What's everyone's Flight Routine?

Pre Flight
1. I look outside to check the weather, look at the tree tops (100ft) any wind, what's the Spanish moss doing (Natures Windsock).
2. Check UAV forecast for winds, cross check it with Air Data UAV, and Ventusky Premium (With Ventusky I check 10m, 100m, and guest speeds).
3. Look at FlightRadar24/7 and check aircraft in the area (This is what DJI want's to do with drones btw).
4. Start DJI Fly and load the map.
5. Switch to Airplane mode.
6. Mount phone into controller, attach thumb sticks.
7. Unfold antenna and Turn on the Remote.
8. Walk over to take off area, unfold drone arms, remove gimbal cover.
9. Pinch the drone with my thumb and index finger on the power button, place the drone on the ground and powering at the same time. (I try to keep it as still as possoible, I've seen IMU error when walking with the drone powered)

Take off
10a. Open phone and start screen recorder, switch back to dji fly.
10b. Connect to drone and wait for GPS.
11. Check the "I accept liability for flying in Enhanced Warning Zone" check box and confirm.
12. Pull sticks down and take off to hover (I don't use auto takeoff) and wait for the home point to be updated.
13. Bring the drone close, observe hovering, check all stick response, land if I notice any anomalies.
14. Start recording and my flight.

After Landing
15. Fold antennas and walk back to the drone.
16. Pick up and turn off, fold arms back, put gimbal cover back. (I'll fold it before powering down sometimes)
17. Turn off Remote and remove phone.
18. Unscrew thumb sticks and tuck away into remote, fold up it up.

Inside
19. Unfold and examine drone, clean lens if necessary.
20. Remove sdcard and upload footage to my pc.
21. Open phone and sync flight information, I don't check every flight log but I do sync them.
22. Remove Battery and dock to charger, charge batteries. (I have my batteries labeled 123 so I can track its use and location in the dock)
23. Charge Remote.

This is the routine I follow when flying, It's served me well so far.

UAV Forecast is close but often wrong for my area, I like to check it against other weather apps to know for sure. If UAVF say's 33ft is okay then I'll look at Ventusky and others as the speeds are often exaggerated in UAVF, when UAVF says it's okay up to 5kFT then it's a calm day to fly and same if it says it's bad at all heights then it's not going to be a flying day. I paid for AirData's web plan to see In Flight Wind and my Mini hasn't experienced anything stronger then 20.8 mph, I don't know how many people trust this information but It's yet another point of data to look to.

I have a flight pad I'll put down if it's getting dark for high vis/contrast starting point, also have one of those range boosters but I'm still undecided if it's doing anything and often don't fly with it. Flying with an S9 and one of those silicone cases, using "screen recorder - no ads" with minimalistic recording settings. I also have music pre-saved to my phone that I'll have playing offline in the background sometimes, flying to the tune of the music can be fun.

I was hoping to share this in the other thread but I thought It would be better to start another with an open question to the community. We all have different routines and procedures and I think it would be helpful for new pilots to see what flyers are doing.


None of what's shared should be looked at as sworn word, this is just what I do when flying and if you see something you could addopt into your own practices then this thread will have done it's job.

Hello and good day ABeardedItalian. Thank you for reaching out and for creating this thread. This flight routine list is well made and I hope that our valued DJI co pilots can give out there flight routines as well. Thank you and have a safe flight always.

In addition (compass check)

10c and 13a
- check on the map view if ac orientation is equal to actual heading
- yaw left and right ;check if ac arrow follows.
- fly about 10 meters fwd and check ac orientation on the "radar", left + right

cheers
JJB

I forgot checking the device battery:

1b. Check device battery, charge if necessary. (I won't fly if my phone has less then 80% battery)

ABeardedItalian Posted at 1-6 16:00
I forgot checking the device battery:

1b. Check device battery, charge if necessary. (I won't fly if my phone has less then 80% battery)

If 14 is "start recording flight
14b after landing should be "stop recording flight"
I have seen corrupted video files from not remembering to stop recording before shutting down the AC.

may we see your car checklist, the steps you take before getting in to your automobile and driving a huge vehicle very fast that is known to kill people...to the grocery store.

here's mine:


*crickets*

How I feel
Weather/Time of DayNFZ
Battery life

Setup controller
Install battery securely
Setup drone in a spot that is somewhat wide just incase it drifts, no grass, not on an active roadway
Check GPS, IMU, Compass
Check RTH height

Take-off, check obstacles and stability in hover
Mindful about hearing aircraft in the vicinity
Go

Keep batteries above 50% and land.
Take memory card out and upload to PC
Put memory back in the drone, pack up equipment

lolz @ The Saint comments. Did click on this thread thinking it's an interesting topic, but will admit to being surprised about the length of the ops detailed pre-flight description. Very informative though!

