Lockdown creation - first time in Acro/Air mode today

Racing Quads, Self-builds & FPV
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I’ve have now flown my "Covid-19x"5 inch lockdown creation a couple of times and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it went - even if I was flying in Horizon and Angle modes. I say pleasantly, as I bought myself BetaFPV mini whoop 65 four or five weeks ago, as I was seriously worried about flying my 5 inch quad for the first time. I have to say flying the 5 inch quad is far easier than the mini whoop.

Now, I have seen loads of videos where you are told not to learn to fly in Horizon or Angle modes, and up until today I’ve only ever flown in horizon and Angle mode…

So, today I decided to flip that switch and try Acro mode (with Air mode on - not sure if this is the done thing or not, but its what tried today).
It really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Well I let you judge for yourselves. Videos are below.

Oh I’d better mention I was being super careful not to crash way out into the field as two weeks ago (Weds 5th May) I had a left knee replacement/operation and I really didn’t want to be trampling out doing drone recovery.

As for Air mode - do you normally have this on in acro mode? It seems advantageous, but is a pain when landing as the drone hits the deck and the motors speed up/crash etc. I assume if you have it on you would switch it off when landing?

Flight one

Flight Two

Sorry I forgot to mute the sound - but does contain a quick loop)

Oh and yes I realise now I have two flight timers showing the same thing… doh! I am sure I’d set this up correctly in Betaflight, but hey ho!

Any advice is much appreciated as I am very new to FPV having only flown (drone wise) my DJI Mavic which is now gathering a thick layer of dust!

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Air mode is a must otherwise if you go zero throttle to do a flip or a roll or any trick for that matter then you’ll just lose control of the quad as the motors will just stop spinning. Think of air mode as a motor idol keeps the props spinning even at zero throttle hence why it makes it difficult to land and will give you the bounce effect. You can put air mode on an aux switch this can be useful for tricks like perching (landing your quad on say something like the top of a lamp post) but other than that there isn’t much point. I have air mode on permanently. Just hit the disarm switch at the same time as you touch down to stop the bounce effect. :+1:t2:

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I always thought the bounce effect was a kind of automatic crash recovery…? Like if you get a little toooooo close to the ground… the quad spins up to get you out of trouble a bit…

And yeah, air mode is essential to keep the motors idling at zero throttle I think…

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Thanks DeanoG60, that makes sense. I’m reconfiguring now so I can go and try again later, weather depending.
:grinning:

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Joshua Bardwell did this video on setting up airmode recently. This way airmode is active when the throttle is all the way down but off when throttle is raised. Looks like a good idea to be fair

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