Hi guys. I'm Jay and I've decided on a career change and to take up flying drones. I'm focussed on becoming a commercial flyer so once this awful weather here clears off in a couple of days I'll be out starting my first flights and logs.

I'm aware of the UK drone code and will be flying well within those limits until I gain a PfCO in March hopefully.

As I'm focussed on becoming qualified for commercial flying in a little less than 11 weeks I was hoping the community could point me to manouevres to learn and a rough pathway to practice. ie: start with basic controls and familarity, progress to sqaure loops, circular loops, figure 8 etc. I know many of these things can be tricky but I have Asperger focus and 3 batteries so - avoidance of crashes permitting - I hope to be able to spend up to an hour or so each outing.

I'll be keeping a video record of my progress which I'll eventually upload to Youtube (hopefully with no crashes!!).

All advice and tips welcomed. I'm sure I'll become a regular part of this forum from now on

PS: Apologies if this in wrong place, I'm still orientating myself with the forum layouts. My drone is a Phantom 4 Pro.

You definitely have the right drone for your wishes.  Good luck!

Welcome to the forum! The folks here are really helpful, so feel free to come back anytime with questions. The things you mentioned, figure 8s etc, will be good to get your movements smooth. I suggest you do those maneuvers in a big open field with no trees or other obstacles to crash into.  
The Phantom 4 Pro is a great starter drone depending on what you plan to do commercially.

Thanks. I live on the East Anglian fens so my obvious initial choice commercially is crop surveying for example. But as funds allow I'd like to get into thermal imaging and maybe search and rescue.

Of course, the best job for a new company is the one that's paying so this year I should imagine I'll fall back into some of my previous work and do crowd shots at events, weddings, barmitzphahs, whatever it takes to start earning and build to where I would like to be. I also have many grassroots music connections so I see this year potential music videos. And then there's my general interest in photography.

We have the Amazon Drone centre here in Cambridge so a job with them further down the road is also a possibility.

Hi Jay, welcome to join the Phantom family. A good beginning is half the battle. Come on! I'll look forward your videos.

Hi Jay, this is pretty handy for learning what's required for your flight test: https://www.heliguy.com/blog/201 ... est-a-visual-guide/

What kind of work are you looking to specialise in?

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-9 02:10
Hi Jay, this is pretty handy for learning what's required for your flight test: https://www.heliguy.com/blog/2017/06/14/heliguys-flight-test-a-visual-guide/

What kind of work are you looking to specialise in?

Thanks for that link, I shall look at that soon.

I'd like to move towards the heavier drones in due course as we have Amazon Drone here in Cambridge, the first UK drone test flight for Amazon was completed here for example.  But I also like the idea of S&R and thermal image surveying.

I am a 'prosumer' photographer for some festivals and events I work at so of course in the short term I'll be trying to leverage some contacts to do site build flyovers etc.

To be perfectly honest at this time I am open to future direction. The key for now will be using the P4P for as much as I possibly can whilst building up flight hours and videos.

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-9 04:48
Thanks for that link, I shall look at that soon.

I'd like to move towards the heavier drones in due course as we have Amazon Drone here in Cambridge, the first UK drone test flight for Amazon was completed here for example.  But I also like the idea of S&R and thermal image surveying.

Sounds like you're going to be pretty busy. There are plenty of different areas you can get into, especially if you're flexible with work.

Where are you planning on doing your PfCO?

Good luck with everything and keep us updated with how you're getting on.

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-9 05:46
Sounds like you're going to be pretty busy. There are plenty of different areas you can get into, especially if you're flexible with work.

Where are you planning on doing your PfCO?

I'm currently in talks with UAV-Air to do the PfCO in Huntingdon in March. Funding is a bit of an issue for me at the moment so they are applying to register as a learning provider with the government so they can receive 'Advanced Learner Loans'. Because they offer the proqual level 3 & 4 they may be the only NQE that could qualify at the moment for ALL's

I've looked at a few others and UAVA may not be the cheapest but they seem to be solidly reviewed and trusted. I'll get an update on Friday as to where they are with the government application.

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-9 05:56
I'm currently in talks with UAV-Air to do the PfCO in Huntingdon in March. Funding is a bit of an issue for me at the moment so they are applying to register as a learning provider with the government so they can receive 'Advanced Learner Loans'. Because they offer the proqual level 3 & 4 they may be the only NQE that could qualify at the moment for ALL's

I've looked at a few others and UAVA may not be the cheapest but they seem to be solidly reviewed and trusted. I'll get an update on Friday as to where they are with the government application.

