FIRST FLYING MANEUVERS part 3

FIRST TAKE-OFF

To make the takeoff, push the left stick half way forward. When the drone is about 10 feet high, pull it back until the drones stops climbing. If the drone starts descending, let it land. If it is hovering or climbing, pull the left stick slightly further back until it descends and make a landing. Use the right stick to control left-right and sideways movement as necessary. 

You have just completed a landing and takeoff. Repeat until the battery goes dead. About 5-7 minutes worth for a battery rated at 7-9 minutes flight time. Whatever the manual say, reduce the time to 80%.  Resist the temptation to actually "fly it". After you can demonstrate to yourself that you can safely take off and land - without crashing, then you can proceed. Try another take off.

BATTERY GETS WEAKER

The Drone will takeoff really fast and climb quickly at first. As the drone battery becomes weaker, the takeoff will require more left stick (throttle). When your 5 minute alarm goes off, stop flying and change battery. 

If you forgot the set an alarm, the battery voltage may get too low and the drone will not accept the command to add throttle. The battery is effectively dead. It isn't really dead. It's just below the minimum voltage for the drone to fly. 

If you try a take-off and the drone will not gain altitude (go up), the battery is dead. Change it. Another reason for using the 80% rule is you do NOT want to drain the battery to far. Draining the battery dead reduces the longevity of the battery. Better to settle for a lower single battery flight time and have more batteries available than to stress the batteries.

DRONE IS UNRESPONSIVE

At some point you may note the drone is becoming unresponsive. This usually means the drone battery is going dead, the transmitter batteries are dying, or your drone is to far from the transmitter, the wind is picking up, or a combination of these. If any of these happens, land immediately. 

If the controls don't work, try running towards to drone with left stick full back. If your lucky, the drone will accept the command and crash. 10 feet closer can make the difference. The UDI U818A will crash when the battery gets below a certain voltage or flies too far away from the transmitter (looses communications lock).

Keeping the drone close ( 50-100 feet or so) is the only way to safely experience the battery going dead. Symptoms of the drone battery dying are 1)  the controls seem sluggish and 2)  take somewhat longer to execute and 3) the throttle has to go further up (more up throttle) to keep the drone in the air.

Using a timer is a safe way of never having to say, "My drone did a flyaway today." Always have reserve battery power. Using the timer, and keeping records of battery voltage both before and after flying, you be able to chart approximately how long the battery will last. If 7-8 minutes is quoted in the manual,  5 minutes is a good flight time and a safe one. Be safe. "Hot dog" (showoff)  later on when you friends are watching :)

25 to 50 takeoffs and landings should gives you enough confidence to more do more maneuvers. You will have had multiple panic and normal crashes. The drone will should still be in good shape. You have semi-mastered the basic takeoff and landing procedures and most likely, had some crashes.