What You Should Have Been Told

[trevornewkirk]

I've had my first drone ever, a P4P for about a week now. I'm a total scaredy cat with it. As I gain confidence, however, I'm flying it alittle further.

I've read the manuals, Watched the videos.

But what do you wish you had been told when you first started flying your drone? What advice do you wish you had been given, or maybe been told one more time?

 

[MapMaker53]

There will be many areas where the act of launching and flying a drone will be severely hampered by local town, county and state ordinances as well as airport locations. I now recommend people in congested metropolitan areas not bother purchasing a drone for recreation if asked.

 

[alokbhargava]

As most of the crashes happen by hitting the trees, buildings and structures, my first advice will be to go to wide open field with no obstructions nearby.

Other advice would be to fly from a levelled solid surface and manually take off to a height of 10' or so quickly.

Other lesson is don't panic if you lost the site of your aircraft, go for RTH. That means learn about RTH before you start flying.

Also never fly with partial charged batteries.

 

[wassup8687]

Make sure you have propeller guards if you're unsure of yourself.

 

[JimmysWoodshop]

What Alakgbsrvamigabarvigonwhuuuut just said ^^^^. Don't panic when owning a DJI drone. If your screen goes out or you lose signal, just press RTH and RELAX. It will eventually come back to see you!

 

[Mimoid]

I would say, do not fly BETWEEN, but ABOVE objects. Consider trees, bushes, buildings, power pylons, light posts and flag poles as stuff wanting to reach out and smash your drone to the ground. Stay above and you'll be good. Also, do not fly in strong wind, and wyd, do not use prop guards, they will just act as sails.

 

[drm]

Trees and buildings are much nearer or farther than you think they are. Stay away until you have gained confidence and experience. And prop guards may help if you bump against a building, but are of little use against trees.

 

[DougAles]

Do this before buying a DJI drone...
-> Get yourself in your car and driving down the highway.
-> Open your window.
-> Reach into your back pocket and pull out your wallet.
-> Take out 5 $20 bills. Now, toss them out the window.
-> Take out 5 more. Toss them out too.
-> Do it again
-> And again

If this bothers you, your not ready to own a DJI drone.

 

[trevornewkirk]

Do this before buying a DJI drone...
-> Get yourself in your car and driving down the highway.
-> Open your window.
-> Reach into your back pocket and pull out your wallet.
-> Take out 5 $20 bills. Now, toss them out the window.
-> Take out 5 more. Toss them out too.
-> Do it again
-> And again

If this bothers you, your not ready to own a DJI drone.

I'm guessing you're a glass half empty kinda fellow? Lol

 

[JimmysWoodshop]

Do this before buying a DJI drone...
-> Get yourself in your car and driving down the highway.
-> Open your window.
-> Reach into your back pocket and pull out your wallet.
-> Take out 5 $20 bills. Now, toss them out the window.
-> Take out 5 more. Toss them out too.
-> Do it again
-> And again

If this bothers you, your not ready to own a DJI drone.

Well that was weird. Way to scare people out of the hobby. I personally know guys with original P2s with 250 batt charges and never spent another dime other than initial purchase.

 

[FlashBuddy]

Keep it low. Starting out I've landed twice on one neighbor's roof, in the back yards od several other neighbors. In the tops of several trees. It start when my drone got too high to see orientation and too exposed to the wind's aloft. Glad to have started with the Syma X5C instead of the P4 - only crashed it once when I backed into some low tree foliage

 

[Camera King]

It's been said, RTH will be your best friend at some point. I always assumed I would need it but had never used it. Then one day I misjudged my battery life, alarm going off, lost my concentration and became disoriented. Then, and only then did I finally use the RTH praying to God I had a good lock on my position...it came back to me. Now I will always check my RTH before I launch.

 

[tobby]

There is nothing more worthless than sky above you. Get her up where you have room for a couple of mistakes before she goes yardsale.

Tobby

 

[DougAles]

It's been said, RTH will be your best friend at some point. I always assumed I would need it but had never used it. Then one day I misjudged my battery life, alarm going off, lost my concentration and became disoriented. Then, and only then did I finally use the RTH praying to God I had a good lock on my position...it came back to me. Now I will always check my RTH before I launch.

Thank you. Enjoyed your reply. It reminded me of this

 

[zeldon50]

I think that if I knew how negatively drones were perceived by the public, I may have reconsidered purchasing one. It seems that on a fairly regular basis they receive an inordinate amount of negative press. Granted, they are not an essential item (like automobiles), but can you imagine what it would look like if every time a pimply faced teenager laid rubber on some back road it was plastered across the tabloids? I read that since the FAA started requiring it, 770,000 people have registered their drones in the United States alone. What percentage of those people do you think are doing improper things with their drones? I am truly afraid that within a very short period of time, our hobby, or business will be regulated out of existence.

 

[JimmysWoodshop]

I think that if I knew how negatively drones were perceived by the public, I may have reconsidered purchasing one. It seems that on a fairly regular basis they receive an inordinate amount of negative press. Granted, they are not an essential item (like automobiles), but can you imagine what it would look like if every pimply faced teenager was plastered across the tabloids because he laid rubber on some back road? I read that since the FAA started requiring it, 770,000 people have registered their drones in The United States alone. What percentage of those people are doing improper things with their drones? I am truly afraid that within a very short period of time, our hobby, or business will be regulated out of existence.

A- There will probably be software engineers that will help us reflash our drones so we can use them without restrictions if it comes to that.

B- Ain't no way in heck I'm giving up this hobby. Why haven't we heard anything about RC planes, ever? They crash all the time. Cause quads are new and exciting so the media and FAA goes after us

 

[Fruxen]

- Learn about RTH and exactly how to use it. There is more to it than you think. I wonder how many people have started flying carefully in their back yard, pushed the RTH button, and watched to their surprise how the drone descended straight down into a bush instead of returning to the takeoff point.

- A phantom sounds like a weed whacker, it's much louder than that 50$ drone you started out with and will catch a lot more (unwanted) attention.

 

[DougAles]

..... within a very short period of time, our hobby, or business will be regulated out of existence.

Unfortunately, I agree with you. This is happening now. This happened in Canada, Cuba, and other countries.

Mackinac Island, most of California, and more.

 

[N017RW]

Well that was weird. Way to scare people out of the hobby. I personally know guys with original P2s with 250 batt charges and never spent another dime other than initial purchase.

Add me to that 'list'.

 

[N017RW]

A- There will probably be software engineers that will help us reflash our drones so we can use them without restrictions if it comes to that.

B- Ain't no way in heck I'm giving up this hobby. Why haven't we heard anything about RC planes, ever? They crash all the time. Cause quads are new and exciting so the media and FAA goes after us

B- No, cause traditional r/c aircraft take desire, patience, and commitment to learn to fly. In so doing you learn to respect their faults and potential to harm persons and property.
Some societal groups lack respect and thus that finds its way into this hobby.

If r/c planes were flown in the ways and locales we see drones the result would have been the same at any given time.