Soft surfaces to learn/practice manual flight

[rktman]

I took 3 spills in the first 10 hours or so learning rate mode control, all without damage, no more after that . I attribute this to flying over a (huge) grass athletic field for most of this practice, well maintained.

Had I been over dirt, sand, or (OMG) asphalt I have no doubt I'd have a box with a dozen or so worthless pieces.

Thoughts on this subject,, ideas?

 

[BudWalker]

I took 3 spills in the first 10 hours or so learning rate mode control, all without damage, no more after that . I attribute this to flying over a (huge) grass athletic field for most of this practice, well maintained.

Had I been over dirt, sand, or (OMG) asphalt I have no doubt I'd have a box with a dozen or so worthless pieces.

Thoughts on this subject,, ideas?

I assume that you are referring to Manual mode? By far I've had the most difficulty learning how to land in M mode. Still not very good at it. My approach is that landing is the next step after flying slower and slower while getting closer to the ground. I've spent a lot of time with simulators.

Another approach that I'm trying is 1) landing in Normal mode but with a high gimbal angle to get a feel what it should look like in M mode, and 2) attempting to land in M mode with a low gimbal angle.

I've had a few mishaps. I'm amazed how tough the FPV is.

 

[mrmund]

You can always land in "normal" mode, there's no shame in that. When I started FPV I used to switch to Stabilized mode to land until I got confident flying close to the ground. Stick to the grass and gain some altitude when you practice your maneuvers.

 

[Roadking]

Fly at high altitude and keep the throttle low so the speed is slow. After a while you’ll get the feel. Like anything else the more you do it the more comfortable it gets. Flip to sport to take off and land.
when you get to a high altitude flip to manual and immediately lower the throttle. If you feel like it’s getting out of control flip back to sport.

 

[BudWalker]

Flying high and slow didn't help me much. It's very hard to see altitude changes that you need to react to closer to the ground. I just wasn't getting the visual cues that you get at 10'. What did help was simulator time - I was using mostly the DJI FPV simulator at the time. After a few hours flying low and slow in the simulator I was much better in the real FPV.

 

[Kilrah]

That quad doesn't want to be landed in manual because it's taller/higher CG than usual quads and the rear feet are on the battery instead of outside where the motors are so it rebounds and flips way too easily. Wouldn't recommend even trying to do so, I always land in N. Takeoff in M is OK though.

 

[BudWalker]

That quad doesn't want to be landed in manual because it's taller/higher CG than usual quads and the rear feet are on the battery instead of outside where the motors are so it rebounds and flips way too easily. Wouldn't recommend even trying to do so, I always land in N. Takeoff in M is OK though.

Good to know. Lately I've been working on hovering low with 0.0 m/s horizontal velocity. But, from what you pointed out there will still be a substantial risk of flipping it. I was determined to be able to land in M mode but maybe I should move on to more attainable goals.

 

[rktman]

I wish I could say these spills were on landing, but it was not.

Just early on right after I got it, foolishly with too little Sim time. Lost orientation, reflexive angle mode reflexes kick in, too new to remember the panic stop button...

All's well now that I'm trained. That soft, evenly cut sport field saved my arse.

 

[BudWalker]

I wish I could say these spills were on landing, but it was not.

Just early on right after I got it, foolishly with too little Sim time. Lost orientation, reflexive angle mode reflexes kick in, too new to remember the panic stop button...

All's well now that I'm trained. That soft, evenly cut sport field saved my arse.

I did exactly this. Not enough simulator, lost orientation, used angle mode inputs, etc. Crashed into some tall grass not sure exactly where. I could start the motors which stopped after 3 or 4 secs. We finally managed to track it down by hearing the motors start and triangulating it's position. Removed all the grass and flew it again.

 

[rktman]

Helluva better than over a parking lot, eh @BudWalker ?

 

[BudWalker]

Helluva better than over a parking lot, eh @BudWalker ?

Oh, I've done that also. Asphalt runway actually. And, to add insult to injury I was confused enough to add full throttle after it hit the runway. The onlookers got a better show than I did in the Goggles.

In my defense I had been practicing hovering where roll, pitch and throttle are all being used. This flight had been one where I was videoing my friend's Phantom 4. Large pitch and roll to track the P4 is OK if there is enough altitude to recover. At the end we got down close to the ground and I pitched up to track the P4 which also caused vertical thrust loss. Looking at the log I can see that it impacted as I began to apply down pitch and full throttle.

 

[alex_markov]

My initial intention was to try it in N/S and gradually start learning M. But several tries in M mode (high altitude) made me thinking - You need to practice a lot and develop some muscle memory reflexes to be very good in M mode not to crash in close proximity to things. But I like S mode so much and master it good enough to be happy with DJI FPV - Why oh why should I go to M at all.

 

[BudWalker]

My initial intention was to try it in N/S and gradually start learning M. But several tries in M mode (high altitude) made me thinking - You need to practice a lot and develop some muscle memory reflexes to be very good in M mode not to crash in close proximity to things. But I like S mode so much and master it good enough to be happy with DJI FPV - Why oh why should I go to M at all.

I suspect the desire to use M mode is like a personal choice. At first I was doing M mode to prove to myself that I could learn something new. Now it's a lot of fun - totally unlike the ATTI modes on DJI platforms.

A big part of learning M mode, for me at least, was getting better with a simulator. M mode isn't much fun if you want to stay above 20 meters to avoid getting too close to the ground.