I just ran across this JPG of flight controls and thought it might help some of the newbies in the forum.  I flew fighters in the USAF so the control nomenclature is very similar...if you can remember a software program called Flight Simulator and ever flew any of the fighters, it's pretty much the same.  In fighters (older ones, that is), you have throttles on the left and a stick between your legs (to the right of the throttles)...just like the Spark has left and right controls.  In fighters, the stick controls pitch by pulling and pushing...it controls roll by moving left or right.  Pitch is controlled with Spark's right stick/control by moving it forward and aft which actually moves the drone forward or aft (versus up or down like in fighters).  Moving the Spark's right stick/control left or right is called roll which equates to sideways/lateral movement (unlike the fighter which actually rolls).  Regarding Spark's left stick/control, moving forward and aft is called throttle movement and creates upward or downward movement of the drone (unlike in fighters where throttle movement is just adding or reducing power from the engine(s)).  Think of the Spark throttle movement as increasing or decreasing power which increases or decreases lift...so the Spark goes up or down. Yaw in fighters is induced with rudder pedals which we don't have.  In the case of the Spark, the left stick/control is moved left or right to get the drone to turn (yaw) left or right...rotating about the yaw/vertical axis of the drone.  And these are the default controls in the Spark settings.  You can modify them other ways, but these are the standards for most all drones I've flown.  The diagram definitions are very helpful in trying to remember which control does what.  

Hi, thanks for the sharing.

Movement wise, I always saw the drone reacting like a video game character in a first person shooter.  Strafing forward or sideways with the right stick.  Turning left or right with the left stick and adjusting height (between prone, kneeling, and standing).  Pitching and rolling of the drone's frame is incidental to how the drone is moving about in the video game displayed by the DJI Go app,...I mean the sky displayed by the app.

Thinking of it like a helicopter with those controls drove me nuts as I kept wanting to adjust throttle to maintain altitude when I pitched forward.  And adding throttle for the steep flare to a hover after diving across a field in sport mode.  Which adding throttle really just caused it to climb.  I wish it had variable pitch rotors and no autopilot.  Rate mode all the way.

Always hard if you are used to other settings.
Still I prefer to stick to the 'default' mode and get used to it.

good explanation!

Good info for new pilots   

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-20 23:50
Movement wise, I always saw the drone reacting like a video game character in a first person shooter.  Strafing forward or sideways with the right stick.  Turning left or right with the left stick and adjusting height (between prone, kneeling, and standing).  Pitching and rolling of the drone's frame is incidental to how the drone is moving about in the video game displayed by the DJI Go app,...I mean the sky displayed by the app.

Thinking of it like a helicopter with those controls drove me nuts as I kept wanting to adjust throttle to maintain altitude when I pitched forward.  And adding throttle for the steep flare to a hover after diving across a field in sport mode.  Which adding throttle really just caused it to climb.  I wish it had variable pitch rotors and no autopilot.  Rate mode all the way.

I've found myself doing this in Sport mode too. Leftover reflexes from flying my Walkera fixed pitch helis!

thanks for sharing

Firehawk989 Posted at 2018-3-21 09:26
I've found myself doing this in Sport mode too. Leftover reflexes from flying my Walkera fixed pitch helis!

I remember those Walkeras.  I learned RC flying on a Align Trex 450 then switched to airplanes.  I found helicopters easier to learn since you could always stop in a tail in hover to gather your thoughts.  The airplanes never stop so you are committed for the flight.  Sink or swim.

Just out of curiosity - is that a vintage DJI controller to an old Phantom?

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-21 15:12
I remember those Walkeras.  I learned RC flying on a Align Trex 450 then switched to airplanes.  I found helicopters easier to learn since you could always stop in a tail in hover to gather your thoughts.  The airplanes never stop so you are committed for the flight.  Sink or swim.

Literally sink or swim if you're flying a float plane! Although both those I had were foam, so they couldn't really sink. Still keep my Icon A5 around for when the weather is good though!

My favorite heli was the UFlyS once I added the Bell-Hiller flybar mix mod. Proper shaft driven tail rotor, fast, and very precise to fly with the BH mod. I still have it but haven't flown it in a long time because spare parts are basically non-existant now. Unfortunately I never made the jump to larger CP helis, they always freaked me out a bit.

Firehawk989 Posted at 2018-3-21 15:34
Literally sink or swim if you're flying a float plane!  Although both those I had were foam, so they couldn't really sink. Still keep my Icon A5 around for when the weather is good though!

My favorite heli was the UFlyS once I added the Bell-Hiller flybar mix mod. Proper shaft driven tail rotor, fast, and very precise to fly with the BH mod. I still have it but haven't flown it in a long time because spare parts are basically non-existant now. Unfortunately I never made the jump to larger CP helis, they always freaked me out a bit.

The Icon A5 sounds cool to fly off water.  I looked at the real one at Oshkosh a few years ago and they had a real slick display.  I liked their angle of attack indicator theory as a safety measure.

I spent a week just trying to hover right in front of me.  Trying to keep it within a four foot area and not bobbing up and down more than a few feet.  Slowly tightened up the hover.  Hence, my initial thought on newbies losing their Spark by flying the drone over lakes thousands of feet from them, being, "Serves ya right!"

Eleven years ago:

I have mine set up reversed from this.  I mean, the sticks do the same thing... just the left and right are flipped.  I don't know if it is because I am left handed, but it feels more comfortable.  The diagram you posted seems very helpful though!  Thanks for sharing!

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-21 17:27
The Icon A5 sounds cool to fly off water.  I looked at the real one at Oshkosh a few years ago and they had a real slick display.  I liked their angle of attack indicator theory as a safety measure.

