Learning to fly a drone is a bit like learning to ride a bike or a car—or learning just about any skill. Basically, you need to practice. Find out what you need to do with the controls, and keep practising until you get it right.
Learning to fly a drone isn’t as difficult as learning to fly an actual helicopter or an aeroplane. However, it can be more challenging that learning how to drive a remote-controlled car. You also need to first learn special rules pertaining to drone flying. To help you out, here are some tips that you should keep in mind.
Know the Laws
The US has laws regarding the flying of drones, and a new Drones Bill in the UK specifies certain rules regarding the registration of drones. Perhaps the most important rule here now is that you can’t fly a drone within 5 kilometres of an airport. Other zones that are also considered no-fly zones include prison grounds.
You may want to exercise some sort of common sense regarding when and where you can fly your drone especially when you’re still learning. Keep the drone away from private grounds, and keep it within your sight. Don’t fly over crowds or busy streets.
Find Out About the Features of Your Drone and Your Controller
Drone models can have rather different controls, so learning how to fly one drone won’t make you an expert in an entirely different type of drone. Take special note of the safety features of your drone.
Find out what they do, and how you can use them. One nice special feature is obstacle avoidance, but this can mean differently depending on the model. Some drones with this feature can navigate the drone around these obstacles. But others may just freeze the drone in place when your sensors detect obstacles.
The most important safety feature here is the return-to-home function. Set an altitude for its home flight, and be sure you know but button or icon to push when you need to activate this function.
Finally, do try to find out how you can quickly cut power to the drone in case of emergency. The drone may just ignore your command to come home, so this can be your backup so it doesn’t just fly away.
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| DJI Spark | DJI Mavic | DJI Phantom 4 Pro | DJI Tello |
Learning the Manual Controls
Now it’s time to really fly the drone. You can learn by taking classes, should such lessons be available near you. You can also find drone simulator programs you can practice on. If you do just want to head straight to learning to fly with your actual controller, try to practice when and where there aren’t many people around.
The usual manual controls have the left stick for rotation and for altitude, while the right stick usually sets the direction of the drone.
Practice the controls, and then familiarize yourself with the automated flight modes available. Keep on practising, and continue to perfect your skills, and don’t be discouraged when your drone crashes. It happens to everybody, and you should just keep on practising.
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