Hi,
I just got my dji p3 pro 4k
I feel scared to fly it , i dont know what is the reason behind it , 1260$ is a big amount for me - i dont want something bad to happen , i have not done first flight yet.
(i bought p3 pro because it looked like to me 1 time investment with is really worth to buy i can also use for professional purpose in future )
I have little experience of custom made quad,
Help me with this
Reagrds
Royalakshay

Most of us have been there - at one point or another.
NUMBER 1 : As a first step, READ and understand the Quick Start Guide provided on the DJI downloads page for your product. IT IS BEST to read and understand the regular owners manual - and you will have to do that soon anyway - JUST DO THIS BEFORE ANY OTHER STEP. And before attempting to fly, perform the steps these guides prescribe.

[NOTE: NUMBER 1 INCLUDES performing all the successful setup and IMU and Gimbal calibrations you learned about in the guides. ]

NUMBER 2 : When you are ready AND the aircraft is ready, find a wide open area, free of any obstructions, of at least 300 feet on a side, with a nice level soft surface, like grass. Choose a day with little or wind and good lighting.

NUMBER 3 :  Start your Controller, then your device and App, then your aircraft in the area you have chosen to take off, as you have understood how to do in the guides.

NUMBER 4 : Verify within the App before any attempt at flying, that you are in Beginner mode and that your toggle switch is in P Mode.

NUMBER 5 :  With controller on the ground perhaps 20 feet away from the aircraft, Perform a successful Compass Calibration (again as you have read how to do), and set the aircraft down oriented in a direction away from where you will be monitoring the flight, then walk back to your controller .

NUMBER 6: Take a deep breath, touch the auto take off icon in your App, and slide the resulting confirmation button to the right. The P3 will take off on its own and hover a few feet above the ground.

NUMBER 7 : In the air and after a full minute or so, GENTLY play with the stick controls of your controller. Gently land and go back up, left, right, etc  Play around for 10 minutes without flying more than 50 feet away in any direction. Keep the aircraft pretty much in front of you.

NUMBER 8 : Gently land, then hold the throttle stick down for a few seconds until all motors stop. Set the controller down and go turn off the aircraft battery. Slide the battery out a bit.

NUMBER 9: Smile! and be happy.

MOST IMPORTANT BY FAR - is to read and understand the guide(s) BEFORE doing anything else.
...I think that is about right (if anyone sees a serious omission, typo, or whatever, PLEASE chime in), so good luck...

If possible, find someone in your area that has a DJI3, or an authorized DJI dealer and ask if they would give you a lesson or two.  

Also, watch all the DJI videos and read the User Manual until you are extremely familiar with the contents.  DJI forums are a good source to learn but it does not take the place of a lesson or two and practical experience.  Good luck and go slow and safe.

Not sure this link will work but its contains some of best info I've seen on the 3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/10tozj ... ry%20Guide.pdf?dl=0

First of all welcome to this hobby! You're about to embark on a lot of fun interrupted by moments the will scare you.   You can minimize the amount of moments that your scare yourself by following the advice below.

Before you fly a Phantom or get it out of the box, you should buy a smaller inexpensive quad like a hubsan and fly the hell out of it., if you crash the smaller one it won't hurt your wallet as much nor do you have the chance of injuring anyone when you crash it.  Get to know the flight controls and learn to fly it comming at you and away from you, hover it GOOD, be able to land it on a 1 foot by1 foot square both facing at you and facing away from you everytime and learn to fly it in a figure eight pattern.   When you become proficient at flying the little quad like I mention above, then get your Phantom3 out of its box and make sure it's firmware is updated on everything... Aircraft, RC and battery then calibrate the IMU, gimbal and the compass.  You can do a search in this forum and find many threads to tell you how to do the calibration process.    Then go to a very large open field and fly it but only after checking recommended rules in your country and your are in a safe area.


This is a super great hobby and a lot of fun but you really need to know what you're doing so you don't injure anybody or blow all your money because you crashed it your first time flying it.

-Dog

Keep it in training mode until  your confortable.

first read the manual you may have to upgrade software but once  you have this done

Go to a field or open space make sure you do a check list, your props are tight then hit the launch or take off.  at that time you can just sit and watch as it will go up about 4 ft and hover.   Now gently tough your controls to see how it effects.    Make note of the front and always try to have the front facing away from you to start  so when you push forward on the stick it goes forward.  Just keep doing that a few times and you will have better control on it.  I am still working on this too.   this is truly an awesome drone and easy to fly.  take your time.  I have not been any great distances  yet but want to.

Try taking off and landing using both manual and auto modes a few times. I have never flown a quad up until

I strongly recommend you follow my advise don't fly you Phantom until you do what I mentioned in my post above.  Please!

-Dog

No risk - No fun.....

1st thing.., learn about batteries, and how to look after them. You'll get more fun/practice that way.


