Hi all,

Before I start I will say two things...

1)  I don't have my mavic yet (I'm just waiting patiently and loving reading the forums)
2)  Im a firm believer in positive comments about good experiences with the mavic, I hate seeing all the moans.  Even if some of the poor experiences and problems are good to hear about.

Ill begin...

With a number of comments I have seen about loss of GPS mid-flight even with plenty of satellites available, and the drone reverting to ATTI mode with subsequent 'loss of control' and 'Near losses'.... I wandered something....

I have ZERO experiences with drones, so I really am interested in peoples views. Don't shoot me down, please, lets keep things positive.


Obviously, mid-flight at any height above the ability of downward facing sensor and camera, the drone will have NO IDEA where it is and you will have to actually 'fly' the drone and fight the external influences such as the wind.  I'm second guessing that the 'loss of control' people experience is more to do with the shock that they no longer have the very sophisticated computer assistance to keep the drone on track.  I'm happy to be corrected.

So, what I actually wondered....   Assuming you can, would it be beneficial for people to fly the drone in ATTI mode (close proximity and in a very open space and well chosen conditions to start with) to learn how the drone behaves without GPS assisting it to stay on track/drift.  Like learning to fly a real plane without ANY automated/assisting systems.  I feel this would perhaps help a drone pilot be more prepared if something were to go wrong.  Forgive me if you think its stupid or that I am asking for suicide

Comments welcomed!    and don't get me wrong, I am most definitely not saying that the loss of GPS mid-flight is good or acceptable.

My previous quadcopter did not have GPS, so ATTI was the most advanced flight mode. (Also had manual mode)
As of now, the Mavic does not have a selectable ATTI mode. Hopefully it will get that soon.
I flew mostly in FPV, so nose in flying is still a challenge.
If in doubt flying the Mavic, look at the connected device for orientation.

Gib,

Short answer, yes. That is one of the first things I started to do when I got my first P2. Better yet, buy a toy drone and use it for practicing. I've recently started flying racing drones and the difference is night and day. The concentration necessary to control and continually manipulate one of these birds is a totally different experience. Let go of the sticks and smash into the ground!

I think the problem becomes the unexpected and erratic switch from GPS to ATTI mode and the TBE (toilet bowl effect) people are experiencing. In GPS you're being provided a great deal of "assistance" with your flight, an abrupt flip to ATTI mode requires an immediate reaction both in the manipulation of the craft and all of your thought processes. Basically, you go from flying around looking for a great picture to an abrupt necessity to assess wind, orientation, altitude, terrain, stick manipulation, etc. Add to that the TBE that many are experiencing and even a skilled and seasoned pilot can find themselves in serious trouble.

Back to your original point, yes, practicing in ATTI mode in a very open area is a great idea.

Jerry

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-11-30 13:13
Gib,

Short answer, yes. That is one of the first things I started to do when I got my first P2. Bet ...

You are undoubtedly right with the comment of practicing with a drone that you may only loose a £50 Note rather than several 10's of £50 notes.

I definitely take on board the point around the erratic switch from GPS to ATTI, but I cant help but think if novices or even seasoned drone users had more experience with 'flying' a drone rather than operating the computer controlled drone, then the likelihood of horrible consequences to failures would be reduced.

By the looks of it the mavic doesn't offer the option to manually select to fly with ATTI only....which is a shame, but maybe it will come with a update sometime.   I guess you could argue,  'why on earth would you want that feature!?!?''  but for me personally, I like to know I can get myself out of sticky situations BEFORE I try and be too adventurous with my drone.     I guess some people just don't think the same way as me

It's something that has been asked for from day 0... but no sign of it yet. Some people suggest flying indoors first as it is invariably in ATTI mode! You can't even go into ATTI mode in the simulator.... it's a very unfortunate oversight on DJIs part that they should rectify before many new drone owners suddenly find themselves with a $1000 aircraft in mid air at the mercy of the wind!

gibbd Posted at 2016-11-30 08:16
You are undoubtedly right with the comment of practicing with a drone that you may only loose a £ ...

Gib,

I agree with you wholeheartedly! Many disasters could have been averted had the pilot been "ATTI" or manually experienced (not specifically speaking about the Mavic but all GPS capable UAV's). Even in ATTI you're still in a "self-leveling" mode with altitude hold. I'm a bit embarrassed to share it but  my first experience with a racing drone is a perfect example! (You can skip to about the 3:00 minute mark.)

Jerry

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-11-30 14:53
Gib,

I agree with you wholeheartedly! Many disasters could have been averted had the pilot been "A ...

Cheers for the post with video.

I wouldn't say there is embarrassment in it. Just shows effectively how hard it is to fly a drone unaided of computer systems.  Liken it to flying an RC helicopter.  (yes i have flown them). They are pretty hard to grasp and get right

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-11-30 14:53
Gib,

I agree with you wholeheartedly! Many disasters could have been averted had the pilot been "A ...

I think racing quads are one of the hardest to fly los at a distance so I think you did well. I've got a bleeper on mine for that reason I can activate it from my tx.

Warrior200 Posted at 2016-11-30 16:13
I think racing quads are one of the hardest to fly los at a distance so I think you did well. I've ...

WAY OFF TOPIC!

Warrior,

I think you're right! I'm just now starting to get a tiny feel for these things. I've got a long way to go but I'm progressing. Last week was my first run through some trees. I don't have anything edited yet but this was a few weeks ago. I am having a blast with it. Just got my7 Mavic so that's taking up my time right now.

Jerry

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-11-30 22:52
WAY OFF TOPIC!

Warrior,

Great flips n rolls you maybe want to try punching the throttle a little more before you flip or roll. You have the perfect place to practice there's a track in the field you could follow and you could try some diving but don't shut the throttle off when driving lol. Sorry about this has been off topic my bad.

This was late in the day trying out a storm srd 250 in full acro trying to film a 20cc carbon cub.

Warrior200 Posted at 2016-11-30 17:57
This was late in the day trying out a storm srd 250 in full acro trying to film a 20cc carbon cub.
h ...

Pretty damn good! You're a bit better than I am at this point. I'm not up for the punchouts just yet! Certainly is a lot different than flying a Phantom or Mavic.

Jerry

JtrJr-UAV Pilot Posted at 2016-12-1 00:12
Pretty damn good! You're a bit better than I am at this point. I'm not up for the punchouts just y ...

Cheers, anything you fly with no help from electronic stability is hard to keep in control. It's always best to have some electronic input even if it's a small amount. I'm going to fly the mavic this weekend just a test flight to make sure everything is doing what it should. It would be good if you could manually switch to atti mode but I suppose you could use the flight simulator.    I've tamed the storm 250 now and it's a great quad for diving.

Warrior200 Posted at 2016-11-30 18:25
Cheers, anything you fly with no help from electronic stability is hard to keep in control. It's a ...

I just put my Mavic up for the first time about an hour ago. Nothing but a 4 minute liftoff, hover, move around a bit and land. Snow, wind, rain and about 34f here the last few days. Put the bird on a small box to keep it out of the water, lifted off manually like I do with my P3's, when I went to land the same way it was a no go and I had to use the auto-land. I think I need to do some sensor studying and start turning some of these sensors off for now until I get the hang of this thing.

Jerry

There's a lot of things the sensors don't like and I think snow is one of them. If it's safe to land then a forced landing is necessary.

My mavic seems to fly well in ATTI mode not sure why anyone would use control. The barometer should keep it at it's rough height. Yes it will be affect by the wind somewhat, but if the wind is that high you wouldn't be flying it anyway.