DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

All you need to know before flying your first drone, in only 7 minutes

Jul 10, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

So you’ve bought your first drone and it’s time for some awesome aerial shots. But, before you take off, you should make the flight safe for you and the others, and of course, for the drone itself. In only 7 minutes, Darious Britt will tell you all you need to know and do before your drone takes its first flight.

It’s not enough just to unpack the drone and take it up into the sky. Darious shares some useful advice what to do before the first flight, how to practice flying, which apps to use and how to keep yourself and the others safe. It’s a useful and helpful checklist for all the drone newbies. So, if you haven’t made your first flight yet, this is the video you must watch before you do it.

YouTube video

1. Register a drone

On FAA’s website, there’s a notice that all drones weighing between 0.55 lbs. (250 grams) and up to 55 lbs. (25 kg) need to be registered. There’s been a word lately that only commercial drones require FAA registration, and you can even get a refund if you registered a personal aircraft. Still, make sure to check the rules and regulations, because they are different depending on the country where you live.

2. Intro drones

Cheaper drones are a bit harder to fly because they don’t have the advanced features that make them fly practically on themselves. So, they simply force you to learn how to fly manually. Darious started with Sky Viper s1700.He crashed it 3 times during the first flight, but hey – better to crash a $55 drone than a $1200 one.

3. Simulators and getting to know the drone

Better than crashing a cheap drone is crashing a virtual one. So, before you fly an actual aircraft, you can use a simulator first. You can use a SkyViper simulator, and DJI Go app also has their own, in case you use their drone.

When you decide to fly the real thing, don’t just unpack it and go wild. Study the manual and get to know your new toy.

4. Safety

For your very first flight, avoid the places with lots of people and obstacles. Choose an open space so the chance for crashing the drone and/or hurting someone is minimal.

Avoid flying in strong wind (over 15mph) and flying near cell towers, radio stations and Wi-Fi hotspots – as they can interfere with the signal.

5. Avoid restricted areas

Before you take off, you should be familiar with the restricted areas where flying is limited or forbidden. There are apps that will show you these areas. Darious recommends Hover, but there’s also FAA’s B4UFly app. You can find the no-fly zones on DJI’s website as well.

6. Pre-flight checklist

Okay, so you’re ready to fly, but here’s a checklist for you before the drone takes off for the first time:

  • remove all the gimbal covers
  • make sure all propellers are secure, give them a spin
  • make sure the battery is in place and secure
  • make sure nothing is obstructing the fans
  • Check if the gimbal’s straight
  • check the camera for dirt and fingerprints

7. Practice

Taking off and landing can be tricky for beginners because of the ground effect. So, make sure to practice it first to get the feeling of the drone.

Then, also practice hovering. If it’s windy outside, it’s not as easy as it may seem.

8. Basic movements

When you’ve mastered taking off, landing and hovering, you should practice some basic moves. Keep them simple, small and smooth for the start. These are some of the movements that can help you master the controls and get the feeling of the drone movement:

  • fly in square
  • fly in the circle
  • fly in figure 8

9. What if you crash?

If you’re a beginner, you’ll most likely crash the drone at least once, and it’s okay. Be prepared for that, and bring a few extra propellers and maybe even an extra battery. But if you keep those movements smooth and slow, you shouldn’t have a big damage.

Also, make sure not to rely on automatic obstacle avoidance too much. It’s not perfectly reliable, and it may not cover all sides of the drone. For example, the DJI Mavic Pro has it for the front and the bottom, but not for the back, sides and top.

10. Some rules and laws

As I mentioned above, you should get familiar with the laws of your country before you fly the drone. But there are few general rules to follow, in order to keep yourself and the others safe:

  • don’t fly over people, stadiums, airports, national parks – or anywhere where a descending drone could cause harm
  • keep the drone within the eyesight
  • don’t fly more than 400ft (120m) above the ground
  • return to the home position with enough battery power in case of an emergency

If you’re just about to get your first drone up in the air, I’m sure this video was of help. To sum up – be careful, get to know your drone, practice and follow the rules. This way, you’ll have the drone, yourself and the others safe while taking those awesome aerial photos and videos.

[LEARN HOW TO FLY A DRONE IN 7 MINUTES! | D4Darious]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Flying a drone over Hart Island mass graves got a photographer cited and his drone seized Become a drone flying master with these 5 simple tips Two tourists arrested for flying drone above Vatican The V-Coptr Falcon foldable bi-coptor drone has a flight time of up to 50 minutes

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: drone

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Leica TL2 mirrorless camera officially announced, features 24MP sensor, 20fps shooting and 4K video
Make a DIY portable beauty dish for less than $10 »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy