly then my Phantom. Nevertheless, I agree with IBeSnoopy that it's better to learn on a beater quad and crash that than to crash a Phantom. As easy as the Phantom is to fly, it's much more complicated than my Parrot and that's what intimidated me. I must say though, even in less than 24 hours, I've watched different Youtube videos and feel much more comfortable. I still haven't figured out how to put my quad in follow-me mode, circle around a point mode, or way point mode (maybe you can't with a Phantom 3 standard). But those are the next things I'd like to try and learn.

Thanks again for the feedback!


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[Dirby]

Do not waste your time and money getting a small Drone to practice with.
this does nothing to help you fly your phantom.
find a Big field and go there with all your batterys fulley charged and all firmware updated and all calabrations done.
now go and fly your phantom and have some fun.

 

[BigBird 2004]

Flew mine the first time yesterday, what a blast learning curve almost flat! Flew old style gas RC helicopter and never got more than a hover for weeks, got flustered and sold it.
I agree small ones are a waist unless you just want to.


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[David Mielcarek]

You will find some useful information here: A GUIDE TO STUNNING AERIAL IMAGERY – Where To Fly Drones