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Saturday, October 19, 2013

Quadcopter Drone Flying Tutorial 2: Hover

If possible, take your quadcopter drone to an open grassy field for your first flight.  Your local park or sports field will be perfect.  Do so early in the morning or near sunset when the wind is at a minimum.  Make sure to minimize all distractions so that you can focus on your flying.

Initialize, and bind your quadcopter as shown in the previous chapter. Stand a few feet directly BEHIND your quadcopter to minimize disorientation.  Now slowly increase the throttle until it starts to rise.   Wait until it's a few feet off the ground, and then consider using your trim buttons to minimize any drifting that you notice.   Now slowly reduce throttle until you're back on the ground.   You did it!   Your first flight.  For all follow-on flights, remember to remain behind your quadcopter to minimize disorientation until you feel more confident.

I was planning to produce my own video tutorial for hover flight. But I found a YouTube video that would be hard to beat.  The following video provides an excellent tutorial for learning how to hover.  I recommend following it closely, with the exception of "nose-in" hover.  Nose-in hover is very difficult for beginners and intermediate flyers.  It should NOT be attempted by beginners until they feel confident in their hovering abilities.


Here's another excellent video tutorial on hovering.  The demonstrations are made with a RC helicopter, but the lessons equally apply for a quadcopter. He stresses the importance of also practicing with a simulator program. I would agree if you own a heavier high-end quadcopter (say a DJI Phantom) which can be costly if damaged. BUT if you own a lightweight, low-end toy quadcopter (say a $40 WLToys V212), then consider that quadcopter as you're simulator. These small quadcopters are very lightweight, and as such quite resistant to crashes, and are absolutely perfect for learning to fly.  Here's his video. Listen up, he knows his stuff.


11 comments:

  1. Ya this guy can fly. I'll try the lessons. seems like a good idea. Thanks

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  2. Many thanks for your brilliant service. Here in the UK I'm on my second H8C and I've found twice that the supplied charger has over-heated and threatened to start a fire. It's a serious issue.

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  3. Hello Camera Repair

    thank you very much for this tutorial and the detailed descriptrion. I am a beginner without any experience in copter flying. Today I have started to train hovering above a place indoors and outdoors. The quadcopter did behave in and out in the same manner. I Have 2 questions:

    1. First I trimmed the copter. It slowed down forward/backward and left/right drift without completely stopping it. Is this normal behaviour?

    2. During the first tries the copter did not hover above one place. It was moving around. Later the distance of the moves decreased and I managed to hover it for a few seconds above nearly the same place. Is accurate hovering really a skill that needs some training effort in order to master it? Or do I have to fear that I cannot learn it for whatever reason?

    Greetings
    Peter

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  4. Practice makes perfect, my father always said!

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  5. Great guide, thanks! Loved the videos, they explain and demonstrate how to hover quite nice. For those who got interested in drones after reading this great guide, I can suggest a list of best drones for the year 2016 ;) Check it out here http://mydronelab.com/buyers-guide/best-quadcopter-drones.html You will not only find out which models are the best, but also find out everything about these models.

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  6. Thank you for these videos! You and "Ali" have helped me to finally learn how to turn a quadcopter the proper way! I never thought I would be able to do this, but today while I was out in the below zero temps and it clicked in my brain!

    I just stood there in the middle of a soccer (football for Europe) field with a slight wind, looking at my quadcopter hovering and all of sudden, I had your voice and Ali's in my head telling me how to do the turns and figure 8's.

    It worked!

    I am so freakin' happy! I am 52 years old and I can now prove, "Old dogs can learn new tricks!"
    Now I can enjoy this hobby like everyone else in all the YouTube videos across the vast creation called the "Internet" and it's all because of you and your hard work!

    ReplyDelete