Hello All,
I am without a drone - but wanting to get my first purchase soon so looking for lots of advice.
I am looking to progress from hobby to intermediate quite quickly as I have the time to practice and the goal to use drone flying commercially in the future.
Questions are - what skills / drills should I practice on to develop my control? What suggestions for an initial drone and set up that I can potentially still use in the future or sell on to fund another purchase.
I am aware of CAA rules and need to become a certified flyer - I am willing to do this at a school in the future once I am basically competent.
many thanks in advance
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Hi @Sam27 and welcome to Grey Arrows 
Looking for affordable Drone Public Liability Insurance that covers you throughout the UK and Europe?
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Welcome once again!
Hi @Sam27 Sam and welcome to GADC
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All you need is a bit of decent hand eye coordination, any gaming experience is usually good for this, but really anyone can fly one
As for recommends, depends on what you want to spend.
I’m not far away from you, there are lots of members in the area and we often meet up if that might be your thing, join @group-yorkshumber and keep an eye on the meetups section for details of events happening near you
I was out your way earlier in the week
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Welcome @Sam27 to GADC.
I am also new here, joined last week after ordering my first drone.
My recommendation is don’t hold off getting certified with CAA. I studied their guidance for a day, then registered for my Operator ID and took the test for my Flyer ID before I had even got my drone! I then upgraded my membership here to the Gold level so I could get my public liability insurance. Once you do that, I would recommend heading over to the shop to buy an ID card and lanyard, so when you are out and about in public flying, people can see that you are fully registered and legal.
I purchased the DJI Neo 2 with RC-N3 controller, but don’t think this would be the drone for you. While I think it is a great drone (I love mine so much), if you are wanting to go commercial and get there quickly, you probably would want something bigger (others here can advice which one that could be). Personally, I would advise downloading the DJI apps like the simulator. Get in some time on your mobile phone flying some of their drones. You can do this before you even decide what drone to buy. Then, once you do decide, you can plug your phone into the controller you buy, and carry on doing sim training using the actual controller that you will use for real. I did this for around 15 hours before I took my first flight. I felt a lot more at ease taking off and flying around knowing I had already put in a few ours in a sim first.
I hope that helps.
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Hi Sam, I am from Doncaster as well, Woodlands.
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You will need your Fly / Op ID regardless of your competency level as you need it in order to fly a drone. You may also need a remote ID if your drone has a UK1 class mark on it too.
The CAA test is very basic and covers the basics of the rules for flying a drone. The rest you will work out as you go along or just ask here and someone with the knowledge will help you out.
None of it is overly complex. The drones basically fly themselves the rules have some flexibility in them ( Not so much about flying near airports etc ) but its not as hard as people can make out ( who have never flown a drone I would guess )
Enjoy this great hobby
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Do you fly at Don Valley flying club at all? Where would you recommend to get started flying please?
Hi Sam @Sam27 and welcome to GADC 
What part of Doncaster are you at?
Hi from sunny Blackpool
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Auckley
Cantley Park or the Racecourse is as good as anywhere, both nice and open
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Hi Sam @Sam27 - welcome to GADC
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We will have to arrange a meet up, I have a couple of drone that you can have a practice on and see what you think.
Hi there, that would be great - I am keen to get learning