Learning to fly with precision and confidence

[CP Anson]

This is part 1 of a 4 part article I wrote for photofocus.com. The article is based upon my own experience and an approach I use with friends and clients who are learning to fly drones.

Photofocus | Becoming A Better Drone Pilot

Chris

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Thanks for posting this Chris, I believe many people can benefit from this type of article. It was a pleasure chatting with you today.

Jim

 

[CoC]

Thank you for sharing, can imagine it will be a big help for new pilots, and give them confidence.
Looking forward to the other 3 editions.

 

[CP Anson]

Thank you for sharing, can imagine it will be a big help for new pilots, and give them confidence.
Looking forward to the other 3 editions.

Thanks for the kind words!
Here is part 2:
Learning to fly with precision and confidence - Part 2

Chris

 

[CoC]

Wouw, Thank you!

 

[Ralph thompson]

Flying lazy 8’s is fun as a pilot & equally so as a drone operator. Select 2 points a distance appart and fly a figure of eight around them, climbing as u turn the first 90 deg & decending as u complete the 180, making sure you smoothly control roll, yaw & altitude. The more coordinated roll & yaw, the faster the turn. Fairly easy to do in a sloppy way but hard to do precisely and with velocity. Best to start assistance GPS but the when mastered, switch to ATTI MODE.

Another challenging exercise is, in manual mode, fly around a point in a perfect circle, maintaining altitude, with the nose of the A/C always pointing into the centre. Not easy.

 

[Raymondo]

Thanks for the kind words!
Here is part 2:
Learning to fly with precision and confidence - Part 2

Chris

Nicely written and illustrated. Will you publish a downloadable complete version when it is complete?

Glad to see that you incuded banked turns. Too many pilots do lazy left stick only turns. Just as in full sized aircraft, banking balances the aircraft making smoother and tighter turns possible, without side-slipping.

You may have already included these comments in parts 3 and 4, but if not . . .

Something to add to your BOX flight, facing the direction of flight. Start on the ground in front of you, rising at 45 degrees to the first corner. After reaching the fourth corner, descend at 45 degrees to the start point. Easy to misjudge the angle. Good practice for combining forward speed and altitude.

Another excercise for orientation when far away, especially if you lose FPV picture, is to spin the aircraft, then work out the orientation. (no cheating by using the Go app!). Then fly towards yourself.

Refine your flight home by trying to keep the aircraft at the same point in the sky, but appearing to grow large as it comes towards you. You will have to balance yaw, descent, L/R and speed. (one technique I used to keep it on track when flying towards yourself, before it became instinctive, was - if the aircraft goes to the right 'push' it to the left with the left stick and 'push' to the right if it drifts to the left)

 

[CP Anson]

Flying lazy 8’s is fun as a pilot & equally so as a drone operator. Select 2 points a distance appart and fly a figure of eight around them, climbing as u turn the first 90 deg & decending as u complete the 180, making sure you smoothly control roll, yaw & altitude. The more coordinated roll & yaw, the faster the turn. Fairly easy to do in a sloppy way but hard to do precisely and with velocity. Best to start assistance GPS but the when mastered, switch to ATTI MODE.

That a great idea! Would you great a simple diagram and post it?

Flying lazy 8’s is fun as a pilot & equally so as a drone operator. Select 2 points a distance appart and fly a figure of eight around them, climbing as u turn the first 90 deg & decending as u complete the 180, making sure you smoothly control roll, yaw & altitude. The more coordinated roll & yaw, the faster the turn. Fairly easy to do in a sloppy way but hard to do precisely and with velocity. Best to start assistance GPS but the when mastered, switch to ATTI MODE.

Another challenging exercise is, in manual mode, fly around a point in a perfect circle, maintaining altitude, with the nose of the A/C always pointing into the centre. Not easy.

The lazy 8's looks like a fun challenge! I'm going to them a try. And yes flying in a perfect circle in ATTI mode takes practice and patience

Chris

 

[CP Anson]

Nicely written and illustrated. Will you publish a downloadable complete version when it is complete?

Glad to see that you incuded banked turns. Too many pilots do lazy left stick only turns. Just as in full sized aircraft, banking balances the aircraft making smoother and tighter turns possible, without side-slipping.

You may have already included these comments in parts 3 and 4, but if not . . .

Something to add to your BOX flight, facing the direction of flight. Start on the ground in front of you, rising at 45 degrees to the first corner. After reaching the fourth corner, descend at 45 degrees to the start point. Easy to misjudge the angle. Good practice for combining forward speed and altitude.

Another excercise for orientation when far away, especially if you lose FPV picture, is to spin the aircraft, then work out the orientation. (no cheating by using the Go app!). Then fly towards yourself.

Refine your flight home by trying to keep the aircraft at the same point in the sky, but appearing to grow large as it comes towards you. You will have to balance yaw, descent, L/R and speed. (one technique I used to keep it on track when flying towards yourself, before it became instinctive, was - if the aircraft goes to the right 'push' it to the left with the left stick and 'push' to the right if it drifts to the left)

These are great additions to things to practice. I like your exercise for determining orientation. This is something that I do myself when flying at a distance if I get confused with orientation. A great thing practice. And learning to fly towards ourselves is really important in doing precision flight. Thanks for the suggestions and ideas!
Chris

 

[CP Anson]

Nicely written and illustrated. Will you publish a downloadable complete version when it is complete?

Glad to see that you incuded banked turns. Too many pilots do lazy left stick only turns. Just as in full sized aircraft, banking balances the aircraft making smoother and tighter turns possible, without side-slipping.

You may have already included these comments in parts 3 and 4, but if not . . .

Something to add to your BOX flight, facing the direction of flight. Start on the ground in front of you, rising at 45 degrees to the first corner. After reaching the fourth corner, descend at 45 degrees to the start point. Easy to misjudge the angle. Good practice for combining forward speed and altitude.

Another excercise for orientation when far away, especially if you lose FPV picture, is to spin the aircraft, then work out the orientation. (no cheating by using the Go app!). Then fly towards yourself.

Refine your flight home by trying to keep the aircraft at the same point in the sky, but appearing to grow large as it comes towards you. You will have to balance yaw, descent, L/R and speed. (one technique I used to keep it on track when flying towards yourself, before it became instinctive, was - if the aircraft goes to the right 'push' it to the left with the left stick and 'push' to the right if it drifts to the left)

I realized I didn't answer your question about publishing a downloadable version in my reply to you.
Yes, I can do that. I'll post a version here on InspirePilots.com when that is complete. Thanks for the suggestion!
Chris

 

[CoC]

Love all the training tips here, thank you all!