Hi guys,

Just wanted to introduce myself, I'm a new pilot, having had my Mavic for just a week now. I'd love to know some of the best tips and tricks to get the most out of my flights. Currently, I have been trying to fly most days, but have been unable to a couple of days due to rain (guessing that flying in the rain is not advisable). I have however been flying in the wind, and am really surprised at how well the Mavic copes with this.

A few questions now:

• When flying in GPS mode, will the GPS drop out due to trees/buildings etc? I have tried to test this by flying under some trees, and haven't noticed anything yet, but I don't want to find out the hard way (and have the Mavic rise into branches). My main reason for asking this, is that as a surveyor, I understand the effect that trees can play in distorting GPS signals.
• What are the best tips and tricks to avoiding bird attention? I don't want to injure any birds, including the Mavic! I have ordered some bright orange stickers to try to help in this regard, but any ideas are greatly appreciated.
  

Looking forward to hanging around here a lot more in the future!


Ed

Hey Ed, welcome
1st question; whilst building etc may distort gps for me it is the loss of RC signal that worries me as greatest risk. When working in built up areas set you drone to RTH if radio signal is lost / disconnected - will then rise to set height and go home. Bewre though of doing this in forests as it will rise into branches and crash. So when flying in forest i think you absolutely must at all times maintain VLOS - otherwise you will crash into something for sure.
2nd question:  birds seem curious about the drone, around here it is mostly seagulls but i have also noticed pigeons and sparrows have done close fly bys and loops around my mavic. I have bright red stickers and reflective strips (to help me find it when crashed) - the bright colors makes no apparent differance to the birds.
When i see  flock i stay clear - when one or two comes to investigate my drone i try to flight in a strainght line to reduce risk of collision (trusting the birds inteligence a flight skills to stay a safe distance) rather than making erratic movement which could result in a colllision

And Ed, be careful of the wind. I was initially also very impressed which gave me a false sense of security and almost cost me my drone a few times before i started working the safe parameters out.

Some tips are:
1. Avoid more than 10m/s wind - bring it home
2. When flying in wind try keep the drone upwind of you - so you have a downwind run home
3. Learn a bit about wind strengths if you have no previous experiance - if you can hear ithe wind blowing past yr ears then start paying proper attention
4. Sport mode is faster and will get you home quicker but is a less efficient flight mode (means it will get you home quicker, it will fight a stronger wind but you may not have enough battery to get home)
5. Normal flight speed is 10m/s at very efficient battery use - but if the wind picks up to 15m/s, you will not make headway and will risk flying away.

Beware the wind when you start to  hear it in yr ears
4. if you get caught downwind with lowering battery and not getting home - look for the best/safest/easily identifyable place to crash land - take pics on yr way down

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-6 04:42
And Ed, be careful of the wind. I was initially also very impressed which gave me a false sense of security and almost cost me my drone a few times before i started working the safe parameters out.

Some tips are:

Thanks for those tips! My main concern with the GPS issue would be that all of a sudden the drone would rise.... I'm always maintaining VLOS as that is the law here in any case. I'm just not sure how the drone would react in such a situation.
I do try to have sensible settings for the return to home feature, although I try to limit the height a bit now, after having a high wind velocity alert.... no sense going excessively high, as long as you're higher than the obstacles right?
I actually had a magpie quite interested in the drone after I landed it in the neighbours back yard... that could be a side effect of us feeding them though.... I restarted the props and it disappeared, but not sure that will work forever....
When you take photos, are they transmitted to your device in real time?

editedweb Posted at 2017-8-6 04:47
Thanks for those tips! My main concern with the GPS issue would be that all of a sudden the drone would rise.... I'm always maintaining VLOS as that is the law here in any case. I'm just not sure how the drone would react in such a situation.
I do try to have sensible settings for the return to home feature, although I try to limit the height a bit now, after having a high wind velocity alert.... no sense going excessively high, as long as you're higher than the obstacles right?
I actually had a magpie quite interested in the drone after I landed it in the neighbours back yard... that could be a side effect of us feeding them though.... I restarted the props and it disappeared, but not sure that will work forever....

yes - photos taken are transmitted in real time - and can be reviewed immidiately on your device app below camera setting function is playback function
and yes - no point rising higher for rth than necessary (plus a few meters to be safe) - in fact more rise than nessesary is counter productive and in a worst case scenario can cost you that extra bit of battery you needed to get home.

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-6 05:07
yes - photos taken are transmitted in real time - and can be reviewed immidiately on your device app below camera setting function is playback function
and yes - no point rising higher for rth than necessary (plus a few meters to be safe) - in fact more rise than nessesary is counter productive and in a worst case scenario can cost you that extra bit of battery you needed to get home.

Very good to know. I knew there was some data saved to the phone but wasn't sure when they got sent, I thought it may be synced on landing. That makes photos very useful in the event of a forced landing then!

I read somewhere that rth will only ascend if it's a certain distance from the home point, I guess this means you should always have a clear area around the home point (or be there) to ensure that if it doesn't ascend, it's not going to hit anything.

editedweb Posted at 2017-8-6 13:21
Very good to know. I knew there was some data saved to the phone but wasn't sure when they got sent, I thought it may be synced on landing. That makes photos very useful in the event of a forced landing then!

I read somewhere that rth will only ascend if it's a certain distance from the home point, I guess this means you should always have a clear area around the home point (or be there) to ensure that if it doesn't ascend, it's not going to hit anything.

You can manually set RTH altitude or even turn it off. Most of the time, unless I am flying somewhere that I can't physically reach easily, I set it to simply hover on loss of signal. I've done a fair bit of indoor, no GPS flying and I turn it all off, including collision avoidance. I don't want the Mavic to go anywhere I'm not actively telling it to.

