Complete noob obviously, with the new DJI FPV. My turns often end with me sliding sideways, or sometimes even backwards, particularly when executing a U - turn. This does does not seem to happen in the sim. What am I doing wrong? Plz & Thnx.
Need help with precision turns
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Fast and Curious
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Try tilting and not tilting back when turning and check COG, adjust battery if it is not correct. Once I found my 5inch was flipping one way faster then another so check in BF that stick movement is perfect.
Fast and Curious
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Fast and Curious
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This book really helped me. (There’s a digital version you can purchase too somewhere.)
The author really breaks everything down so well that you’ll know why your quad isn’t doing what you want (or why it’s doing what it’s doing), and the gimbal movements you need to control it. I can’t recommend it enough.
Another thing that helped me was the two Daily Drills vids put out since March by TheTomJohn on YouTube.
EDIT: (spelling) TheTomJon <—-
The author really breaks everything down so well that you’ll know why your quad isn’t doing what you want (or why it’s doing what it’s doing), and the gimbal movements you need to control it. I can’t recommend it enough.
Another thing that helped me was the two Daily Drills vids put out since March by TheTomJohn on YouTube.
EDIT: (spelling) TheTomJon <—-
Last edited:
which mode are you in with the DJI FPV?
as you talk about a sim, I assume you're in M mode?
what camera angle are you using?
as you know, using a higher angle will tend to make you fly faster - I know as a beginner this made me tend to use a pretty shallow angle (< 10 deg!) to control my speed, but you kind need (or should i say its easier with) a bit of momentum for turns.... so try flying something like 15 deg tilt.
a nice turn (aka co-ordinated turn) is a mix of roll and yaw
(following assume <45 deg tilt, things change a bit beyond this tilt angle, as they start inverting role of yaw/roll)
if you are sliding sideways in a turn, generally this means you have too much roll compared to raw.
you can see this easily - if you just roll (no yaw) you will 'strafe' sideways.
if you feel like your spinning in a turn, then you have too much yaw compared to roll.
this might be what you mean by going backwards... since, as an exageration, if you just yaw with no bank, you'll carry on moving in the same direction, but just facing backwards
(btw: nothing wrong with these maneuvers either... strafing and yaw spins are useful skills too!)
I think you know all of this, as you're getting it right in the sim - but I know, when I started, for some reason I similarly found my turns were in bit 'sloppier' in 'real life' ... I think some of this for me was things like wind, dynamics of the quad and things that were just missing in the 'sterile' sim environment.
really it just stick time, take it back to basics, and you'll adjust ...
have fun
@thetechnobear thanks for the detailed info. Great info for me to take into the field today!which mode are you in with the DJI FPV?
as you talk about a sim, I assume you're in M mode?
what camera angle are you using?
as you know, using a higher angle will tend to make you fly faster - I know as a beginner this made me tend to use a pretty shallow angle (< 10 deg!) to control my speed, but you kind need (or should i say its easier with) a bit of momentum for turns.... so try flying something like 15 deg tilt.
a nice turn (aka co-ordinated turn) is a mix of roll and yaw
(following assume <45 deg tilt, things change a bit beyond this tilt angle, as they start inverting role of yaw/roll)
if you are sliding sideways in a turn, generally this means you have too much roll compared to raw.
you can see this easily - if you just roll (no yaw) you will 'strafe' sideways.
if you feel like your spinning in a turn, then you have too much yaw compared to roll.
this might be what you mean by going backwards... since, as an exageration, if you just yaw with no bank, you'll carry on moving in the same direction, but just facing backwards
(btw: nothing wrong with these maneuvers either... strafing and yaw spins are useful skills too!)
I think you know all of this, as you're getting it right in the sim - but I know, when I started, for some reason I similarly found my turns were in bit 'sloppier' in 'real life' ... I think some of this for me was things like wind, dynamics of the quad and things that were just missing in the 'sterile' sim environment.
really it just stick time, take it back to basics, and you'll adjust ...
have fun
I got more out of this clip for tight turns than anything else. It made all the difference in learning, and in troubleshooting bad turns.
Good to have those trouble shooting tips. Thanks to @thetechnobear, i just came back from practicing being more aggressive with roll, and flying faster, and it improved my turns considerably.
I see from the clip that my throttle control is still an issue.
So thnx gents. Much appreciated.
We could do worse for studying turns than to watch this clip by Christian Mollica going through and discussing some beginner velocidrone tracks.
