Solo is a great bird, both in hardware and software. If in the process of learning to fly, you hurt her, even in a minor incident, you will find yourself regretting it deeply, and if you sustain major crash damage, you will naturally be heartsick.
There are plenty of admonishing posts made by veteran flyers, emphasizing the importance of taking it slow when it comes to learning. A common theme among list mavens is that thorough study of the manual, becoming adept through practice, and exercising extreme caution at every turn will pay off.
If I may, I'd like to visit some of what, IMHO, are the important support documents published by 3DR.
1) The aptly-titled "Best Practices" support page opens with perhaps the single best piece of advice: "Fly in wide-open areas". [Note that it doesn't read, "Practice in wide-open areas and then advance to flying through tunnels."] Reports are numerous on the forum by experienced Solo flyers who admit "pilot error" as the cause of crashes where this best practice is not followed. (RichWest, I hope you don't mind me propagating your PSA here.) I want to learn from their mistakes. As much as we may like Solo to perform flawlessly in close, near obstacles that may block signals, and under tree cover, we should know that we are assuming significant risk when we do so, and should be prepared to accept responsibility for any resulting mishaps.
2) The Preflight Checklist. Any UAV flyer should get in the habit of taking the time to make sure that the vehicle and controller are functioning well before each flight. It wouldn't hurt to supplement a detailed preflight check with a cursory check of the vehicle on each battery change. In addition to 3DR's page, one the best all-around teaching posts is right under our nose every time we open the Solo help forum, and that is Acroduster's well-thought FAQ sticky thread which contains some excellent basic and expanded preflight checks.
3) The Communication Range and Magnetic Interference support documents both serve to further the case for flying in open areas. One of the biggest lessons I learned was when Solo flew widely off course during a MPCC mission in what I thought was a wide open area. 3DR's excellent support team said that my logs showed a lot of magnetic interference, and in fact I was flying close to large metal earth moving equipment and within 10 yards of utility lines. I was happy to learn my lesson without a mishap.
Metal objects, hidden utility services, radio frequency emitters, wi-fi networks, bluetooth signals, powerful antennas, and obscured line-of-sight due to obstacles are all the enemy of RC controlled devices. We are well-advised to stay clear of them or accept the consequences.
We have many reasons to practice safe flying, and I would say the one we are often the most concerned with—protecting our investment—is the least important reason. We should be more concerned with damaging property, and most importantly with causing injury to ourselves and others.
I would add another reason for safe flying habits, and that is respect for 3DR's phenomenal product replacement policy. From what I can see, they try to do their best to accommodate the customer. I'm going to do the best I can to avoid adding to the cost of them maintaining that policy.
[I apologize for the redundancy but I have added links to these support pages to my signature.]
There are plenty of admonishing posts made by veteran flyers, emphasizing the importance of taking it slow when it comes to learning. A common theme among list mavens is that thorough study of the manual, becoming adept through practice, and exercising extreme caution at every turn will pay off.
If I may, I'd like to visit some of what, IMHO, are the important support documents published by 3DR.
1) The aptly-titled "Best Practices" support page opens with perhaps the single best piece of advice: "Fly in wide-open areas". [Note that it doesn't read, "Practice in wide-open areas and then advance to flying through tunnels."] Reports are numerous on the forum by experienced Solo flyers who admit "pilot error" as the cause of crashes where this best practice is not followed. (RichWest, I hope you don't mind me propagating your PSA here.) I want to learn from their mistakes. As much as we may like Solo to perform flawlessly in close, near obstacles that may block signals, and under tree cover, we should know that we are assuming significant risk when we do so, and should be prepared to accept responsibility for any resulting mishaps.
2) The Preflight Checklist. Any UAV flyer should get in the habit of taking the time to make sure that the vehicle and controller are functioning well before each flight. It wouldn't hurt to supplement a detailed preflight check with a cursory check of the vehicle on each battery change. In addition to 3DR's page, one the best all-around teaching posts is right under our nose every time we open the Solo help forum, and that is Acroduster's well-thought FAQ sticky thread which contains some excellent basic and expanded preflight checks.
3) The Communication Range and Magnetic Interference support documents both serve to further the case for flying in open areas. One of the biggest lessons I learned was when Solo flew widely off course during a MPCC mission in what I thought was a wide open area. 3DR's excellent support team said that my logs showed a lot of magnetic interference, and in fact I was flying close to large metal earth moving equipment and within 10 yards of utility lines. I was happy to learn my lesson without a mishap.
Metal objects, hidden utility services, radio frequency emitters, wi-fi networks, bluetooth signals, powerful antennas, and obscured line-of-sight due to obstacles are all the enemy of RC controlled devices. We are well-advised to stay clear of them or accept the consequences.
We have many reasons to practice safe flying, and I would say the one we are often the most concerned with—protecting our investment—is the least important reason. We should be more concerned with damaging property, and most importantly with causing injury to ourselves and others.
I would add another reason for safe flying habits, and that is respect for 3DR's phenomenal product replacement policy. From what I can see, they try to do their best to accommodate the customer. I'm going to do the best I can to avoid adding to the cost of them maintaining that policy.
[I apologize for the redundancy but I have added links to these support pages to my signature.]
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