My recommendation is that if you are going to be flying under something with potentially sketchy GPS, just set it to hover.

You might also consider making a quick pre-flight checklist. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Stuff like RC and UAV battery level, prop and prop hub integrity, gimbal lock, and a pre-takeoff check for no warnings should suffice. It's really not even something you must write down, but rather keep it in the back of your head as you are setting up.

Blue skies and fly safe!

editedweb Posted at 2017-8-6 13:21
Very good to know. I knew there was some data saved to the phone but wasn't sure when they got sent, I thought it may be synced on landing. That makes photos very useful in the event of a forced landing then!

I read somewhere that rth will only ascend if it's a certain distance from the home point, I guess this means you should always have a clear area around the home point (or be there) to ensure that if it doesn't ascend, it's not going to hit anything.

yes always have a clear area around home point - anyway when you launch the first steps are methodical vs start motors and race away.
Recording home point properly means go up to 10m and hold for a bit whilst image positioning is registered and HOME POINT updated. Thereafter you can go crazy - but miss this first step and perhaps home point is not updated - then throw in a wind that just picked up and gusting like crazy from nowhere and a battery thats running down then a beeping noise driving you insane, and you could be in all sorts of trouble.
And it wont end at losing yr drone because everytime for the rest of yr life that the love of yr life wants a new pair of shoes (or whatever) - how u gonna say no.

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-6 13:55
yes always have a clear area around home point - anyway when you launch the first steps are methodical vs start motors and race away.
Recording home point properly means go up to 10m and hold for a bit whilst image positioning is registered and HOME POINT updated. Thereafter you can go crazy - but miss this first step and perhaps home point is not updated - then throw in a wind that just picked up and gusting like crazy from nowhere and a battery thats running down then a beeping noise driving you insane, and you could be in all sorts of trouble.
And it wont end at losing yr drone because everytime for the rest of yr life that the love of yr life wants a new pair of shoes (or whatever) - how u gonna say no.

SO by go up to 10m and hold, are you essentially suggesting that I get to clear, unobstructed sky, or is there something magical about the 10m height that triggers something in the Mavic?

Had some fun with some wind today, this thing amazes me! Don't worry, I was in a very clear area, and long grass cover, which I feel would have caught the drone rather than it slamming into the ground, should something have happened.

ephektz Posted at 2017-8-6 13:31
You can manually set RTH altitude or even turn it off. Most of the time, unless I am flying somewhere that I can't physically reach easily, I set it to simply hover on loss of signal. I've done a fair bit of indoor, no GPS flying and I turn it all off, including collision avoidance. I don't want the Mavic to go anywhere I'm not actively telling it to.

My recommendation is that if you are going to be flying under something with potentially sketchy GPS, just set it to hover.

I had in fact been using a program to record such things but stopped when I realised that the drone itself logs so much information. But yes, a quick visual before turning on the drone is a must, as is removing the gimbal bracket (I've forgotten it once or twice, hope it's not doing a lot of damage....)
When you fly indoors, how big a space are you talking about? Or, a better question, how much space should be available beside the drone (so it isn't affected by prop wash etc)? I did a quick hover in my lounge room the other day and was amazed at the wind that was generated....

editedweb Posted at 2017-8-6 23:24
SO by go up to 10m and hold, are you essentially suggesting that I get to clear, unobstructed sky, or is there something magical about the 10m height that triggers something in the Mavic?

Had some fun with some wind today, this thing amazes me! Don't worry, I was in a very clear area, and long grass cover, which I feel would have caught the drone rather than it slamming into the ground, should something have happened.

At 10 m the 2 tiny cameras at underside of mavic will take picture to allow precise landing on return.
I found this pdf somewhere on a forum where a pilot made the checklist (wish i knew who to credit) - it looks like a dji preflight check list - but i think the other pilot guy drew it up - anyway i value it - seems thourough and correct.
i will have to post the pic of it in another post - will send now

hey editedweb
here is the preflight check list - credit to the pilot guy who drew it up - not me.

Bekaru Tree Posted at 2017-8-7 05:47
hey editedweb
here is the preflight check list - credit to the pilot guy who drew it up - not me.[view_image]

Hello bro,

thanks for sharing, great stuffs! I'm still new to the Mavic although I've been flying rc helis/planes including cheaps drones for the past 15 years. Took me two weeks+ after getting the Mavic reading this forum + other Mavic forums, all good info about dos and don'ts, before I headed out to the field.

Another important thing I learned on top of the outdoor checklist, falls under the "AFTER START - COMPASS STATUS"; not only check that it's all green, but also to give the aircraft a quick physical 360deg rotation to ensure the it matches with the red indicator on the app's map.

editedweb Posted at 2017-8-6 23:32
I had in fact been using a program to record such things but stopped when I realised that the drone itself logs so much information. But yes, a quick visual before turning on the drone is a must, as is removing the gimbal bracket (I've forgotten it once or twice, hope it's not doing a lot of damage....)
When you fly indoors, how big a space are you talking about? Or, a better question, how much space should be available beside the drone (so it isn't affected by prop wash etc)? I did a quick hover in my lounge room the other day and was amazed at the wind that was generated....

Mostly convention center sized spaces which peresents challenges of its own. You can't take off or land on the floor, for instance, because of the reenforced concrete that will screw up your compass. The large AC systems in those facilities will also mess with your flight.

I wouldn't really recommend flying the Mavic in a house. In fact, I am considering getting a Spark or something like it for indoor real estate.

The Mavic will push some air! Although I have a TBS Disco swinging 10 inch props that *really* makes the wind blow.