-Buy a cheap drone. A nano quad.., up to a $50-$100 drone (250mm).., without any FPV or camera. Manuals will provide basic info.

-Practice in all different types of environments for experience. Windy days. Go past trees, concrete walls. Inside. Outside. Night time.
You will discover many problems and risks to overcome.

-Keep the drone facing away from you at first. Have the front pointing the same way you are looking. Turns come later.
Have your back to the sun to reduce glare.
Take note of the wind direction(s) and strength. Some days.., it's best not to fly so u may fly again tomorrow. It's up to you to make that decision.

-Just practice using the throttle first. You will probably spend the first day going too high.., then too low. Crash. Etc.
Just keep practicing going up and down till u can level out. Get in the habit of Making small movements with the controller sticks for better precision.

-Then practice moving forwards and backwards, strafing left and right.
Practice turning much much later. Then after mastering turning the nose left and right.., practice FPV.

-When using your Phantom for the first few times.., go to a LARGE park/oval/field. You will feel more comfortable with less distractions, and rules.

-Always wait for at least 10 GPS's to connect.., and the rear lights flash green. This will help control the drone. It should hover in place by itself.
If you are worried, just drop the throttle slowly and bring it down.
Stay at a low altitude of 1 metre while practicing. Crashes in grass should be bareable at that height from my XP.

knarfboy Posted at 2015-8-16 11:01
No risk - No fun.....

Very true

knarfboy Posted at 2015-8-16 11:01
No risk - No fun.....

Sure... Let's throw $1250 plus into the wind and while your at it lets put someone into danger by slamming the P3 into their head because I just want to have fun.  What a *#mb a$$!!

-Dog

Kit Walker Posted at 2015-8-16 16:46
1st thing.., learn about batteries, and how to look after them. You'll get more fun/practice that wa ...

Hmm... Sounds like good advice, also sounds familiar. Get to know this hobby on a smaller scale then graduate to a P3

-Dog

I can feel your trepidation. The Phantom 3 Advanced is my 1st. Always wanted a plane or a glider, but due to my inability to being able to distinguish if it would be coming or going as well as my less than stellar eyesight I knew I would be lucky to get one or two flights out before crashing it which kept me from buying one. After doing LOTS of research I was excited to think that the Phantom 3 might be a good fit for me. The big selling point was the GPS with the return to home feature. I've flown a few times (approx' a dozen) and I feel pretty good flying it. Haven't got crazy with it.
I HIGHLY suggest flying with little to no trees, keep it within view, practice with the return to home feature and understand how it works, how to engage it and disengage it. Just like anything it will take practice. Make sure you have plenty of GPS satellites locked on (I've heard a min of 7) When you fly it will seem surprisingly easy and it is, but don't get too cocky! You need to just get out there. Just remember, if you're unsure if it will clear something go higher just to be sure. If you're careful you should be just fine. have fun!

I agree with reading as much as you can, watching as many video's as you can, get a friend to come out with you to help you spot too.  With me it was only 6 minutes into my very first flight and I decided to feed a tree with my P3A.  I was VERY fortunate in that nothing was damaged, I even had to leave it at the park overnight till the next day when I was able to get it down.  Talk about a sleepless night, but my very next flight I was so nervous, but I had to have confidence in myself.  All went great.  Did the up/down/left/right bit for a while then forward/backward for a bit.  Then after I found out just how sensitive the controls where I took her up and flew her around until the battery was done.  My 3 flight is coming up and I will be just as cautious as I was on my second.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Hello Royalakshay,

Just been through the same thing myself, after doing all the usual bits and pieces like updating the firmware along with watching loads of videos I found a public footpath that went across a very large field.

Planted myself in the middle, setup (calibrated compass) and launched about 2 metres off the ground, I have to say I was excited and a bit nervous as well but after moving the controllers very slowly I got the hang of it.

A few things caught me out:
1) Direction reversed when camera pointing at me
2) Remembering to start recording
3) Keeping an eye on the battery levels, I did not want to go below 50% first time out

Here is a video link of my second flight, please excuse no music or intros. making sense of the Director is harder than flying the bird. Just take your time and avoid all objects:

Get snap on prop guards. go to open area grass away from powerlines magnetic fields, cell towers. make sure IMU is calibrated, set beginer mode so that you are more limited and power one fly about 1metre of ground practice landing. Also use the flight simulator. as you get more comfortable controlling it you can expand beginner mode. Don't fly in wind, rain, night (unless you are a pro), or over water.

Even after i got comfortable it can do strange things is calibration or compass is off. watch crash videos on youtube to avoid samew mistakes.

