Hi, newbie here! I have a P3 Standard, and have little to no experience flying anything. I'm trying to get more confident (as I only have 16 minutes of logged flight time). Are there any exercises/practices to increase my flying skill and confidence in the air?

Still crazy to me to be flying the P3 when I can't even see it.

Any help is much appreciated!

"Still crazy to me to be flying the P3 when I can't even see it."

It's crazy to the FAA as well.  How will you avoid collisions if you can't see it?

Personally, I bought a cheap micro drone (Hubsan X4) & practiced with that indoors & out.  Much harder to fly but makes the Phantom a piece of cake even without GPS.  It's "interesting" on a windy day & could teach you the skills needed to recover you Phantom if it goes mental.

I would think a "cheap" drone like the Syma X8C would be a decent training tool for the Phantom 3, since its size is similar and presumably the flight characteristics are comparable.  I have no experience with actually flying either the Syma or Phantom 3 though, so hopefully others will chime in.

pfalcon Posted at 2016-1-13 12:41
I would think a "cheap" drone like the Syma X8C would be a decent training tool for the Phantom 3, s ...

There is a flight simulator built into the DJI Go app you can use.  

Yes the flight simulator works perfect!

You can create situations and test what the drone is doing.

For example test:
- RTH within & without 20m of the home point
- all the F-mod functions (waypoints/home lock etc....)
- of course flying (bring him back)
- test distance (on the map)

Etc....

(You can do it dry, warm and drinking a nice glass wine)


Enjoy flying

For unlimited virtual fun you can get RealFlight Drone Simulator

I will

The drones in my current simulator is very limited but still awesome.

Here's an example on FPV training.
I chased my own ghost, preparing to buy a Tiger Moth model airplane and it was A LOT of fun!
Real Flight is more expensive but is supposed to have even better and more realistic physics.

SHamers Posted at 2016-1-14 04:47
Yes the flight simulator works perfect!

You can create situations and test what the drone is doing. ...

Thanks for the info. I didn't know the simulator did all of the available functions. I went out near my house yesterday and shot a bit of video and did some rough editing. It was good practice though!

[RCG]Balthazar Posted at 2016-1-14 06:03
For unlimited virtual fun you can get RealFlight Drone Simulator

I will

Wow! Looks like a lot of fun. As I replied to another commenter - I went out yesterday for a test flight and did some quick editing. I posted the video above.

looks nice and good weather.....again rain in NL

cdwilson0302 Posted at 2016-1-14 15:32
Wow! Looks like a lot of fun. As I replied to another commenter - I went out yesterday for a test  ...

That is not bad at all for an early training flight!
You are going to get the hang of this real quick

SHamers Posted at 2016-1-14 22:38
looks nice and good weather.....again rain in NL

Typical West Texas weather. Gets a little boring sometimes... Thanks though!

[RCG]Balthazar Posted at 2016-1-15 05:10
That is not bad at all for an early training flight!
You are going to get the hang of this real qu ...

Thanks! I suppose I better learn how to fly in ATTI mode and not just spoil myself in GPS mode...

cdwilson0302 Posted at 2016-1-15 08:52
Thanks! I suppose I better learn how to fly in ATTI mode and not just spoil myself in GPS mode...

Good idea, but don't try it flying over water until you get much better at it.

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-15 07:04
Good idea, but don't try it flying over water until you get much better at it.

Just going to stick to a football field for now!