The Drone Game

[RPR]

I just thought that I would put my thoughts together, and write about "The Drone Game" an addendum to A Droner's Guide to Surviving Virginity (since mother nature disrupts my intentions of going to work this morning)

There is probably more new operator out there anxiously looking for guidance, tips, and hints to help them enjoy this amazing hobby safely than ever before, may it be someone, who is starting out as a hobbyist, with the intention to grow as a commercial operator. I am extremely surprised by the mockery in the comments of some of the members, as well as the rhetoric's being shared that is out of topic. More experienced RC “pros” are none sympathetic to noob mistakes, and call them out for their lack of understanding and skill level. Instead of being boastful, I feel that we should help newbies to gain enough confidence and experience to fly safe enough to enjoy the hobby and learn how to fly a drone. After all, it is in our interest also because that way they pause less risk to the hobby getting banned entirely and if they are happy drone pilots, they will inspire others to fly as well.


First off let us start, with the FAA rule and regulations, so we do not beat the VLOS, BLOS and the proper use of a VO. I will cut to the chase, visit this site. FAADroneZone and work your way backwards in learning about the Drone regulations here in the U.S. And if you reside outside of the U.S, research on the rule and regulations in your country.

Before we get dirty, I would like to share two things.

• Fly Nifty.

It’s always a good idea to get a cheap drone to start with while you’re learning how to fly a drone, and there are an abundance of different models on Amazon and eBay that under $50, so it’s easier to deal with if you crash than having a $1,800 - $3,000 sUAS. Also, they are a lot smaller and lighter, it causes a lot less damage to people or objects.

• If I can do it all over again.

Some of my batteries are years old and has a lot of flight time, but if I can do it all over again, I would buy an aftermarket charge and ditch the factory charger. Currently this past for days, I had to relearn and learn about battery charging, and thanks to the awesome members on here, who guided me on how to effectively use my charger, after being a PITA. At present, I am using the HTRC LiPo Battery Charger Duo Discharger Dual and as far as cables go, research on the correct configuration, specific our battery, and there are also helpful DYI.

• At the launch pad.

Learn the lingo.

As you start learning about drones, you might find yourself lost among unfamiliar terms. If that’s the case, you’re not alone. Drones themselves go by many names, from UAV to RPA, and even the drone industry is still struggling to reach a consensus about which name it likes best. But every new hobby comes with a list of specialized terms, and learning these words is part of the excitement of immersing yourself in a new world. Quick Reference Guide of Drone Terminology

The controls.




Throttle: Makes the quad ascend (climb) or descend (come down).
Yaw: Rotates the quadcopter clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Roll: Tilts the quadcopter left or right.
Pitch: Tilts the quadcopter forward or backward. These controls are also referred to aileron (roll), elevator (pitch) and rudder (yaw)

1. Read the manual, specially make a footnote on proper binding to RC-AC. RC -Gimbal.
2. How to update a build/software.
3. How to downgrade a build/software.
4. How to calibrate. IMU, GYRO, RC Mapping, and Compass.
5. And ask yourself a question of why we need to calibrate, how often, and the importance of these tools.

If in doubt, read the manual.


Flight modes. There are many different flight modes, as far as Yuneec Products, there are:

1. Angle.
2. Sport.
3. POI
4. Journey.
5. Curve Cable Cam.
6. Team Mode.

In it best to familiarize early, because flight modes or other calls intelligent flight modes is what makes flying a drone fun.

• From hover to flight.

Did you know that it is a well-known fact that most drones that fell out of the sky are due to operator error? Sadly it is, due to the improper care of the battery, and improperly inserting/securing the battery to the drone. That is a disputable fact!
This is why, when you first receive your drone and has gone through the basic fundamentals, and ready to fire it up for the first time......... HOVERING is very important! When I have a new drone, I will fly that drone on a hover for a week, this may sound boring, but this stage is very critical, because you are getting familiarized with the control inputs, customizing the RC curves, sensitivity, rate (if your RC allows you customize) It will seem pretty tedious for first-timers as it requires concentration, but practicing this will help improve your flying skills, specially if you are flying in none GPS mode.

