I lose sight of the bird at 350 Ft and takes me about 1 minute to regain visual. I look away for a second, look back and I lose sight of it again. In distance, once it is past about 300 Ft plus the 350 Ft Altitude. I mean there is now way you can "not lose sight of it"

I agree. My 64 year old eyes have a lot of trouble picking up my P3 at even the distances you mentioned. I do know generally where the drone is and am very mindful of any other objects in that area. Birds always get the heart pumping a little quicker. I'm always glad when I find it after scanning the sky.

I agree it disappears very quickly. If it didn't have a camera attached with a live stream I am sure I would be more likely to keep it within sight line. I have found that if I use the visual ques from the live view along with being able to see it or at least remember which direction I last spotted it, I am able to bring it back within sight line. Almost all of my flights are straight out and straight back, once you become disoriented bad things can happen quickly.

well, that's one of the safety measures. However you can keep flying forward using FPV on a screen If you need or want so

I found myself flying more and more in the evening and late night when just flying for fun vs photos.

The visibility with the LEDs is very good and can keep an eye quite far way,
better and easier than daytime for sure!

And if you are really up for a challenge fly by only looking at the map.  Just make sure you are higher than any obstacals in the area.

You really have to train yourself to use the FPV and the GPS mapping when flying.  Other have tried to paint their bird to see it better, but that does not help all that much when you are far away.

Well in traditional RC flying, if you loose sight of your model you will generally crash and often loose your model.

I am 62 and I fly a lot of different RC models, about 40 of them. 6 multi rotors among them, the P3P is the smallest.

My rule is to keep all RC models in sight at all times, either by me or a safety pilot. This limits how far away I fly. Now with some of my bigger models like my 10' wing span gliders they can be kept in sight about 4000'. If the weather is good I can see my P3P 2000' away, so that is my limit how far away I fly it.

I fly a few jet models that fly well over 100mph and I have crashed one because I looked down to make sure I hit the right button on the TX to lower the gear, my bad, never take your eye of any RC model. The jet was upside down when I looked back up and descending fast, the wind was turbulent and some jets are very unstable, I pulled up but that was down so...

I have crashed lots of models, especially helicopters, but never my P3P or any other stabilized MR they stay upright by themselves and will hold attitude and altitude so in many ways they are the safest of all model RC craft. So it is ridicules to me how many crashes and fly aways we have with the MRs. They are so easy to fly and keep in sight.

So keep it safe and always have a safety pilot if you have to fly FPV. It is also against FAA rules to fly w/o RC craft in sight in the USA. You agreed to fly by those rules when you got your FAA reg number for your RC model.

Having said all this. It does happen that you loose eye contact with any RC model, this is why it is so important that you stay within your eyesight capabilities and skill level flying any model RC aircraft and fly in safe areas. The P3P does have some great tools to get you back in control and sight, but don't depend on them.

Boblanglois52 Posted at 2016-4-12 21:05
I agree. My 64 year old eyes have a lot of trouble picking up my P3 at even the distances you mentio ...

Totally agree. I feel I'm a responsible "pilot" but it is near impossible to keep tack of the telemetry screen and the bird at the same time. My point the post is that I have read a lot of posts within threads that sort of say that "responsible" pilots keep visual on the bird. No way Jose

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-12 21:33
well, that's one of the safety measures. However you can keep flying forward using FPV on a screen I ...

That's what I end up doing because I like to take it out a good bit. I always have a pretty good idea of the general location of the bird. Just no visual. I actually see it better at night, although I have found that night flying isn't too much fun because of the low visuals on the screen.

Westside Osprey Posted at 2016-4-12 22:31
Well in traditional RC flying, if you loose sight of your model you will generally crash and often l ...

Cool back story. I have a friend who used to build and fly the RC planes and he gives me a lot of helpful tips.

I can usually figure out the general direction to the Phantom by sound alone.  And the map or radar screen helps.  If the app crashes and all else fails,  I just hit the RTH button.  Has not failed me yet.

That responsible pilot stuff depends on where you're flying.  If you're flying in Manhattan, it's probably a good idea to keep eyes on your aircraft for a lot of good reasons.  But where I live, there's nothing out there.  No people or buildings.  If I crash, I destroy my drone but I'm not going to injure anyone or damage property.

And I lose my drone when it's 200 feet away if it's against patch clouds.  I can find it quick but always scares me when I look back up and it's not where I thought it was.

At least I don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I can look up and down and back up and where did my P3 go. Hahaha, but yes, after listening and then flying back towards me or close by I can hear and see it again. I only look up at it or follow it when it's close, once it takes I off, I look at my FPV on my mini iPad.

golf_sierra@lib Posted at 2016-4-12 13:53
Would it be possible to use the DJI app with Google Glass?

Yes, an augmented reality glass is the next step in remote control copters. No more tablet or smartphone screen  where you have to take your eyes off your copter to look at it. It's all in front of you.

Flytron Strobons powered by a 1S Lipo. Mounting them can be a little fiddly, but there's nothing better to help you re-acquire visual contact with your drone than a high intensity flashing beacon.

Has anyone been successful in painting their phantom? I know you can get wraps and decals, but I enjoy custom painting my stuff, and I figured that any paint on the phantom during a cloudy day will help me see it better...

golf_sierra@lib Posted at 2016-4-12 13:08
Has somebody tried to mount a smoke generator to a Phantom?
I assume that in case you lost sight on  ...

Sounds like a cool idea and someone should give it a try.  However, I suspect the airflow from the props of a MR will dissipate it too much.  Anyone tried it???

