Best Practice Tips on Flying Straight?

[HaminLee]

Hi there,

I've been piloting the Inspire 2 while my partner handles camera operating since purchasing the AC in late June.
I'm part of a PIC/Cam-op duo that we've added to our offered services in commercial production.
And, boy, did my film heart burst when I saw the DNG clips that were produced from the camera for the very first time! My appetite just gets whetter with each mission we've flown.

There are so many areas I need to improve on as a pilot with this machine, though, and I was hoping to reach out to you all to get some advice on best practices.

One area in particular that I really need to improve on is to consistently fly in a straight line and maintain the same altitude for repeatable takes.

Any educational references, advice or sharing on what your best practices are for this type of scenario would be incredibly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Hamin

 

[The Editor]

Hi there,

I've been piloting the Inspire 2 while my partner handles camera operating since purchasing the AC in late June.
I'm part of a PIC/Cam-op duo that we've added to our offered services in commercial production.
And, boy, did my film heart burst when I saw the DNG clips that were produced from the camera for the very first time! My appetite just gets whetter with each mission we've flown.

There are so many areas I need to improve on as a pilot with this machine, though, and I was hoping to reach out to you all to get some advice on best practices.

One area in particular that I really need to improve on is to consistently fly in a straight line and maintain the same altitude for repeatable takes.

Any educational references, advice or sharing on what your best practices are for this type of scenario would be incredibly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Hamin

Moved to Inspire 2 section.

 

[jkerrins]

Have you thought about flight automation software to allow you to fly the same pre-defined route repeatedly

 

[InterMurph]

This is one of my two great frustrations with the Inspire 2; it's so hard to fly in a straight line. The other is its inability to hover.

The built-in automation will do you. You record two waypoints, then tell the inspire how fast to fly between the two. It will fly very straight, you can speed it up or slow it down during the flight, and your camera operator retains full control of the camera. This works acceptably for straight-line flights, but requires your director and DP to have patience while setting up the shot. And the one time I tried to use it on a set, it was not good enough, as the director wanted me to come to a gentle stop at the end, and the Inspire 2 can only halt, quite jarringly.

There are other flight automation solutions that pilots here have experience with, which I have read good things about. But I haven't tried any myself.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Waypoints. These videos are kind of long, but may give you the answer you're looking for.

Part 1:

Part 2:

D

 

[huppe]

I suggest a bottle of whiskey and everything looks straight

 

[The Editor]

I suggest a bottle of whiskey and everything looks straight

Two bottles and everything looks wonky again....

 

[HaminLee]

Have you thought about flight automation software to allow you to fly the same pre-defined route repeatedly

thanks, yes, Ive been meaning to try waypoints but I almost feel like I'm cheating in a way. Plus I just dont trust what the altimeter readings I get. Don't know about your I2 but mine is incredibly inaccurate; and it even gives me completely different altitude readings in the same area.

 

[HaminLee]

Two bottles and everything looks wonky again....

haha. what happens with 3?

 

[HaminLee]

I suggest a bottle of whiskey and everything looks straight

on it!

 

[HaminLee]

Waypoints. These videos are kind of long, but may give you the answer you're looking for.

Part 1:

Part 2:

D

thanks, I'll definitely check them out! Really appreciate the refs!

 

[HaminLee]

This is one of my two great frustrations with the Inspire 2; it's so hard to fly in a straight line. The other is its inability to hover.

The built-in automation will do you. You record two waypoints, then tell the inspire how fast to fly between the two. It will fly very straight, you can speed it up or slow it down during the flight, and your camera operator retains full control of the camera. This works acceptably for straight-line flights, but requires your director and DP to have patience while setting up the shot. And the one time I tried to use it on a set, it was not good enough, as the director wanted me to come to a gentle stop at the end, and the Inspire 2 can only halt, quite jarringly.

There are other flight automation solutions that pilots here have experience with, which I have read good things about. But I haven't tried any myself.

thanks! Sounds like i'll need to bone up on using waypoints. Do you ever encounter inconsistencies in elevation readings when you use the waypoints?

 

[davidjmurray]

Yup, I2 is challenging to fly straight. You can try tuning the stick response curve to be relatively flat near the center of the graph, so that unintended left/right stick input is ignored, but the aircraft itself does not reliably track straight forward even with clean stick input (as verified by checking stick input record in flight log playback). A few years ago I saw a post implying that this was a software problem introduced after the I2 first came out. I don't know about that, but I do know that Mavic 2 Pro is much easier to fly straight, and Mavic Air 2 is even easier still. But, of course, you can't shoot CinemaDNG on those little guys. It sure would be nice if we did not have to trade off flyability and image quality.

 

[niki]

Litchi is better for fly by wire with 2 waypoints. Also the drone can be sped up or slown down with the sticks, even it can stop in the middle and go in oposite direction while using the same path.
But we have never been able to use waypoints on a film set as there is no time for that, of course depend on the production I guess, but this is what we experienced in the last 4 years. Usually there's no more time than for 2, max 3 takes with the drone. If you can't do it for the given time, next time the production company will call some one else for the next project.
So every single day go out and practice every type of cinematography shot you can think off. Practice, practice and practice. Even then some directors are looking at you with guilty eyes when they expect straight slow trajectory in 30km/h wind gusts.

 

[mike " Bandit"]

Have you thought about flight automation software to allow you to fly the same pre-defined route repeatedly

I use the way point flight mode to fly repetitive flight paths, works well and gives me the ability operate the camera while the drone does the flying

 

[Donnie Frank]

thanks, yes, Ive been meaning to try waypoints but I almost feel like I'm cheating in a way. Plus I just dont trust what the altimeter readings I get. Don't know about your I2 but mine is incredibly inaccurate; and it even gives me completely different altitude readings in the same area.

It's not cheating. The Inspire 1 is a wonky bird. It is the least stable of the DJI line. No amount of skill can react to erroneous course changes better than the Flight Controller, which adjusts like 100 times per second or something ridiculous like that.

D

 

[mike " Bandit"]

I use the altimeter as a reference only, mainly its how I monitor that the automated flight mode is in fact holding the altitude I set visually. tap to fly mode its really easy to tap slightly low and put the drone into a shallow glide path that if you are not watching could put drone into the tree tops, power wires ect.

 

[Dobmatt]

Two issues are in play here: Inspire 2 piloting experience and the flight stability of a particular specimen. First quality will come with time, second may be the result of dreaded, unfixable Inspire 2 wobble. This issue was discussed to death here and on every related forum. Some birds are exhibiting excessively unstable hovering, which most likely is tied with off-course flights. Mine - for example - will fly straight forward 100 m and come back backward with 1-2 m accuracy, wind or not. Go figure ...