That's really interesting, I haven't heard of it before.

If it doesn't go through with UAV-Air, Heliguy are great and I'd 100% recommend them. I think they do finance as well (they do on drones anyway).

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-9 07:22
That's really interesting, I haven't heard of it before.

If it doesn't go through with UAV-Air, Heliguy are great and I'd 100% recommend them. I think they do finance as well (they do on drones anyway).

Haven't heard of the ProQual? It's just a supplementary qualification to show that PfCO is ata level 3, and then a level 4 on completion of your OM. It helps show that what we'd do as commercial flyers has been trained at at least A level standards. No extra charge for it, it's just a nice bonus

Welcome!
I have found that doing all kinds of patterns that require use of both sticks simultaneously help in learning to fly your bird.  Patterns like the figure 8 are the best in my opinion, but rectangles and squares are good too.  However, one of the most difficult is a circle, while their are programed flight modes that will do a circle for you, I think it's best that you can do one on your own.  After all if you are doing this for money and suddenly the flight mode does not work right you best be able to do one manually or you could loose the job.  Lastly, I'd also start with the pattern work at a constant altitude and after you feel you have mastered that then add in changes in elevation.
Good luck!

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-10 04:51
Haven't heard of the ProQual? It's just a supplementary qualification to show that PfCO is ata level 3, and then a level 4 on completion of your OM. It helps show that what we'd do as commercial flyers has been trained at at least A level standards. No extra charge for it, it's just a nice bonus

Sorry, I meant I haven't heard of the loan!

If it's accepted I expect there will be an even bigger boom in commercial operators.

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-10 06:09
Sorry, I meant I haven't heard of the loan!

If it's accepted I expect there will be an even bigger boom in commercial operators.

Ahh, got ya

https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-10 06:09
Sorry, I meant I haven't heard of the loan!

If it's accepted I expect there will be an even bigger boom in commercial operators.

Thanks I was going to ask regarding figure 8's and whether or not they should be done on a horizontal plane or a vertical one.

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-10 06:33
Thanks  I was going to ask regarding figure 8's and whether or not they should be done on a horizontal plane or a vertical one.

Horizontal is all you need but it won't hurt to learn both!

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-10 04:51
Haven't heard of the ProQual? It's just a supplementary qualification to show that PfCO is ata level 3, and then a level 4 on completion of your OM. It helps show that what we'd do as commercial flyers has been trained at at least A level standards. No extra charge for it, it's just a nice bonus

How did you get on with booking your PfCO?

Drone-Mike Posted at 2018-1-15 05:41
How did you get on with booking your PfCO?

I'm still waiting for the to come back to me. Phantom Flight School have also said they'll look into qualifying for it. Gaining approval as a learning provider isn't an overnight process though I'm also not sure how long it takes exactly. If I've not heard back from UAVA by Wednesday I will contact them again.

UAVAir came back to me saying they're still deciding as it takes time and money to become approved. Phantom Flight School say they don't qualify due to the PfCO being a professional competency qualification.

Cheapest at the moment is to do it all online which I do not favour as you don't get to bounce things off tutors or classmates. That brings me to Heliguy who are seemingly the cheapest class based learning (unless their quoted website price is excluding VAT in which case they become one of the more expensive again) but even with them there's extra costs. 3 nights accommodation, travel there and back, then the CAA fee which is an extra and not included.

I'm getting really frustrated now because there's nowhere I can go practice legitimately and the costs of getting professional approval are too high. I might just send the drone back and cancel the finance agreement at this rate

Welcome to the forum and wishing you every success after gaining your PfCO.

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-10 06:32
Ahh, got ya

https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan

That made me smile, that covers the 14 - 19 year old age group for apprentice training ? Most of us here would not qualify :-)

What's stopping you practicing, there must be plenty open spaces there you could fly, and if you stick to drone code you're covered ?

Aardvark Posted at 2018-1-19 07:14
That made me smile, that cover the 14 - 19 year old age group for apprentice training ? Most of us here would not qualify :-)

What's stopping you practicing, there must be plenty open spaces there you could fly, and if you stick to drone code you're covered ?

AAL's are available to people of any age ;) Not just the youngsters.

I'm trying to be legit and decent about flying. I live in a no fly area so need to travel despite there being a huge fen across the road from me because it's in the airports flight path (airport is less than 2 miles away). All open spaces are no fly zones as councils here have blanket banned it and I can't find someone who will let me practice on their land.

