Slowly getting the hang of it
 

Study study manuals , read read read yep ready to fly
1st flight with my new DJI Phantom I flew right into my own car wap wap wap all over the windshield
Tough little bird barked up the props but otherwise ok
2nd battery 20 minutes later another crash ,,,those joysticks not as logical as originally thought because as the attitude of the craft changes so does the direction which the controller turns the quadcopter.
2nd 3rd and 4th crashes haven't apparently hurt the tough little bird.
Have many hours of practice to go before strapping the rx100 into the sto brushless gimbal and shooting some moving pictures.
It's a hoot to be sure especially since I haven't destroyed it yet and might be gaining the upper hand

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

It is logical when you think about it. Pushing forward on the controller always makes the Phantom's nose go forward. If the nose is facing to your left, the Phantom is going to go left when you push forward on the controller.
Personally, I always keep the nose facing away from me which makes it a lot easier to control.

If you don't like that mode, you can setup Home Lock mode using DJI software. What this essentially does is "lock" the Phantom to your position. So no matter which direction the Phantom is facing, left will always make it go left relative to you, right will always make it go right relative to you, and so on.

There's a ton of info about it in the manual.

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

Going to fasten the transmitter on a video head tripod and try that.
Never was much good hand held. I always use a tripod when shooting so maybe one less thing flying around will help. Those little joysticks under my thumbs are not ideal either. Going to make them longer with tubing or something for more tactile that I can actually grab with my whole hand
@jody Like yourself I try to keep the nose pointed away because that's the camera's fov when it get's mounted .

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

I suggest coming up with a flight training plan and not making changes to the joy sticks or attaching the transmitter to a tripod. Being able to freely move about with your transmitter is important.

Draw a 4ft x 4ft square on the ground, increase the throttle to about 50% to put into about a 2-3ft hover and keep the quad in the box at a consistent height. do that for a couple of batteries. Also, make sure you don't run your batteries all the way down.

After your comfortable doing that draw another box about six feet away from the first box and take off from one and land in the other. Once you get comfortable with that hover at about 5ft and practice 360 degree yaws.

You get the point, just take small steps, learn to take off and hover, then start working on orientation and then start expanding your flights.

I forgot, forget about the camera until your really confident with your piloting skills, your footage will be mostly unusable anyway.

I hope this helps.

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

thanks for the advice it really makes sense
I bought 4 what they call swimming-pool noodles couple of days ago to begin a flight training plan.. Foam tubes 5' long which I'll plant as corners for the squares.
No camera till I'm in control of the craft and can get it to do exactly what I want.

twiddling the sticks
 

How do you hold the transmitter and manipulate the joysticks?
I've seen the transmitter held with little pinkys and the thumb and index fingers used and also some folks seem to grasp the transmitter with both hands and place their thumbs on the top of the sticks.
Which works best for you
thanks

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

I've tried it both ways but I hold the transmitter with both hands and just use my thumbs. Everyone I know who are really good at this does it the other way.

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

It's just personal preference. I've flown RC planes and helicopters for about 5-6 years and I've always used my thumbs on the top of the sticks, as opposed to pinching the sticks.

Neither way is better than the other, just whatever feels more natural.

You may find this interesting:

Do you crash at all anymore
 

Now that you've been flying multirotors with cameras for a while do you crash at all anymore?
What's the pilot's airworthiness flight test?

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

I crash all the time, it's part of the hobby. But that's usually with planes and helicopters, they're a lot harder to fly than the Phantom.

I've had about 15-20 flights with my Phantom now and I haven't had any mishaps. (touch wood)

This is the best tool I've ever come across for learning how not to crash:
Phoenix model flight simulation :: Welcome

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

I thought the DJI's had a setting on them that no matter which way the quad was flying pushing forward made it go away from you? Is this an upgrade you have to add on or does it come standard?

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

Yes, it's called Home Lock mode. You need to connect the Phantom to the DJI NAZA software on a computer to turn on the mode.

I haven't tried it but from my understanding it's reliant on GPS to know where it is in relation to the pilot.

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

Actually there are two modes, home lock and coarse lock, home lock will always bring the phantom back to you regardless of it orientation, coarse lock enables you to fly the way that you described, stick forward pushes it away, left & right etc regardless of orientation.

For slow arcs around an object or when I want to concentrate on positioning the camera and not think about flying coarse lock works pretty well. Home lock works well if you lose orientation and you just need to get it back.

You have to set it up on a three position switch on your transmitter and you do need GPS.

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

Hi Chuck
Could you address the bit about CL and flying a slow arc/positioning the cam a little more please
thks

Re: Slowly getting the hang of it
 

This explains the modes quite well: