If you're learning how to fly a quad or any multirotor for the first time Josh and Alex have a great step by step process to get you started. For more Flite Test: flitetest.com/authors/FliteTest
This video is Flite Test at its finest: Education. I.e., advancing the hobby by providing basic advice to beginners. Don't get me wrong; I love the "Challenge" and "Lets Fly" episodes, but those are just entertainment. They make beginners WANT to fly. Education teaches beginners HOW to fly. Good work!
+Jack2Japan This is dead on. As a beginner, I love watching all of the crazy stuff for inspiration. But their beginner-focused vids communicate a lot of solid info and advice with great production values, making it fun to watch.
I am SO happy you're teaching new people to learn without the giant handicap of auto-level. Better pilots all around will come from learning how to fly these things the right way. Buying a Phantom as your first multi is a terrible idea so I'm also happy you touched on that.
Actually it's not a terrible idea (thats an exaggeration). The Phantom has a Manual mode so it could work just the same as any other multi rotor. I've met plenty of people who have used a phantom as their first and have had no problems.
You could drive a Model A or a Tesla. Most would pick the Tesla over the Model A. I do not need to know how to drive the Model A to Drive a Tesla and in fact the controls are not close to the same for anyone that has driven an old car, controls are not close to what is on a new car other than the steering wheel. So I see no problem with starting out with a Phantom.
***** What about all the videos where the barometer fails due to temperature or light making them get stuck in the air. Then IF the pilot even dared enter the dreaded "manual" mode, he is now completely out of control and heading for the crowd of spectators. There are quite a few videos of this on RU-vid. It happens and the pilots should at least know how the basic controls work in manual mode before flying more then a few feet from the ground.
All rotary wing aircraft are unstable. I do agree that it does make sense to learn to fly a multi-roter aircraft with one of the many available micro's or mini's available. I do have to disagree very much with the bias against using these aircraft that have sophisticated flight control systems. There is still a large learning curve but what you will learn faster is that it does not take large stick movements to make corrections. My background is ROV's. One of the jobs we had to do was diver support. Early ROV's did not have too much in the way of auto controls. We were lucky if we had auto heading and auto depth. The flight controllers used in the hobby today are quantum leaps more capable. These very same electronics are now being used to control very expensive and sophisticated vehicles. Unlike multi-roters ROV's are very stable. When teaching new pilots we tell them when first getting into trouble let go of the control stick. This is something you cannot do with a multi-roter without a flight controller. The fact is there really is no reason these days to fly without flight controller assistance unless you want to do things with it that cannot be done with the flight controller engaged. Almost all flight controllers have various modes that remove the amount of assistance given. Therefore learning to fly a multi can be done in stages where the danger of being overloaded is reduced and the probability of success is increased.
Fantastic entry level video to fly multirotors. My wife has been flying the Nano QX since last fall and she still got some great tips from watching this video. She will be building her first mini h quad soon and very excited to learn everything she can from scratch-building, soldering and tuning. Thank you all again for being such a positive influence on this hobby.
This is probably the best educational video I have ever seen for everyone who wants to start off learning to fly correctly. I DID NOT have any fancy quantization gear on my first $29 dollar quad. Thank you so much guys!
This video made me feel so much better about NOT flying orientation yet. Just started walking the dog, but didn't realize I was doing these steps naturally as a real progression of skills, I just doing what I'm feeling confident with right now. Who knew it would be what you are suggesting? Awesome. Love this hobby. Thanks guys.
I've been trying to get friends involved in multi-rotor and my training has been "ad hoc" at best. This video REALLY helped me learn some tricks and tips that I can use to make my teaching more structured and, hopefully, make it less confusing and frustrating for the students. Many thanks for a great video and remember, safe flying is simply keeping the pointy end forward and the shiny side up.
Thank you guys for putting this video out! I''m so glad to see you guys showing some basic steps for beginner pilots, and especially emphasizing some simple safety measures like safe places and knowing when to cut throttle. So glad to see you guys working so hard to keep this hobby awesome!
Thanks guys. I was beginning to think I just lacked the ability to ever get it. But after following your advice in this video, it's like a light just turned on. Finally it's more fun than work to fly. Thanks again
Took me almost 3 months to comfortably fly fast with full cyclic and doing circle, but only with frame/kit and radio that i am familiar with. Training is worth it, you enjoy your craft more.
I wish I watched this video when I first started, if it wasn't for the love of flying I would have been frustrated a given up. Watching a multirotor in flight under awesome control is the most amazingly beautiful sight in the world. I just jumped straight in and flew, a multicopter with blade guards like the udi818a is awesome because you almost never break a blade. This hobby has so much growth that what I'm doing with multirotors now amazes even myself.
