Bought my first drone (Mavic 2 Pro), a few weeks ago and only took it out this week now lockdown permits it. Set the compass up and some other bits in my back garden and took it to the village sports field for first flight on Tuesday as it was nice and sunny and no wind. Sports field is on the edge of the village but not sure if inside the official built-up area so flew it under Article 16/BMFA.
Field was empty and is bounded by house gardens to the South and East with open fields to the North and I registered the flight on Drone Assist as a training flight. I have been looking at a lot of YouTube videos on flying and also some of the information site such as this, for tips and to learn from others experience. One thing I found out was potential issues with the RTH function on the drone: default height seems to be low and requires to be set higher and also the RTH is only accurate when taking off vertically to around 30 feet to allow it to recognise the area again, otherwise landing can be a few metres away from take-off position.
I practiced take offs and landings both automatic and manual, also by FPV. Flew around a while in beginner mode which limits to 100 feet distance and low height too, then bit the bullet and went to Position mode and flew around the field (300m x 300m I estimate), a few times and approached the empty village hall and various trees to practice estimating distance which I think I will need a lot of practice at.
One thing that surprised me was suddenly losing sight of the drone: I flew it North at 400 feet with the sun behind me and almost a pure blue sky, and going across open farmland and it was in sight until I stopped it at around 650 metres distance and it disappeared. I can only assume it is to do with the angle it flies at as opposed to hover angle. I then brought it down to 200 feet but still couldn’t see it so lined it back up with the playing field where I was and flew it FPV to where I was. It was around 250 metres from me before I saw it so I think I need to be very careful when flying against a blue sky and will have to practice against different backgrounds.
Unfortunately weather will be too windy for the next 10 or so days before I can take it out safely again and would welcome any tips you experienced members can give to a newbie.
