When you push up the right stick ... The p3 will move forward even the nose s facing you? Or vice versa...?

The quad will move in the direction you push the stick...  No matter what way the quad it pointing.

USE:  You can pan the camera independent of flight direction.

Well yes and no. IOC refers to a group of options with only one being enabled at present in the Phantom 3.

IOC Course Lock is the only one available at present - once enabled the direction the Phantom 3 is facing when the course lock is set will influence what direction is will travel when the right stick is pushed forward or moved back.

IOC Home Lock which is not yet available - once enabled pulling back on the right stick will always return the Phantom 3 to its home point and push forward will always move it away.

IOC POI, again not yet available - will pivot around a fixed point.

If you go to youtube and search Phantom IOC you will find plenty of example videoas of home lock and course lock.

"The nose direction, at the time Course Lock is set, will remain the forward direction regardless of how the orientation and position of the aircraft changes. This will remain fixed until you reset it or exit CL mode."

That's directly from the Phantom 3 manual, Page 55. What does it mean?

Set Course Lock. (You have to enable multiple flight mode and then select the proper position on your remote control - left side).
Let's say you take off with your Phantom facing away from you. If you push forward on the right stick, the Phantom moves away from you. But now for the wrinkle.

Go into a hover. Using the left stick YAW control, rotate the Phantom 90 degrees to the right, so the camera is now facing to your right. Push forward on the right stick. Zowie!

Despite the fact that the "front" of your Phantom is now facing to the right, when you pushed the right stick forward, it goes away from you - because it still more or less THINKS that's forward! The beauty of this is that you can fly by an object (in this case, an object on your right), flying in a straight line and you can rotate your Phantom as you go by, keeping the object in view.

If you stay in Course Lock, the left side is now the forward direction, the front is now the right side (as far as flight direction is concerned). Despite the Phantom facing to the right, if you now pull back on the right stick, the Phantom will come back toward you.

It will retain Course Lock until you RESET it or EXIT Course Lock mode. (the reset is available by tapping on the Flight Mode icon and selecting ADVANCED).

To get the feel of what really happens and how it works, I went into a park onto a really big field and flew all over the place, changing back and forth between having Course Lock on and off. To me, it took a little getting used to - to me it's very much like "smart mode" on the Blade 350.

The beauty of it on the Phantom is the ability to independently aim your camera while flying in a straight line - partly simulating POI (which is not yet available.)

Hope that helps.

I think one of its best uses is if the drone is far away from you, and maybe you get a bit disoriented as to which direction the drone is facing. Put it into IOC mode, pull the stick back, and no matter which way the drone is facing, it will come back to you.

MacNimation Posted at 2015-7-1 00:19
I think one of its best uses is if the drone is far away from you, and maybe you get a bit disorient ...

That won't work, because you don't know the direction that the bird is pointing when you go into IOC.   Press the RTH button.  

As per manual..it should be in f mode... And course lock is not gps enabled... What does it mean... I cannot hover steady and no rth..?

DaGunn Posted at 2015-7-1 00:45
That won't work, because you don't know the direction that the bird is pointing when you go into I ...

My understanding that the direction is locked in when the drone is turned on and you take off. Based on that the home lock is set and in IOC mode, no matter what orientation the drone is it will return to the Home position. I have done this a few times and it works.