This video could not have come at a better time. I've build a medium quad this winter/spring, and was very worried how I would start flying it without experience. I did not want to learn bad habits, so I was a bit scared. And then...FLITE TEST to the rescue! Once again, you guys are great. Ok, I'm starting to miss David, cause all of you together had great chemistry, but I'm more of a fan of FLITE TEST day after day! Thanks!
flitetest. guys I have been subscribed to you for a long time. I just want to say thanks it was your videos they got me into multirotors a couple years ago and now I couldn't imagine a hobby without fpv. your patience in training and all you are free knowledge have really helped me go from a noob to understanding what it really means to build your own multi-rotor in fly. I've built several now over the years, and my latest Buy which now looking back I should have bought your anycopter but it's a Walkera Runner 250 and I got to save these guys build one hell of a quad. I wish you would do a review on it because I'm tearing through trails that probably 35 miles an hour all I did was put better gemfan's on it and for a $200 investment it's a weapon. the reason I'm writing this is because it's all because of you guys thanks for getting me into it. and I really want to say I appreciate all your videos and patience you guys truly are the best and it really shows that you love the hobby I can imagine RU-vid without you guys now. thanks for everything Frank Central Florida...
Another great video. I am using the good flying summer months to get about a dozen airplane projects in the air (most of them swappables) and then use the fall/winter to go indoors to pick up multicopters. This video comes in handy - thanks guys.
Great video guys! I've been teaching myself multi rotors for the past 6 months. Once I turned off all the "assistance" I immediately started to become a better pilot. The training wheels were definitely holding me back. I'm in Toledo OH and hope I can make it to Flite Fest. Again another great video you guys rock!
Really great video; thank you! Just started flying this week and I am still at the hovering mode, and some simple forward and back movements. Thanks again!
Learning to fly as these guys show is probably the best way and don't be afraid to crash. I'm about three weeks into flying quadricopters and had originally got discouraged with my Blade Glimpse and got a Parrot AR.Drone to help. While the handicap was nice, it wasn't teaching me the things I needed, like being able to hover without assistance. Don't be afraid, fly the quad and have fun. My Glimpse is pretty much a version of the nano and is equally indestructible when it comes to crashes trust me I know :) A lot of good advice on this video and my appreciate of RC has grown exponentially since starting. I never knew I could have as much fun as I do now with RC aircraft.
Great video guys!!! I have been "seriously" looking into a quadcopter since about 2weeks ago, and I watched a ton over your videos over the last few days. Yesterday I jumped in with both feet and bought a Spektrum DX6 and Nano QX...So much fun! Only flew it in the house for the first time yesterday...some advanced mode. Now with this video I have some homework to do to improve. Keep up the good work. And hopefully I'll be graduating up to FPV not too long from now. CHEERS!!!
Great video! I'm a few months i with multirotors. I started with the Syma X1 (Bumble Bee edition). After that I went with a Flamewheel (prebuilt). I've built my first mutlirotor using a Titan Airframe. These tips are spot on.
I remember watching this a while back ago. Recently, I picked up a little micro quadrotor. It really is a joy to fly around, although I still need to work a little bit on keeping good control of it when it's oriented differently.
Thanks for the video and the tips, guys. I have lost FOUR Hubsan x4's over the last six months due to loss of orientation and the ensuing loss of control. Go to high, lose orientation, the wind takes it some more, and kiss it goodbye. Orientation and control are EVERYTHING when learning how to fly MR's. Thanks again.
I have to say that I 'learned' to fly my selfbuild quadcopter with autolevel. And I do not regret it. It allowed me to fly eights and courves within 5 minutes. The difficult thing about autolevel is that you have to understand what the flightcontroller is doing exactly. You have to know that it tries to hold a certain angle if you put the stick into a certain position. That means that stick at center means that the copter will level, but it will not hover on the spot. So you still have to tilt the copter into the opposite direction to brake, you have to fly faster circles like with a regular helicopter to let the look nice. I really enjoy the autolevel feature. When I tried to fly 50cm singlerotor-helis about 3 years ago, it was always more scary than fun. I was always afraid to crash. It feels so much better to be able to leave the right stick and to know that the quad will not smash into the ground.
This is excellent. I really enjoy the content you guys produce. As a beginner myself I intuitively followed pretty much the same steps since they are probably the ones you naturally progress in. One thing that has aided my no end with orientation on my 250 quad is installing LED strips! Green on the back arms, red and blue on the front arms. Can see them from a good distance which does wonders to inspire confidence when starting out flying. (I have started out with auto level on the KK though...).
Thanks a ton for the great vid. I just received a Hubsan X4 today so I'll be putting all your tips to use! I really enjoy your channel and Thanks again for all of your great work and I always look forward to every new episode Flite Test....
Just sent this to my professor. I helped him run a 3d printed multirotor competition and this would be useful for the next time we run the competition.
Thank you for the great tips. I have wanted to build one for a while but needed some starting points to begin to build and some exercises to practice with the multirotor.