If I'd have known it would be this hard to find somewhere to fly legitimately I don't think I'd have bothered

Hazy Jay Posted at 2018-1-19 07:18
AAL's are available to people of any age ;) Not just the youngsters.

I'm trying to be legit and decent about flying. I live in a no fly area so need to travel despite there being a huge fen across the road from me because it's in the airports flight path (airport is less than 2 miles away). All open spaces are no fly zones as councils here have blanket banned it and I can't find someone who will let me practice on their land.

No nice farmers you could talk to in the passing, you get your arial images, and if they wanted you could give them a nice shot of their farm as a non commercial gesture of good will :-)

Aardvark Posted at 2018-1-19 07:26
No nice farmers you could talk to in the passing, you get your areal images, and if they wanted you could give them a nice shot of their farm as a non commercial gesture of good will :-)

I tried that tack. I know a farmer who used to hold a festival on his site, asked him and he said he had a drone club ask a year ago and they got refused because of the flight path. I'm gonna have to go out knocking doors I think, but the problem is all farms round here are prime agricultural land and always in use. Hardly a fallow field to be seen for miles. Which is really annoying because all I need is a small field to practice various aspects of controlling the craft.
It appears that no matter who you do your course with none of them mention any flight time as part of the course so it's not like I can shove it all on my credit card and 'go hard or go home' because I need the flight time before even getting to class. With no additional flight guidance other than the books, maps, charts etc required there's no point signing up to anything else I can't afford as I'd fail the practical flight assessment.

So frustrated right now

Having said flying doesn't seem to be included in most courses I have found this company who I need to do some digging on.

http://commercialdronetraining.co.uk/

Not sure about the situation in the UK, but my recommendation would be to not spend money on flight training at all. Even here in the US, drone flight training is still a fledgling, unregulated and unsupervised industry and there will certainly be a lot of ripoff out there. It sounds like a similar situation in the UK - difficult to research and find good instructional programs?

Also, DJI flight controllers, especially in GPS mode, have so much autonomous ability that their copters like the P4P are about the easiest aircraft to learn how to fly on your own. They offer enough assistance that you virtually don't need instruction.

Second, I strongly suggest learning to fly FPV also. Line-of-sight is probably the most difficult skill to master in all of aviation and it's probably the least useful for doing actual aerial videography/photography. You have to learn all the different orientations and it's a huge investment of time and effort. Furthermore, you need FPV to be able to frame a shot, period. There's just no way to do that trying to fly the machine line-of-sight. If you have to do an approaching shot, or do an orbit manually, and, well.. you get the idea . FPV is mandatory for being able to do that. It's also a heck of a lot more fun.

And again, fortunately DJI copters are great for learning FPV. The Lightbridge HD downlink on the P4P with, say, the DJI goggles (best combo IMO), is spectacular and gives you the real-time perspective of the camera itself. Controlling a P4P in GPS mode is, fortunately, not like trying to fly a racing drone .

FPV is much easier to learn than line-of-sight, so you can get up and running a lot quicker. I'm not saying don't learn line-of-sight, because you'll still need it. But you'll need FPV also. My .02.....

The thing is, fledgling industry or not, I cannot earn money for my work if not approved by the CAA. Fortunately they have a list of approved trainers.

Have you any info as to what is required in the flight tests?

Ah, understood.... So it sounds like the situation is more stringent there. Well in any case, I still suggest learning FPV. If you have any full-scale/manned aircraft time that helps some, but a P4P is docile enough that you can learn it just watching the view on the tablet (assuming you can see the thing in daylight at all ). I taught myself FPV some years ago on my old Phantom 1 with a makeshift 5.8ghz analog video downlink using a cam velcroed to it. I think I still have it in my closet somewhere

There's this from another company that shows some of what is involved.
https://www.heliguy.com/blog/201 ... est-a-visual-guide/

I'd definitely recommend Heliguy for commercial drone training if you're interested in becoming a full-time pilot.

A couple of things to keep in mind are:

• Retests - what happens if you need to retake the theory and/or practical - do you have to pay again?
• Flight test - where can you take the practical part of the exam?
• Ops manual advice - it takes a little while to get this document right - make sure you're not going to be charged a load of times for each piece of advice you get or each revision.
  

I've heard a few horror stories from friends who have gone with various other providers.

Best of luck either way - Let us know how you get on!