AntDX316, out of interest why land before battery is even 50% depleted? If it's due to looking after the lipo that's super-duper caring and really treating your batteries with kid gloves! Impressive. My flight routines pretty much like yours except I generally bring the drone home and land at around 20-30% remaining power.

With the MM,  it's gun it after take-off and let the MM tell me what's wrong when it reaches terminal velocity on the way down.

I know I'm going to loose it sometime,  no matter how thorough my pre-flight is.  

Don't fly a MM unless your prepared to loose it, it's flakey as hell and not worth the angst

I'd add check props and a specific number of GPS Satellites.

Planning
1. Charge batteries.
2. Check weather
3. Check map for NFZ
4. Scout maps for locations

Preparation
1. Pack gear
2. Select clothes
3. Move to location
4. Scout location for good viewing points.

Preflight
1. Unfold drone
2. Check props
3. Check gimbal
4. Check lens

Flight
1. Power up.
2. Good GPS
3. Start engines.
4. Homepoint confirmation
5. Hover for a short while
6. Go fly.

The Saint Posted at 1-6 16:26
may we see your car checklist, the steps you take before getting in to your automobile and driving a huge vehicle very fast that is known to kill people...to the grocery store.

here's mine:

1. Visually check tires.
2. Check air pressure and fill if needed.
3. Pop hood and check fluids, how's the oil.
4. Unlock driver door and get in.
5. Start Truck and wait for it to warm up.
6. Close hood after verifying no leaks or odd smells.
7. Get back in and put on seat belt.
8. Adjust mirrors if need be.
9. Adjust radio or setup Bluetooth.
10. Look in mirrors and as far around as I can look.
11. Reverse out of driveway.
12. Drive to the gas station for a pack of mints.
13. Drive home.
14. Pull up level to the house.
15. Check transmission fluid.
16. Pull Truck into driveway and park.
17. Undo seat belt and unplug phone.
18. Get out and lock the doors.
19. Admire Truck for getting the Job done safely.
20. Go inside.

In all seriousness I do check the oil before I travel anywhere and give my truck the once over, better to have good habits then bad ones.

lannes Posted at 1-6 19:37
With the MM,  it's gun it after take-off and let the MM tell me what's wrong when it reaches terminal velocity on the way down.

I know I'm going to loose it sometime,  no matter how thorough my pre-flight is.  

While I appropriate the humor this thread was about self improvement, is there something I can take away from here that could better serve me in flight.

If you can afford to lose a mini then you are very fortunate, most of us have to take better practices in hopes we don't lose our drone.

Personally I have State Farm for my drone to cover anything outside my control, if it fly's away so be it but I was smart enough to insure my drone so I don't have such a hard lesson to learn like most but that doesn't stop me from taking proper precautions anyways. I'm accepting the responsibility for flying just like I would for driving, It's up to me to follow the laws, not speed, and not do dumb things.

ABeardedItalian Posted at 1-7 06:11
1. Visually check tires.
2. Check air pressure and fill if needed.
3. Pop hood and check fluids, how's the oil.

but you're not checking tire pressures and getting temperature readings and caring for wind speeds along your route to and from the store, etc.  those are the expectation for the drone but nothing close to that expected for car travel.

anyway, I hope you get my point.

ABeardedItalian Posted at 1-7 06:23
While I appropriate the humor this thread was about self improvement, is there something I can take away from here that could better serve me in flight.

If you can afford to lose a mini then you are very fortunate, most of us have to take better practices in hopes we don't lose our drone.

I had State Farm insurance, too.  used it once so I don't have it any longer.

excellent to have it if you can get it.

ABeardedItalian Posted at 1-7 06:11
1. Visually check tires.
2. Check air pressure and fill if needed.
3. Pop hood and check fluids, how's the oil.