Hi from South East London

Received my very first drone on Saturday - DJI Mini 2. After lots of research, this seemed to be the right choice for my needs. Armed with my flyer and operator ID’s I took to the skies for the first time.

Nervous is an understatement! I need to build up my confidence before going further/higher, so any tips/advice would be greatly received!

Thanks in advance,
Will

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Welcome to the forum Will. You will find all the information you need here. It is a very friendly community.

My advice would be to travel to a good open space - preferably with no trees or other obstacles around - and just practice. Take off and hover to about 3m and then remove your fingers from the sticks. You will see it will hover there, staying still. When you are comfortable, try different things like flying forwards a few feet and then back, and then side to side. Then just let it hover again.

Try to turn it around, left and right (using the left stick). Let it hover again. Hopefully you will now have a bit of confidence that it is not going to fall to the ground or fly off somewhere.

Just practice and you will build up confidence pretty quickly. Just remember to concentrate fully on the drone and don’t be distracted. If something does go wrong, remove your fingers from the stick so that it hovers and collect your thoughts. When ready, carry on.

I hope this helps a little.

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When you take your hands off the controls the drone stops where it is. So, if things appear to going slightly Pete Tong you can park the drone in mid-air and sort yourself out.

It may seem boring but try simple manoeuvres first and you will rapidly build up your skills.

This is a useful guide:

And @ianinlondon has a great range of videos, well worth subscribing to his YouTube channel. This one is about what NOT to do - lessons hard learned !

Welcome to GADC!

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Welcome GADC.

I can only reiterate what others have said. Slowly slowly catchy monkey.
Practice lots. Watch YouTube videos lots. Ask questions lots

The Internet is littered with new drone pilots taking to the air without practicing or attempting to find out what the app does and then crying into their carry bag after it’s slammed into an Oak tree or it thinks it’s Stingray and met a watery grave.

Confidence will come in time. Just take it easy to start with and avoid whacking it in to sport mode to see how fast it will go :wink:

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Hi @Willtomp78 and welcome.
As a newbie myself I endorse all the above comments, I’ve certainly seen the benefits of joining GADC.
Don’t be too hard on yourself re the nerves, the actions you’ve taken already such as the research, getting your operator and flyer id’s and seeking tips on here show that your approach to this wonderful hobby is spot on.
Go find that open space and enjoy.

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Thank you so much everybody - nice to know I’m not alone. I guess everyone started out where I am.

Looking forward to getting to grips with it… now, what’s that weather up to today?! :+1:

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