I first flew my Mavic Mini just before Christmas 2019 and during those first few flights really enjoyed the drone and its stability. As it does at this time of year, the weather closed in and one way or another it was into January before I got another chance to fly.
During this intermission I poured over videos and commentary about the Mavic Mini and, without realizing it, became more and more fixated on its less than stellar relationship with windy conditions. Without realizing it and with each passing video or article or comment, I became more and more reluctant to fly my Mavic Mini.
The fear of âWhat Ifâ had set in.
In the past couple of days I found myself taking little drives out just to see if I could spot a good location to fly from. Every time I also looked for the least possible reason not to fly, not to take the chance that I would loose my new drone to the wind.
Today I found myself doing the same thing. Taking a leisurely drive out into the country, with my Mavic Mini charged and ready by my side. Again I found myself looking at the bushes and watching how much they were affected by todayâs (moderate) wind conditions. Then I would look at the tops of the surrounding trees to see how much difference I could make out, hoping that this would match the movement I saw at ground level thereby convincing myself that flying conditions were safe.
I recognized my pattern for finding a reason not to fly and realized that I had a decision to make. I could either realize that there was always going to be risks involved and that the best I could do was see the risk, judge whether it was acceptable and use that as my decider of whether to fly or not. Or I could get back in my car, drive home and put my new drone in the cupboard and admit defeat.
This was a new flyer confidence thing.
Knowledge is a good thing, but too much knowledge can start to gnaw away at you.
So I found a perfect pull-over spot near a forest and stopped the car. I made some rules for myself and then I got out of the car and performed my preflight checks. Fresh battery, fresh controller charge, good GPS signal, not warnings in the app. It said âGood to flyâ so I initiated the launch and up I went.
I think my rules will change on a flight by flight basis, maybe thatâs as it should be, but today I settled on the following.
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Hover for a while. Watch the drone, see how it behaves. Look for signs that suggest it is struggling to hold itâs position.
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Set my âMax Heightâ low. I was surrounded by trees and was aware that (a) I had to avoid hitting them, (b) understand that if I went above the max height of the trees I could expect the wind to pick up considerably. On this flight I set my âMax Heightâ to 50ft and my âMax Distanceâ to a little over 1000ft.
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Keep one eye on the App to watch for any warnings, but keep the other on the drone. Donât just focus on my phone screen.
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Perform regular fly-overs and pay attention to whether the motors are struggling to hold position.
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Have a backup plan. Where would I put her down if I had problems, could I get to that location easily. Have a plan for what to do if I started to loose confidence that it was me in control, rather than the surrounding environment.
So I flew for about 15 minutes. I did regular fly-pasts and only once heard the motors struggle to hold position. I played with flying in Cinematic mode. I practiced how quickly I could orient and get back to home (using manual control). I tested and reset my âHome Locationâ a couple of times. Oh, and I remembered to turn on the video recorder.
I really enjoyed myself.
I also got an Anemometer delivered today. That way I can check my apprehension against whatâs actually happening.
This has been a rather long and rambling report of my third flight, Iâm sorry about that. But hopefully any other newbie flyers who might be questioning their choice of the Mavic Mini as their first drone can take some comfort from the fact that you are not alone. This is as much about building your confidence as it is about learning the rules. Understand the issues relating the the Mavic Mini and itâs dislike of wind, but donât let it put you off flying your drone.
Itâs actually loads of fun.