I spent a week just trying to hover right in front of me.  Trying to keep it within a four foot area and not bobbing up and down more than a few feet.  Slowly tightened up the hover.  Hence, my initial thought on newbies losing their Spark by flying the drone over lakes thousands of feet from them, being, "Serves ya right!"

Yea the A5 is a really neat plane. The handling on water once you get the hull planing makes it almost as much fun to scoot around on the water as it is to fly it! Takeoffs and landings are super easy as well, so touch-and-goes are a lot of fun. Also if you nose it in on landing due to pilot error or a wind gust or something, worst-case it flips over and you have to wait for it to blow back to shore or go get it with the retrieval boat. I miscalculated a low loop once and nosed it right into the water at a pretty good speed; no damage!

Nice TRex! Here's a shot of my UFly in its prime, ~8 years ago:

Firehawk989 Posted at 2018-3-22 09:53
Yea the A5 is a really neat plane. The handling on water once you get the hull planing makes it almost as much fun to scoot around on the water as it is to fly it! Takeoffs and landings are super easy as well, so touch-and-goes are a lot of fun. Also if you nose it in on landing due to pilot error or a wind gust or something, worst-case it flips over and you have to wait for it to blow back to shore or go get it with the retrieval boat. I miscalculated a low loop once and nosed it right into the water at a pretty good speed; no damage!

Nice TRex! Here's a shot of my UFly in its prime, ~8 years ago:

The ability to crash into it will little damage seems like a plus for over water flights.  I will have to look into it.  I have three kayaks and a neighbor with a private lake/large pond so,...

See if you can find the Parkzone version. Mine is the hobbyking version which is smaller and has poorly designed/non-scale sponsons. It also had horribly ugly stickers that I had to remove so I could apply the proper paint scheme. Once I sorted out the quirks though it became a great little plane!

My post got usurped!!!

I've lost control of my post on controls.

Firehawk989 Posted at 2018-3-22 15:55

Nice.   Sounds like it eats a lot of water with the prop.  Like mine sound cutting through the tall grass.  The flat turns on the water with rudder and opposite aileron look fun.  I drift my piper cub models around in tight turns like that so they are flat but sliding around in the sky.  The lake location looks perfect with the still water.  The background makes it look like Spock's home planet Vulcan.  I have a small red baron triplane, a gentle lady glider, and a 1/4 scale cub, to build but I will look into some A5 kits.  The plane just looks cool.  I never got pictures of it at Oshkosh but I sat in the A5's mockup cockpit.

This is like a few acres of grass lake:

Rustic17 Posted at 2018-3-22 15:59
My post got usurped!!!

It is because your post had no discussion of water.  Spark related items have to be flying over water, into water, or about water  

But if you have the fire power as my little Spark modified to carry an avenger does,...no need of water.   I just need these reloaded for the next anti geese/duck mission:

Hey...we're back into something I can contribute to!!!  With one of these I defended the USA...with the other I defend my home...sadly, I don't think my Spark is up to defending much of anything.

Hey, we're back into a thread I can contribute to...with one of these I defended the USA...with the other I defend my home...sadly, I don't think my Spark is up to defending much of anything.      The watch is just for size comparison...

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-3-22 20:27
Nice.   Sounds like it eats a lot of water with the prop.  Like mine sound cutting through the tall grass.  The flat turns on the water with rudder and opposite aileron look fun.  I drift my piper cub models around in tight turns like that so they are flat but sliding around in the sky.  The lake location looks perfect with the still water.  The background makes it look like Spock's home planet Vulcan.  I have a small red baron triplane, a gentle lady glider, and a 1/4 scale cub, to build but I will look into some A5 kits.  The plane just looks cool.  I never got pictures of it at Oshkosh but I sat in the A5's mockup cockpit.

This is like a few acres of grass lake:

Yea, the water getting blasted into the prop is from the poorly designed sponsons. I need to chop them up and rebuild them in the correct scale shape and then they should work properly and stop shooting water into the prop.

Great flying field you have there!

Rustic17 Posted at 2018-3-22 16:00
I've lost control of my post on controls.

Sorry to hijack the thread, we can take this discussion elsewhere if you want.

Am I correct in assuming that from your comments about being a pilot, and from that massive shell you posted, and your avatar that you were an A10 pilot?

Yes, I was...flew them off and on for a total of 7 years...two assignments to Myrtle Beach and one to Tucson.  With Spark I'm limited to 400' for about 13 minutes...we flew a lot of missions in the A-10 for two hours below 300'.

So cool! The A10 is an amazing aircraft. Tourists on the beach must've had some brown pants with you guys screaming over them at 300' or less!

We couldn't fly down the beach, obviously, but takeoff leg took us across it perpendicularly.  We had a four state flying area where we could fly low.  We started out as a newbie qualified to fly no lower than 500'.  Then, we subsequently got checked out/certified to fly 300' to 500' block altitude and finally 100' to 300' block altitude.  We had to avoid populated areas when flying that low...and we had red circles plotted on the map to avoid farmers whose chickens stopped laying eggs after a previous low flyover and their complaint to their congressman.

Ha! Brings new meaning to the term "scrambled eggs!"

Rustic17 Posted at 2018-3-23 10:44
We couldn't fly down the beach, obviously, but takeoff leg took us across it perpendicularly.  We had a four state flying area where we could fly low.  We started out as a newbie qualified to fly no lower than 500'.  Then, we subsequently got checked out/certified to fly 300' to 500' block altitude and finally 100' to 300' block altitude.  We had to avoid populated areas when flying that low...and we had red circles plotted on the map to avoid farmers whose chickens stopped laying eggs after a previous low flyover and their complaint to their congressman.

How do you not have a set of DJI Googles RE and a Mavic Pro.  You could do that low level stuff right in the back yard.  Quickly get to doing what these guys do with flight at 1:00 into the video.

Very cool...