MrPinaColada Posted at 2016-4-12 17:37
Has anyone been successful in painting their phantom? I know you can get wraps and decals, but I enj ...

Painting does very little, only in certain light will it make a difference.  Most of the time, you're looking at nothing but a silhouette - a dark speck in a white, grey,  or blue sky, at best.

I can actually see it pretty far away if the conditions are right, granted it may only be  a small gray speck in the sky. If I do loose visual I almost always know where I am and start heading back tell I regain sight of it. I have also found myself using the map to know exactly where I am at all times. I have my c1 button set up to bring up the map view full screen and that helps with knowing the Phantoms heading to bring it back until I can regain visual.

MrPinaColada Posted at 2016-4-12 12:37
Has anyone been successful in painting their phantom? I know you can get wraps and decals, but I enj ...

I bought my P3P from a good friend a fellow pilot when I got it. He had painted it with a special paint made for it. I forget the name but its for plastics and what not. Haven't been able to find it since looks great though, a black drone is much easier to spot against the clouds

Don't forget about the different modes that make it a lot easier to fly

Home lock and course lock are awsome

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-13 01:49
That's what I end up doing because I like to take it out a good bit. I always have a pretty good i ...

I like night flying, the only thing that is confusing is the AC position in the air. when you watch the drone for 30-40 seconds you will get the illusion that it flips over... or maybe i'm the only one who gets this kind of visual illusion.  Here are couple of shots from my night flights

As a human being, your depth perception is maybe only 200m out maximum. Which means if you fly out further than that, it gets dicey especially for the uninitiated in RC stuff.

Doubly important why you need drones like the phantom with reliable onboard compasses, GPS, FPV and IMUs, so that you can guide the bird back manually using all FPV based controls while the bird is essentially out of sight of you past 200m.

If you must be 'within sight', it means you should only fly really close to yourself in a 200m radius or so. If you're flying far, you can't reasonably claim you are in control without any onboard sensors. Your eyes simply will not be able to make out direction, pitch, yaw, etc very very far out at a distance.

Have you been to RC flight fields? They are not that big. They're often located out in the open in deserted areas, but where people fly, are often in a relatively small area. Its because they can't control or see what is going on with their RC copter or jet after a certain distance. So they don't even bother playing it that far. Hence the fields are not huge.

Another problem with these symmetrical quadcopters is that at a distance you really don't know which direction is front unless you start commanding it to move a certain direction. But that is assuming your eyes can make out the movement, which gets harder and harder the further out you are. Even with color coding or lights showing front/back, its again irrelavant at a distance.

So I would argue, to fly safe past 200m or so, you NEED relatively sophisticated and intelligent drones like the phantom that has GPS, live FPV camera feed, compass, IMUs and some autonomous RTH functions. Without those, I dont' think anyone can claim to be able to fly safely out a certain distance.

The background makes a big difference. The Phantom is white and when the sky is bright or a slight overcast it is going to blend in. I also lose sight of mine if I take my eyes off of it for a minimal amount of time. I have to depend on the the map and compass to grab some orientation. I find Homelock very helpful in those moments.

Paint it blaze orange....

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-13 11:00
I like night flying, the only thing that is confusing is the AC position in the air. when you watc ...

Dang, these are nice! I could see where the night flying would be fun in these very lit conditions. I have only tried near the house where the lighting was poor. Did you adjust you camera settings manually or was it auto?

I've not had much opportunity to fly too far.  The field adjacent to my yard is several hundred yards across, and when I am that far out, plus up to the height limit, I sometimes lose sight of it when I glance down at the controller.  Thanks to FPV, I can point it back at my house and fly toward me until it comes back into view.  I have flown with and without prop guards, and I find that the guards make it much more visible.

And, DJI-Tim, those are some fantastic night shots.  Of course, here in USA we are not 'supposed' to fly at night.

Guys, have you ever thought about this, you can see a crow bloody miles away, but not your drone?  Well I painted my matt black - all of it, legs, props,, the lot, and now I can see it much easier against a bright background, just like a crow.

DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-4-12 21:00
I like night flying, the only thing that is confusing is the AC position in the air. when you watc ...

Those are really nice pics, you shared here.
Thanks for letting us peek into your world...

RedHotPoker

G_MEZ_G Posted at 2016-4-13 20:12
Dang, these are nice! I could see where the night flying would be fun in these very lit conditions ...

I was shooting in auto AEB  (5 shots) then merged them together on my computer.

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-4-19 12:59
Those are really nice pics, you shared here.
Thanks for letting us peek into your world...

Thank you Poker!

golf_sierra@lib Posted at 2016-4-19 05:16
Somebody did a few years ago:

I really wanted to do something like this, but the idea of strapping a burning incendiary on the airframe didn't seem too bright.  I came up with the idea of suspending the smoke emitter a foot or two below the aircraft on a flexible cable so it didn't interfere with takeoff and landing.

To trigger the device, I would tap into the arm LED lights so it can be ignited from the ground.  I'm not sure the voltage for the lights would be enough to trigger smoke by themselves, but it could be rigged to switch a larger voltage to initiate smoke.  The biggest concern for me is whether the downdraft is too strong and overly disrupts the stream.  I've towed a large flag under the Phantom in the past without any problems, so I'm hoping a smoke canister would be the same.  It would be a nice combination flying them together.  For what it's worth, the flag makes it very visible at distance, it is about 2 meters long.

That's the only example of a video I've found showing a 'copter carrying smoke,  Shame they didn't show it moving forward at speed, I want to see if the smoke plume breaks up or stays together.

when you lose visual, click the map in the bottom left of the djigo app, then point the red arrow back to the home point, until you get visual of the drone.