FPV Manual Mode -- 5th Flight
2613 6 2022-6-6
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Chaosrider
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1226762 ft
United States
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Getting better each time. This time I got in a solid 8 minutes of FPV Manual time. This time, I paid attention to how long it took me from engine start, and then climb up 300 ft to my switchover point, and throw the switch. 30 seconds. So I decided to come home and hit the Brake at 8:30, which was about as low as I wanted to get in terms of battery power anyhow. It’s a lot more conservative than I am about deciding what “low power” means! But once I tell it to ignore it, it does.

I expect that from this point forward, my flights will get shorter, rather than longer, because I’ll be going a little faster each time…

It told me again to tighten the throttle stick. Why would it do that? How would it have any clue how stiff they are? I’m pretty happy with the current setting, although a little stiffer wouldn’t hurt. I’m definitely going to tighten up the right stick a bit. The biggest “uncommanded annoyance” is when it starts to drift backward. Now, tilting the nose down a bit to arrest that is natural at this point, but I’d like to keep it from drifting that way by default. Clearly, the center position of the right stick lets it drift backward, when I don’t intend it. If I tighten it up a bit, it should stop doing that.

Setting the camera at a fixed orientation and leaving it there does indeed help. I’ve re-programmed my brain to think of the camera image as my attitude indicator, as long as I leave it fixed. I’ve also evolved my understanding of what the sticks do. Knowing that it’s an oversimplification, I treat the left stick as my vertical speed control, and the right stick as my forward/reverse control. Works good! The actual motions are a bit more nuanced than that, but what’s happening is that my fingers are just figuring out what to do, and then after the fact, I observe what I did. Not many more flights, and I’ll be able to describe that a little better.

For a long-time fixed wing pilot like me, one way to explain the value of putting the camera in one place and leaving it alone, could be to ask the simple question, “Do you want an attitude indicator, or not?” I think that makes the point pretty clearly. I’m sure I’ll diddle with the camera from time to time, but for the most part, I’m going to leave set it and leave it where it is while I’m still in my early learning. Good advice!

More than once, I’ve found myself wishing I could hear the sound of the engines in flight. Sometimes I can…if I’m not too far away!

I was able to get it to sort of hover, after a fashion, by cheating. This was the first time that I’ve flown in Manual mode when there was non-trivial wind. I was able to keep it roughly in the same place by flying into a 10-12 mph wind. My objective now is to fly a little more slowly, but also more steadily. The wind will only get worse as the day wears on, so that was my last FPV Manual flight for today. On my first flight tomorrow, I plan to just do laps up and down the canyon, from here down to the Flag, and improving my control each time, and as I improve my control, increase my speed.

I did see 70 mph briefly, but that just sort of happened during an…excursion…followed by a recovery. It seemed to have more of a tendency to roll to the left without me telling it to on this flight. Wind, perhaps? I’m paying more attention to coordinating the turns, and that has significantly enhanced my directional control!

The Beast definitely does a major shake, rattle and roll when I hit the Brake button! I’m used to it now, but it’s still a bit surprising.

My biggest on-going screw-up isn’t in Manual mode per se. When I shift back to Normal mode for landing, I don’t automatically account for the stiffness of the left stick, and I expect it to re-center on its own. I catch it and correct it quickly, but that’s a bad habit that I need to break.

It wouldn’t do at all for me to successfully terrorize the skies in Manual, just to plop it into the sagebrush in Normal when I’m on final for landing!

:-)

TCS
2022-6-6
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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Hello there Chaosrider. Good day and thank you for sharing these information with us. Again, thank you for your support and keep flying.
2022-6-6
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straks
lvl.3
Flight distance : 1523573 ft
Austria
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DJI Stephen Posted at 6-6 19:33
Hello there Chaosrider. Good day and thank you for sharing these information with us. Again, thank you for your support and keep flying.

Question about manual mode:
In normal and sport mode all works well, so I wanted to test manual mode:
I took off in normal mode, hoovering in 3 meters height, then I switched to manual mode, but the drone did not react to altitude change (pitch), only to nick, roll and yaw.
Switching back do normal/sport mode everything is ok again.
Have I to start from ground in manual mode or is it possible to switch to manual mode in flight ?
What do I wrong ?

2022-6-6
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FlyLow
lvl.3
Switzerland
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straks Posted at 6-6 20:09
Question about manual mode:
In normal and sport mode all works well, so I wanted to test manual mode:
I took off in normal mode, hoovering in 3 meters height, then I switched to manual mode, but the drone did not react to altitude change (pitch), only to nick, roll and yaw.

You need to enable Manual mode in the Goggles under RC settings, otherwise it is locked to Sport mode. And the risk of a crash is very high if you haven't tried before in the Sim especially if you change from Normal/Sport to Manual a short distance from the ground. For me, it's better to take off right away in Manual.
2022-6-7
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straks
lvl.3
Flight distance : 1523573 ft
Austria
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FlyLow Posted at 6-7 01:33
You need to enable Manual mode in the Goggles under RC settings, otherwise it is locked to Sport mode. And the risk of a crash is very high if you haven't tried before in the Sim especially if you change from Normal/Sport to Manual a short distance from the ground. For me, it's better to take off right away in Manual.

I did the settings in the goggles (otherwise I could not have selected it).
Thank you, next time I will try to start in manual mode from ground.
2022-6-7
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FlyLow
lvl.3
Switzerland
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I also have problems sometimes, especially if I have no GPS reception at takeoff, but in ManualMode I don't need it.
There are so many restrictions on DJI consumer drones that in the end I feel like I've rented the drone and it doesn't belong to me.
2022-6-7
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Chaosrider
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1226762 ft
United States
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straks Posted at 6-6 20:09
Question about manual mode:
In normal and sport mode all works well, so I wanted to test manual mode:
I took off in normal mode, hoovering in 3 meters height, then I switched to manual mode, but the drone did not react to altitude change (pitch), only to nick, roll and yaw.

I got some good advice before switching to Manual mode, which I now pass on to you!

Get some substantial altitude before making the switch to Manual mode. I go up to 100 meters before making the switch. The reason for this is that when you go into Manual mode, the drone is no longer actively stabilized. It will move in strange directions even if you don't tell it to, and the stick control to get it to move the way you want, isn't intuitively obvious, at least not at first.

For my first flight, I very consciously planned to hit the Brake button within seconds of going into Manual mode, because I didn't know what it was going to do. That was a very successful strategy, and with each passing flight, I got a better feel for what it was going to do, and how to make it do what *I* wanted it to do.

After getting into Manual mode, mine starts to drift backward and downward, every time. Now, after five flights, I'm better at anticipating that, and catching it quickly.

I suggest you plan one flight to do that, go up high, and plan to hit the Brake to go back to normal after  just a few seconds. Then, gradually increase the time you spend in Manual mode, but keep your trigger finger on that Brake button.

The Brake button is the best friend of new Manual mode students! Use it early and often!

Use small control motions. There are lags in the system, between control input and drone motion change, that I haven't sorted out yet. If that goes on too long, hit the Brake.

I'm currently working with a model that says the left stick controls your rate of climb/descent, and the right stick controls your forward/backward motion. I doesn't really work quite that way, but I've found it to be a useful approximation.

Any Manual mode flight where you don't crash, is a successful Manual mode flight! Just keep at it, and hit that Brake button at the first sign of trouble. As you progress, you'll start hitting it less.

Let us know how it goes!

:-)

TCS
2022-6-7
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