I hope I’m following all the forum guidelines as I don’t want to be seen as a PIA, is there a resource on the site that i have failed to find? Ive made an introduction , but im guessing its awaiting release by a moderator. I’ve just bought a Mavic 3 Pro after watching dozens and dozens of YT vids. If not on this site I see Amazon lists drone flying for dummies, anything better out there?
I believe i need to get an id, take a test but wondering about options for car charging, should i get a launch pad, I got the flymore combo, but would extra batteries be a good idea? My main interest is landscape photography which I’ve been doing at a camera club for the last 10 years and i want to become competent before end of September when I’m off to Northumberland for a week
You ask about a launch pad.
I have a Mini 2 and the launch pad was the first accessory I bought for it, and frankly, I have hardly used it. I know some folk use a car mat etc.
I will occasionally drop my landing pad on the floor (it’s a solid type that folds up, rather than the ‘floppy’ almost plastic sheet type), and I use it most when getting the drone, controller and batteries out of my bag if the ground is wet,
Almost all the time, I hand launch and hand catch the drone. This is a tutorial for your specific drone:
It looks a bit scary at first, but it quickly becomes second nature
Take a look at @ianinlondon 's YouTube channel, plenty of sound advice from someone less concerned with being a personality thanpresenting in a clear, informal and concise manner. He is also a GADC member so we have to say nice things to keep the old geezer sweet!
A landing mat is useful when flying off a dirty or uneven surface with stuff that may be blown about, like sand or grass. Hand launch and recapture is another possibility but even a Mini 3 can bite and draw blood if you get it wrong. Another advantage of a landing mat is that it provides a good contrast between itself and the often featureless surface around which helps the Visual Positioning system in the final moments of touchdown.
[Granny suck eggs mode] As for competence - practice! This video gives some exercises for a new flyer. Some may seem very basic but do try them. Your aim is to take pictures. That is less easy if you are having to keep thinking about how to fly, if you are practised and comfortable then you can concentrate on capturing images
to OP:
I have a landing mat… never used it for ages… I hand catch and take off a mini3 pro plus avata… the thing that put me off using it was the damn thing blowing away plus getting covered in mud… I use it on construction sites to record site progress plus service routes etc… yes you can peg them down or use sandbags but it’s just another piece of stuff to carry
I have thought for a while a resources or FAQ type sticky thread would be useful for newbies. By linking to external information it would mean having to keep on top of knowledge would be less time consuming.
Other than having to ensure the links themselves remain relevant of course.
Sorry, if that went wrong, I thought I had just deleted my reply🤪, I had an attack of random text appear so deleted my response. If I did anything else it wasn’t deliberate.
Have let @mynameisjoe o can give him a hand if no further progress is made in say a months time.
I should be moving house on the 25th assuming my buyer gets his arse in gear and instructs his solicitor to exchange contracts this week.
So one thing I don’t really have over the coming weeks is free time with packing, unpacking and then sorting out stuff for the new house which wasn’t obvious at times of viewings, but happy to help once things have settled back down.
Thank you for your response @BudgieUK , I’m a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of helpful suggestions and the amount there is to do, thank God I’m retired
Car mat is a great suggestion, although many of the locations I intend to fly from involve a bit of a walk
and with camera gear my bag’s gonna be plenty heavy enough already. I will check out the hand launch method
Thank you for your response @macspite will check out the video, I think I saw one about a week ago which suggested take off, land, sideways L & R, 4 corners of a square clockwise, ditto anti clockwise, circle round, spin round, fly back etc, I can’t wait to get started
Thanks for your response @OldManMavic , I’ve now got Flyer and Operator ID, and once I’ve responded to all the helpful members who replied to my post I will try again to add myself to the members map
Have you seen our members map? (Click the burger-menu in the top right) You may find some pilots living near you. Feel free to add yourself to the members map too
We’re a well established club with many knowledgeable members so it’s very likely that any issues you come across will have been discussed here before. Our discussion forum has very powerful search features which should help you find what you need but if you get stuck you can post a new question in the Questions & Answers category.
Looking for recommendations of places to fly? Check out our interactive map on Drone Scene - be sure to log in to gain access to the full suite of features and map layers:
And please feel free to add locations of your own too.
Our Associates are able to enjoy a lot of great services for free but our Members are eligible for a whole lot more! You can find all the details about our Membership Benefits on our FAQ
Welcome once again!
All the above suggestions are great ones.
Speaking from experience, once you are comfortable with flying, learn to hand launch and catch. It will save you lugging a landing mat arround, it also means you can just grab your drone and go without thinking oh must remember the landing pad.
Thats my view others have their’s and don’t like hand catching or launching
Again welcome
Thanks for your response @robertspark, as many of the locations I intend to fly from involve a bit of a walk and with camera gear my bag’s gonna be plenty heavy enough already. I will check out the hand launch method suggested by @BudgieUK
Thank you for your response @firstadekit , I’m a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of helpful suggestions and the amount there is to do, thank God I’m retired
I was thinking along the lines of a checklist, as you say with maybe links to external resources. I did quite a bit of forum searching, but threads often contain different suggestions which only confuse the complete beginner, possibly opening new previously unconsidered areas of doubt. I appreciate there will always be more than one way to skin a cat, and there is a vast range of drones, user inexperience and intended purpose, so a tall order I suppose. Anyhow onwards with responding to all the kind members who offered their help.
Thanks for your response @PingSpike, I’ve now got Flyer and Operator ID, and once I’ve responded to all the helpful members who replied to my post I will have a look at it, thank God I’m retired
Thank you for your response @stevesb , I’m a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of helpful suggestions and the amount there is to do, thank God I’m retired
once I’ve responded to all the helpful members who replied to my post I will try again to add myself to the members map, It didn’t work last time I tried, but I understand there was a glitch on the site which is now fixed