Hovering: This is where you maintain the drone’s position in the air. More advanced drones’ come with an altitude hold, which allows the drone to hover without the pilot controlling the throttle. Cheaper drones will require the pilot to maintain its altitude by using the throttle.

After the hover (while in none GPS mode, if you wish.) fly in large orbit circuit, while facing at the drone at all times, and then tighten the circuit to where the drone flies safely closer to you, once you master this practice the drone noise-in, in figure 8.

Orbit: When you circle an object on the ground. Often used when shooting aerial video to deliver cinematic looking shots.
Figure of 8: When you fly your drone in a path resembling the figure 8.


Most common Drone problems.

Signal Issues

You are probably flying outside the manufacturer's latitude specifications.
On a location with heavy WiFi traffic (Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth in your RC settings)

Problems Taking Off

Are you in the NFZ zone? Did you wait to acquire a satellite signal?
For NFZ removal, contact Yuneec.

Poor Battery Life

Poor battery life is something that is very common. Give is some juice before you fly.

Wrong Flight Direction

What happens if you steer your drone to the left and it goes to the right? Are you in RC mode 1 or RC Mode 2?

Miscellaneous.

How to retrieve telemetry: How To Get H Plus Telemetry Files

Advance IMU and Gyro Calibration: Locked out from IMU and Gyro calibration?

**** If I miss anything, kindly contribute below.

 

[Euphered]

Looks like a nice battery charger RPR! I have been waiting for almost a month from vertigodrones for my DY5 charger and it has still not shipped. Maybe I'll cancel the order and go with this one

 

[RPR]

Looks like a nice battery charger RPR! I have been waiting for almost a month from vertigodrones for my DY5 charger and it has still not shipped. Maybe I'll cancel the order and go with this one

I have a DY5 charger, but I am liking the RC charger because allows me to see what is really going on with each cell.

 

[AH-1G]

Weather that bad huh?

 

[AH-1G]

I did some flying an hour ago, shade temperature 94°
.........."I am extremely surprised by the mockery in the comments of some of the members, as well as the rhetoric's being shared that is out of topic"
Sorry off topic! we are all guilty.

 

[Euphered]

It has been hot here today in Sarasota too...

 

[Euphered]

Even the Noobs are off topic...

It has been hot here today in Sarasota too...

 

[PatR]

Definitely guilty, but I have little patience with people that won’t read a manual or follow instructions before trying to do something new to them.

There’s a big difference between posts where someone says “I’m thinking about buying X and would like to know...” and the one that starts “ I just got a new X and it crashed, or won’t work after updating the firmware”, or fill in the problem as appropriate.

One wants to learn, the other is trying to get themselves out of a bind.

In any case, good job on your guide. Perhaps Yuneec will put you on the payroll. Lord knows
they need someone that could fill the position.

 

[ChuckBridges]

it is 68 F (20 C) where I am today, northern Saskatchewan. Being said, that is extremely warm and sunny for this location at this time. I know I have at time been short with people and would like to offer my apologies to all offended. Since my concussion, my wife says I can be an @$$. I would also like to commend RPR for the efforts he has put forth on others, mine included, behalf. To help others selflessly is the act of a true gentleman (or woman in the case of our ladies out there). Thank you. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.... flying

 

[Calvin]

I'm a noob, and started small, inside little drone for Christmas and then outside and the drones got bigger now I'm here,,,,,

Sometimes reading the manual isn't enough, questions need to be asked & answered, some, like myself, purchased used and for some reason don't come with a users manual, the original owner took it to work and lost it or whatever,

We download & print, if we're lucky we can print in color so we can see the LED descriptions.
If we're not so lucky and print in B&W then it's really tough.

So there are going to be very basic questions, if we're going to help, we must be willing to cover all the base's.

Then there are those that don't read as mentioned above, then suggest youtube video's to them, easier to watch & learn from.

Before the internet, who taught you how to fly?

