Do I need any special training before I can fly a drone?

clararscribner

clararscribner

quad fly girl
Do I need special training before fly a drone? I want to bought a drone for filming my city. I am from San Francisco, do i need any special training? If yes, where do I get the training near Ventura Drive?

Any suggestion?
 
clararscribner said:
Do I need special training before fly a drone?
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You should be able to control a "toy" very well before you should even attempt to fly anything more expensive that can carry a nice camera.
The best thing to do first is try flying an inexpensive quad, then buy a good radio that you can practice with on a simulator
with your computer. It's free and when you crash you don't actually break anything (which costs money and takes time).
Then you can also use that radio to control your good quality quad with camera. Not only will you gain an understanding of how to control
and fly quads, but you'll also develop memory with your hands after getting used to the radio practicing on a simulator that will be very helpful
when you are actually flying a larger more expensive quad carrying a nice camera without crashing it as if you were still learning to control it. ;)
 
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clararscribner said:
will you please suggest something like that? any software or games?
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The best simulator to choose depends on what you're ultimately "going for", because they all have their different strong and weak points to them, but the one I recommend for you is called FPV Freerider. :)

This one is the best because:
It's free and it does not require a powerful computer to use (unlike some of the other sims).
It will give you good practice flying using an actual radio controller that you'll later use to fly real quads with and that will
help to develop your "muscle memory", which is an important aspect of becoming a good quadcopter pilot.

The radio I recommend is the FrSky Taranis X9D+.
It is compatible with ANYTHING on the market (may require the addition of a plug-in module for some products)
and is unquestionably one of the best radios on the market, period. Any "toy" drone you purchase will come with a
cheap radio anyway, and you will get decent practice while learning with that but as far as a quality radio is concerned
it's very hard to beat the Taranis when it comes to it's quality and capabilities. They can be had for around $200.

In conclusion, you can get a taste of the hobby with a "toy" quad just learning to fly (which means crashing A LOT)
for around $50, then progress into the investments required to fully explore the hobby after you're able to fly well
without sacrificing expensive equipment during the learning process. ;)
 
Gyro Doctor said:
The radio I recommend is the FrSky Taranis X9D+.
It is compatible with ANYTHING on the market (may require the addition of a plug-in module for some products)
and is unquestionably one of the best radios on the market, period. Any "toy" drone you purchase will come with a
cheap radio anyway, and you will get decent practice while learning with that but as far as a quality radio is concerned
it's very hard to beat the Taranis when it comes to it's quality and capabilities. They can be had for around $200.
Click to expand...

Your about to convince me to buy one now.. I have been trying to hold off until good tech is crammed into a Xbox style controller. The X-Lite is coming but I haven't seen many reviews yet. I'm suspicious..
 
After going through a few "toy" radios (with many mods along the way) I finally bought my Taranis and
have never regretted it. ;) It is bristling with more knobs and switches than any one model would ever use,
but I also fly other things besides quads too, so I wanted the ability to get creative without running out of options. :cool:

What some of the best features of the radio are though is that is is "future proof" being that is uses "Open TX" so
it can be endlessly updated as improvements in software continue to be created.

I like that it actually talks to you (as well as having haptic feedback (vibrates in your hands) for more urgent notifications), which can be a hobby it's self coming up with ways to make it give you different verbal notifications, in different voices, for different instances that come about while flying. For example, as my battery becomes more and more low, the sexy sounding voice of "Amber" goes from a casual mention, to a stern warning, after which "Yoda" tells me I need to land immediately
(in his own peculiar way of course). :p

It can hold individual setting, pictures, and adjustments for more models than you'll ever own, which can also be expanded
upon with the use of an SD Memory Card.

It has a module bay built into it that you can plug in adapters to control absolutely any protocol out there, from the
"toy" quads up to the "TBS Crossfire" super long range UHF control.

On just about ANY YouTube video you'll ever watch were some one who's serious about the hobby is letting you
see their radio (including world class racers), you'll notice that it's a Taranis ... That right there tells you something too ;)
 
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