First,  read everything you can find.  Second,  use the built in flight simulator to get comfortable with the controls and flight of the Phantom.  Third,  go ahead and fly.  Use the Auto Take off and Auto landing if that makes you more comfortable. Forth,  Now read the manuals again,  since you will now have some idea what it is talking about.  Have fun.

nothings gonna happen. just calibrate the s*!t out of it if you follow the correct steps and it fails, it's on dji to replace it. not you

I also started with a toy quad (Hubsan X4), and later alternated flying it with the P3P. One of your biggest risks at the start is your own bad reflex in a tight situation. Personally I do not use prop guards on the P3P (just buy a few spare props). Many broken props come from incorrectly cutting the power when landing. However, I would recommend adding a camera guard. Otherwise, once you have seen all those training videos, just start flying in an open area, away from people, trees and buildings.
Have fun and good flying!

I use prop guards all the time.They have saved me a few time from silly mistakes. They don't cost very much and you never know when they might save your bacon. The guards have saved me the price of them in props. Each to there own, if you don't like em or you are more confident of your flying skills, don't put them on.I have 2 Green (front) and 2 Red (back). It gives a visual as to which way your P3 is as well.  

Hawks100 Posted at 2015-12-31 05:33
I use prop guards all the time.They have saved me a few time from silly mistakes. They don't cost ve ...

Why would you put the green on the front and red on the rear when the Phantom's lights are exactly opposite that? Sounds like it might be confusing at 200 yards.

I have only flown my P3A a few times since I got it a month ago but I have been flying RC planes/jets for over 30 years. In flying RC I have found that using a digital timer with alarm a very good thing to have especially if you are having fun. Time goes really fast and before you know it the batteries are low. Yes, I know there are settings to RTH or land when battery power gets low but hearing that alarm will get your attention and you yourself can bring the bird home. Just a thought.

thanks all for your all kind reply ,
, till know i have completed my 100 flight ,
i am used to to it , i do all pre checks

I just started with me 3 Pro.  Have about 10 flights, It's great!      Watch the videos about 10 times and read the manual    Go to a wide open spot and go for it    It's no good in the box    Best thing to remember is if you don't like the way thing are going just let go of the sticks and let it hover    If you still don't know for sure what to do hit RTH and watch it come right back to you      Go for it

as above.... if you need time to think, just let go!

I'm also looking at getting a P3advanced, but how do you update all the firewares.

Practice first with something inexpensive that you can crash a lot without an issue; I started with the Syma X5C before getting my P3P.  It helped me learn to fly with proper orientation, etc.

You update the firmware by going to the DJI website, selecting your model, then clicking downloads.  Unzip the file to the root of your SD card.  If that sounds too complicated, you certainly need to do some reading.

Here's my experience as a new quad flyer.

I bought myself a P3 Standard for XMAS.  Couldn't fly it for a couple of days due to weather.
In the down-time,  I watched every video I could find.  And I read the manual.  There's a number of really good training videos on youtube.  Everything from setup to your first flights.
There's also some good ones (Tom's Tech Time) on how to use the intelligent flight modes (follow me, POI, etc.).

I also practiced with the flight simulator.  Although, for me,  that didn't seem all that realistic.

For my first flight,  I created a plan that consisted of this

1.  Find a big open field (soccer complex near me worked well).
2.  Memorize the starting steps (controller, quad, app, etc.)
3.  Calibrated the compass
4.  In the app, verified that beginner mode was on.  Verified GPS Mode,  Verified Safe-to-Fly was displayed in App.  Verified home set. Started Video recording
5.  With the drone facing away from me, start the motors,  let idle for 10 seconds, just to get used to hearing the motors.
6.  lift-off up to about 2 meters.  Let drone stabilize for about 30 seconds.
7.  Start gently moving controls.   Up,  down, forward, back. left, right, turn(spin) etc.
8.  For first large movement, fly drone in a large rectangle, about 20m per side.   After a couple of times round the box,  do it in the other direction.
9.  Now,  move on to doing a similar pattern with circles.
10.  Land.  Shutdown.  go home and watch the video.

That was it for my first outing.  Just enough to get some experience with what the controls actually do.
On the second outing,  I did much the same,  except that I pressed the RTH button to see exactly what that would do.
Third outing,  I turned off begginer mode, and expanded the flight envelope out to about 200m in all directions except up.  for up, I stayed less than 30m.

After 2 weeks, I decided to start leaning ATTI mode.  I read on this forum, that some users were having issues when drone unexpectedly went into ATTI mode.
I wanted to find out what happens, and practice flying in this mode should my GPS mode ever fail.  This is a real eye-opener, especially with any wind or breeze.
It's not hard to control, just different, and makes you think more about your control actions.   To date,  I've spent about an hour practicing in ATTI mode.

If you start slow,  and proceed with a plan,  you should be fine.  Confidence will grow with each flight.   I'm having a blast right now!  Have flown up to 80m altitude, and 400m horizontal. That's all I feel comfortable with right now.  I probably won't go much further in height or distance, unless I go out to a rural location to fly.  Even there,  I feel the need to go way beyond VLOS.

Sid

Just be careful, read the manual and read here...  You'll be just fine...