Flight Instruction Please

[wings]

New to Drone flying. Have the Q500 4k. My question involves GPS. I understand that GPS is needed for the RTH function to work. What other situation requires the GPS to be on and locked to fly the drone? If GPS is off I should still be able to control the drone and fly it like I normally would. Does the Drone require the GPS to be on for normal flying? I can still climb, decend, turn, etc with the GPS off and well as on. Does normal control of the Drone require GPS on? I understand that hovering in place requires GPS reference but other than that and RTH any other reason that GPS MUST be on to fly the Drone?

 

[CharlzO]

If the drone loses GPS lock, you can still fly, but it loses all ability to self-hold in place, and correct for things like wind, and drift. You will be in complete manual mode. And manual as in, you do EVERYTHING. You no longer get to take your hands off the sticks at all and sit still for a moment. Bonus points in a breeze.

 

[Ren57]

You are correct. RTH will not work without GPS enabled and you are correct that your Q won't hold a steady hover position without the GPS enabled. Apart from that it will fly perfectly well but you will have to control the flight all the way. Let go of the sticks and it will hover but it won't hold position. If there's any wind, it will drift away in the direction that the wind is blowing. Easy to correct and actually quite good fun to actually have complete control of your Q. Without the GPS your Q is in manual mode. You will find that it will fly much faster and be very sensitive to every stick input. There are 2 ways to disable the GPS if you want to try flying in manual mode. 1. in the menu it says GPS enable/disable, just press to disable. 2 With your Q powered up and connected to your controller, push the right stick all the way to the right and toggle the flight mode switch (just above it) 5 or 6 times and that's it! You'll know when the GPS is disabled because all the LED's will be flashing like crazy! Have fun......

 

[wings]

You are correct. RTH will not work without GPS enabled and you are correct that your Q won't hold a steady hover position without the GPS enabled. Apart from that it will fly perfectly well but you will have to control the flight all the way. Let go of the sticks and it will hover but it won't hold position. If there's any wind, it will drift away in the direction that the wind is blowing. Easy to correct and actually quite good fun to actually have complete control of your Q. Without the GPS your Q is in manual mode. You will find that it will fly much faster and be very sensitive to every stick input. There are 2 ways to disable the GPS if you want to try flying in manual mode. 1. in the menu it says GPS enable/disable, just press to disable. 2 With your Q powered up and connected to your controller, push the right stick all the way to the right and toggle the flight mode switch (just above it) 5 or 6 times and that's it! You'll know when the GPS is disabled because all the LED's will be flashing like crazy! Have fun......

Thank you. I will wait for a calm day to try that. lol

 

[CharlzO]

Thank you. I will wait for a calm day to try that. lol

Probably a good idea. When it happened to me (lost GPS in flight), I was at the lake flying over our family's 4th of July fun last year over the water. Needless to say, I had to actually pay attention instead of just chatting and idly flying. Took a lot more concentration to bring it back down between the wind, the cliffs behind the house, the power lines, and the cars parked. In hindsight, I probably should've practiced that scenario prior to it actually happening!

 

[wings]

Yes I definitely am going to practice. Preferably in a wide open field.