Crash & glue that's who,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[DoomMeister]

I'm a noob, and started small, inside little drone for Christmas and then outside and the drones got bigger now I'm here,,,,,

Sometimes reading the manual isn't enough, questions need to be asked & answered, some, like myself, purchased used and for some reason don't come with a users manual, the original owner took it to work and lost it or whatever,

We download & print, if we're lucky we can print in color so we can see the LED descriptions.
If we're not so lucky and print in B&W then it's really tough.

So there are going to be very basic questions, if we're going to help, we must be willing to cover all the base's.

Then there are those that don't read as mentioned above, then suggest youtube video's to them, easier to watch & learn from.

Before the internet, who taught you how to fly?

Crash & glue that's who,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I may be old fashioned, but nothing will ever replace a well written, well illustrated manual. Be it in book form or electronic form. One advantage to electronic is the text size and illustrations can be enlarged for easier reading when our arms get too short to focus the page.

I will admit that some YouTube videos are useful and educational, but most are too wordy, not scripted well, and the camera work leaves much to be desired. If you are doing a step by step procedure you have to pause and restart. If you want to review the step you are on you have to try and find the position in the video instead of just rereading a step.

Sorry, but reading and writing are still viable ways of communicating. I make it through very few YouTube videos … yawn.

 

[DoomMeister]

An example of good well scripted videos I would attribute to @Ty Pilot. His instructional videos are very well done. While not as polished as Ty’s, videos by @Steve Carr cover the subject matter without excessive wordiness. Both are to be commended for their work.

 

[PatR]

Most YouTube “how to” videos spend 95% of the production on talking about the narrator and 5% or less on the actual subject matter. In effect, most YouTube “ow to” videos are made for self aggrandizement purposes.

As the H-480 has an extremely comprehensive, down loadable manual in the Typhoon H-480 forum, there’s only two reasons not to read it; too lazy or don’t know how to read.

Before the internet most people learned how to fly by being taught by experienced people. It’s one of the reasons RC clubs formed. That method worked quite well for over 50 years preceding invention of the internet. Where automated drones are concerned, the self stabilizing features of an autopilot requires a user to learn very little aside from which stick does what. Beyond that a new user needs only to operate their aircraft slowly and close to themselves, taking the time necessary to develop visual and hand/eye coordination and depth perception before venturing into the distance. There’s very, very little skill required in flying automated drones

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yep, even though I have a YouTube channel, I am still an old schooler myself and really miss the way it was; in terms of bringing new folks into the hobby and getting them trained properly, but also having a 'club' atmosphere where there where rules (heaven forbid) , and procedures that were ingrained into the members to such a level that newcomers knew right off the bat they had to get with the program.

I saw a post from Russ Still on another forum and it seems that soon enough the FAA is going to change the way pilots are tested, and the 'watch video and remember' technique that many pilots have used to successfully take and pass their 107 will be gone. So it seems the old ways ARE the best ways.

Gold Seal UAV Ground School | Pass your Part 107 Exam

 

[DoomMeister]

I’m not sure if it was the same post, but I did read the linked information in a post on one of our other forums dealing with this topic. Most of what I read sounded like the test development and verification we used during my stint as a course developer in the Air Force. The one thing that differed in this scenario is the idea of generating a test on the fly. It is a good idea in principle for stopping crib sheets and question pools that get distributed ( must have to pay for them on the dark web as I’ve never seen them). The only drawback to that in my book is not validating the questions that do appear on any individual test. AI is good, but it isn’t perfect and can lead to some real problems.

 

[h-elsner]

I share the same opinions as @DoomMeister do. A good description with clear pictures just to see what one talk about (of course with a lot of tiny red arrows ) is (for me) better than any video. You can find keypoints easier, you have it always present while you do something step by step and you can read it anytime and anywhere.
That's why I have always two monitors at the PC, one to do something and the other to display documentation. This is a productive work a video often cannot offer.

Not needed to say that I like what @RPR has done. I want to ask him if I can use some points for my Thunderbird Manual?

Typhoon H 480 PX4 v1.10 (Stability issues ;-)

I have often connected/disconnected the drone via USB to PC with ST16 running. Never observed this behaviour. I'm surprised that the ST16 did not record anything in the FlightLog. It should have at least Remote and RemoteGPS when connection to the drone was established and the drone sends flight...

yuneecpilots.com

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