If you own a drone or are simply interested in buying one, you must have heard that they can fly away from their users or crash. As reported on just one of the many forums, 774 people who own DJI Phantoms had experienced problems with their drones flying away and 122 of them never saw their devices again. So if you want to fly your drone properly, there are ten things you should watch out for.
- Always start with a fully charged battery
You’ll probably get away with it most of the time, but it could happen that, even though you started the flight with a 70% full battery, it suddenly drops to 7%, all because it wasn’t fully charged to begin with.
- Land at 30% battery
“Smart Go-Home” feature will take your drone home as soon as the battery reaches 10%. This can be useful in many situations, but if you want to land it somewhere else, and the battery reaches 10% before you manage to do it, you won’t have enough time to react. This is why it’s much safer to land it before it drops to 10%.
- Check the home point each time you fly
Just make sure that the home point is programmed right, and always check the area you’re flying in, so the drone can return and land safely.
- Calibrate the compass properly
You won’t need to do it each time you change the battery or come back to fly off from the same spot, but it’s still something you should be aware of. Electric cables or metal pipes could cause confusion in the calibration, so make sure you’ve taken all the factors into consideration.
- Calibrate the Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU)
If you want to have a stable flight and track the drone's position properly, you should be aware of the importance of IMU. Every time you update the firmware, and drop or damage your drone in any way, you’ll need to do the calibration again.
- Check propellers
There have been reports of drones crashing due to their propeller flying off. In most cases, it happens simply because the propeller is not secured in place, so check them before each flight.
- Switch devices to Airplane mode
The usual WiFi frequency is 2.4 GHz, just like most of DJI systems’, which means that they can interfere and cause problems. So when you’re out flying your drone, make sure your tablet or phone is on the Airplane mode.
- Take control with ATTI mode
When using P-GPS mode, the drone is basically flying itself. This is why a more suitable solution for beginners would be to use ATTI mode. ATTI mode gives you control and allows you to make it go where you want it to go.
- Keep the drone in sight
The remote control can communicate with your drone only if it’s in your line of sight. If it’s too far, your radio communication will be affected, so keep the drone in sight all the time.
- Use a pre-flight checklist
Making a list of all the things that need to be done and checking them before flying your drone can provide a safer flight. Write the basics down and read through them while setting up.
