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| Drone Pilot Hovering his Drone |
INTRODUCTION
Recently (the day after Christmas), I came across a few requests on social media from some in my local community who had apparently received a Drone as a Christmas gift, attempted to fly it and lost it.
They gave the location and brand name of the drone that had disappeared and asked those in the area to call if they happen to find it.
I felt bad for them, and realized they were trying to fly something they hadn't learned to control yet, when it got away from them, they probably lost orientation and subsequently lost their drone.
I began thinking back to my first flight with a drone and how I trained myself to fly and enhance my skills.
When it comes to flying a drone there are a series of steps you need to go through in order to learn to fly successfully, first of all it isn't going to happen over night.
In order to achieve drone flight successfully, you will need to do repetitive training with the various control features.
The purpose of this post is to give beginners a few tips that will hopefully help them learn to fly a drone without the heartache some have experienced.
Selecting a Drone
First things first, if you are new to flying I recommend you take some time in choosing a drone that is suitable for a beginner, there are number of great choices on the market today.
I personally chose the Latrax Alias, number one it was affordable, it had an auto leveling six axis flight system, and 3 flight modes, Easy, Fast, and Expert.
Durable, with readily available replacement parts when warranted.
It was a great choice for me, I could learn to fly in easy mode and advance to fast and expert modes as my skill level increased without having to purchase another drone to advance.
It is a great sport flyer and will perform multiple flips, twists, and rolls for a more aerobatic flying experience.
I still enjoy flying it to this day.
TRAINING YOURSELF TO FLY
Location - when your learning how to fly a drone, you want to pick a location free of obstacles, like trees, buildings, roofs, swing sets etc.and more importantly places where a large number of people.tend to congregate (you wouldn't want to strike someone with the drone).
First Flight - Before attempting to fly make sure you know the control functions on the transmitter.
Taking off / Landing
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| Young Drone Pilot Flying his Drone |
Find a level location to set the drone down on with the nose out, position yourself about 10' from the drone for safety purposes.
Remember use light inputs on the transmitter so you don't lift off like a rocket on a launch pad.
Lift the drone off the ground about 5 ' or so by pushing the throttle stick forward, don't rotate the drone if at all possible, keep it pointed nose out, then pull the throttle stick back, bring it back down and land it.
You may have to do this numerous times to get the feel of the throttle control.
As your skill level increases, you can keep extending your height until your confident that you can take off and land safely.
Hovering
Holding a lightweight drone in a hover can be a challenge in windy conditions, but fairly easy to do in light to moderate winds.
Pick the drone up off the ground 5 ' or so and attempt to hold the drone in a steady position with the nose out, you may have to make slight adjustments on the flight stick to hold a steady hover if the drone tries to move around. This to will take some practice but will help you get the feel of the flight controls.
After you feel comfortable with takeoffs ,landings, and hovering you can attempt the next step.
Flying Forward and Back
When learning to fly, it is important that your stick movements are gentle, precise and not sloppy to ensure smooth performance from your drone. You definitely don't want to slam or jerk the flight sticks while learning to fly.
Lift the drone off the ground to a safe altitude, not to high though, push forward on the flight stick and push the drone out to 50 ft or so, then pull back on the flight stick and bring the drone back towards you. After you do this several times you can extend the distance outward but you want to keep the model within line of sight, you will need to do this repetitively until you are comfortable flying the drone out and back.
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| Pilot and his Drone |
Take off and Position the drone outward a safe distance in front of you, push the throttle stick to either the right or left and allow the drone to fly either direction with the nose positioned out., try not to turn the drone in any direction, as it will effect the direction of flight. Again this will take some practice and can become repetitive, until you feel comfortable flying the drone to the left and right of your position.
For several weeks when I went out to fly, I would practice taking off, landing, flying forward and back, and right to left until I was confident I could perform them all safely. Learning how to fly a drone is a repetitive thing, and will come with some practice.
Note: All these training procedures should be performed within line of sight. Without FPV it is difficult to see the position of the drone at long distances.
Basic Rudder Turn
This is where flying can get a bit intimidating and confusing until you get your mind wrapped around it.
Some drones feature headless mode, meaning it doesn't matter which way the drones forward direction is pointing, when you push forward, the drone moves forward relative to your direction.
Lets put that aside and assume the drone you are flying does not have headless mode.
I found the easiest way to learn and practice turning is as close to your position as possible and not at long distance because you can see the position of the drone at all times and won't loose orientation.
Note: Pushing the throttle stick left or right (rudder) will rotate your drone. ( Referred to as Yaw in drone terms).
Take off as you learned previously, with the model directly in front of you push it forward 50 ' foot or so, then stop your forward movement, and rotate the drone (left or right ) 180 degrees until the nose or front of the drone is facing you. (keep in mind that when the drone is facing you the left and right (aileron) flight stick movements are now reversed ) push forward on the flight stick and fly the drone back to your position, stop forward movement, rotate the drone 180 degrees with the nose facing away from you. At this point you have made 2 turns continue to practice repetitively until your comfortable, you can also extend flight distance as your skills are enhanced.
As you skill level increases you won't need to stop forward movement and just rotate your drone 180 degrees on the fly for a smooth clean turn. Your left and right (aileron) movements will come to you as you learn that when the drone is facing you the aileron inputs are reversed.
As you advance you can apply both rudder and aileron for a banked turn, which is smoother and faster.
In Closing
Be patient, if you fly regularly you will learn quite rapidly as you become familiar with the flight controls and flying characteristics of a drone.
If you continue to use these flight practices early on you'll be surprised how quickly you can master drone flight and improve your flying skills.
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