I’ve noticed angle playing into it. I was finding 25 a sweet spot in the sim, but when I started flying IRL this week, my subject was not centering in the 16x9 footage at the relatively low speed that I’m doing orbits and proximity turns , so I lowered it to 15. This makes it harder to take a tight turn, as throttling puts more thrust into lift when compared with a higher angle (unless I pitch forward enough to then take the subject out of frame). So if I’m trying to keep everything nicely framed on a turn at 15 degrees, I need to accommodate more drift — which means navigating turns at a lower speed.which mode are you in with the DJI FPV?
as you talk about a sim, I assume you're in M mode?
what camera angle are you using?
as you know, using a higher angle will tend to make you fly faster - I know as a beginner this made me tend to use a pretty shallow angle (< 10 deg!) to control my speed, but you kind need (or should i say its easier with) a bit of momentum for turns.... so try flying something like 15 deg tilt.
a nice turn (aka co-ordinated turn) is a mix of roll and yaw
(following assume <45 deg tilt, things change a bit beyond this tilt angle, as they start inverting role of yaw/roll)
if you are sliding sideways in a turn, generally this means you have too much roll compared to raw.
you can see this easily - if you just roll (no yaw) you will 'strafe' sideways.
if you feel like your spinning in a turn, then you have too much yaw compared to roll.
this might be what you mean by going backwards... since, as an exageration, if you just yaw with no bank, you'll carry on moving in the same direction, but just facing backwards
(btw: nothing wrong with these maneuvers either... strafing and yaw spins are useful skills too!)
I think you know all of this, as you're getting it right in the sim - but I know, when I started, for some reason I similarly found my turns were in bit 'sloppier' in 'real life' ... I think some of this for me was things like wind, dynamics of the quad and things that were just missing in the 'sterile' sim environment.
really it just stick time, take it back to basics, and you'll adjust ...
have fun
yeah, I found similar when I started ...
in the sim , 25+ deg was pretty easy to fly , but IRL on the dji fpv, I just found I was going way to fast to feel in control.
so I went down to 15 deg, and found more control ... but as you say, throttle control becomes much more important.
after a while, I took it all the way down to 5 deg for practicing throttle control (and also hovering) , it really gives you a feeling for how the quads angle influences turns and holding altitude... this turned out really well, as I now feel comfortable at flying at various camera angles, depending on what I want to do that day.
(even 0 deg is kinda fun to try but I found if i wasnt careful I could end up flying backwards )
my conclusion was... its much easier to fly higher camera angles, but I think as a beginner, I found this gives an illusion of control - and of course, get it wrong, and your going to do way more damage (as you'll be going at higher speeds) ... but in a sim you dont care
so, when I got my 5", I decided to start again with a shallow angle, since with 6s it was extremely powerful, so throttle was very sensitive, and at higher camera angles it was just to easy to be going way to fast.
sure, initially it made progress really slow, and a bit frustrating, as I felt like I couldn't even fly level without bobbing up n' down, but after a while, I settled down - and felt much more in control, and adding camera angle just made it easier .... I only had to becareful of excessive speed, but Id developed the skills to control that.
so yeah... I personally think, its best to fly with a shallow camera angle, and just add as much as you need for being able to see where you are going.
funny when I worked this out, I did some research on youtube and found that quite a few good freestyles run quite low angles - since unlike racers they are not always going all that fast. (so, higher camera angle does not equal better pilot !)
in the sim , 25+ deg was pretty easy to fly , but IRL on the dji fpv, I just found I was going way to fast to feel in control.
so I went down to 15 deg, and found more control ... but as you say, throttle control becomes much more important.
after a while, I took it all the way down to 5 deg for practicing throttle control (and also hovering) , it really gives you a feeling for how the quads angle influences turns and holding altitude... this turned out really well, as I now feel comfortable at flying at various camera angles, depending on what I want to do that day.
(even 0 deg is kinda fun to try but I found if i wasnt careful I could end up flying backwards
) my conclusion was... its much easier to fly higher camera angles, but I think as a beginner, I found this gives an illusion of control - and of course, get it wrong, and your going to do way more damage (as you'll be going at higher speeds) ... but in a sim you dont care
so, when I got my 5", I decided to start again with a shallow angle, since with 6s it was extremely powerful, so throttle was very sensitive, and at higher camera angles it was just to easy to be going way to fast.
sure, initially it made progress really slow, and a bit frustrating, as I felt like I couldn't even fly level without bobbing up n' down, but after a while, I settled down - and felt much more in control, and adding camera angle just made it easier .... I only had to becareful of excessive speed, but Id developed the skills to control that.
so yeah... I personally think, its best to fly with a shallow camera angle, and just add as much as you need for being able to see where you are going.
funny when I worked this out, I did some research on youtube and found that quite a few good freestyles run quite low angles - since unlike racers they are not always going all that fast. (so, higher camera angle does not equal better pilot !)