I learned to fly a multirotor on a 3-axis gyro Syma X1, which taught me heaps about wind behavior, hover, when to kill the throttle, etc. I realized watching this video that I did my homework, and that a strong common sense and warmed-up thumbs (or fingers for pinchers) before flying a bigger platform always loosen up. I'd say that the flight characteristics of, say a Hubsan 107-series wherein the frame has no air canopy underneath (syma x1 and wl 9x9 types can rely on more updraft for lift) would be a great warm-up before a DJI or x350 pro type of flying box. I'm glad Flite Test tube exists: it's one of the best places you can learn off of apart from what you've got in front of you. There have been at least a couple of times I might have crashed a heavy x350pro if I didn't hear some haunting tips in my head from Josh and Alex right at the moment lol.
GPS and attitude mode saved me a bunch learning to fly! If you loose orientation just let go maintain throttle figure out which way it's pointed and go again no crash involved!!!
I very recently bought a hubsan q4 the really small quadcopter and I've had a blast learning to fly it around the house from room to room. Maybe some time in the future I'll get a bigger one and strap my gopro to it. The tips on this video were helpful, I've been mostly avoiding using the rudder as the elevation stick tends to have a mind of its own when moved left or right.
That was a great video! I was about to ask you to do more beginners video and you came with this! This is so enlightening for beginners like me! Thanks Flite Test, I really enjoyed the video.
This video is amazingly helpfull, I will admit that my "first"quadcopter was one i built in Kerbal Space Program, and my actual 1st quad was a DJI Phantom 2 Vision, love your videos, keep up the good work guys!
Thanks for the video, I've just learnt the hover, moving backwards and forwards and side to side and was wondering what to do next. Now I know. Thanks very much for the info. I've started with the Walkera Ladybird. Its great.
I love this video. I share it with all my new quad friends. It's helped me a lot. I'm starting a new channel, and uploading my videos over the next few days! Thanks for helping me suck less!
YYYEEESSS! Now I get to see awesome FPV videos (the FPV footage of the Box-O-Copter by the way, was *beautiful*) AND get to learn how to fly one of these after I build one! Oh yeah!
Excellent Video. I have been struggling to learn how to fly and this gives me some practical ways to get started. I also really like the view of the sticks when shot this video, this really helps a beginner what to expect. I have probably been over reacting with my sticks as well.
This video is the best I've seen for learning to fly drones. I wish I'd found it a couple months ago. I've flown RC more than 50 years and drones are like starting over. Ps the arrow would have worked better if you had attached it close to the front of the arrow. Then it would weather vane.
I got my first quad this past week. It was the Bladerunner Atom. I broke it before the third charge ran out LOL! It is very fragile, for me at least. I went out today and got a litehawk high roller and it is so much more forgiving!
This is awesome because I just bought my first quad eariler. I got a WLToys V959 Quadcopter -Future Battleship Spy drone. (mouthfull that is.) It was 50 bucks, came with a camera and controller. I figure it's probably worth it, because the controller has a "newbie" mode that limits input to 40%, with adjustable input from 40 to 100% of normal. It looks like a lot of fun, can't wait to try it out!
Great video guys. I started with helicopters, then quads and some planes along the way. I agree the Blade Nano QX is a perfect first multirotor. I have talked several friends into buying one and start in the rc hobby. Other good starters are the Traxxas QR1, Helimax 1SQ, Blade MQX and maybe the tiny ProtoX (which is fun, but actually not what I would recommend starting on). I own all of them. Now I've built 4 multirotors including the Knuckle H Quad from FT. Looking forward to seeing you guys at FliteFest.
I learned to fly exactly as you suggested on a nanocopter. Ended up buying propellers by the dozen. In the local hobby shop they recommended a simulator! Then when I bought the DJI Phantom 2+ ver. 3.0 it was so easy to fly that I was finally able to concentrate on composition, instead of the instability problems with the bird. The addition of inertial navigation, GPS, and the flux compass was as Winston Churchill put it, the foundation of all. After I get a few hours on my Phantom, I will buy the Inspire one.
Dave McIntyre Make sure you do your homework on the Inspire! As awesome as it is, they are having teething problems, MANY runaway problems! But it does look like a very nice camera platform
Awesome tips guys! The learning curve is really a learning ladder! I lost orientation big time when I was practicing patterns when I first started. I didn't have a ton of batteries or time when I started so I got a simulator and quickly learned I had zero skills flying in every direction but tail end. I still practice though... Something else that is pretty darn cool is IOC. Pixhawk/APM, Devo-M and Naza-M has this. I remember crashing from switching it on accidentally or switching it on purposely and not clear of what it does and crashing (Walkera X350 Pro). After I learned what it was and how to use it, WOW! I engage it instead of failsafe when I loss orientation going a little too far to see the orientation. These craft look large on the ground. But once 100 feet up and 200 feet out it hard to tell. It works like a charm! I know quite a few pilots and I'm the only who uses it and even practice in IOC. I'll burn a few batteries just in IOC. It's great for certain special shots too. Oh, once in a while it may screw your head up for a moment while practicing too! :)
Super Video, Thanks for the positive information on how to fly a multirotor. Its a completely different ball game from flying fixed wing. You really have to fly a multirotor there are no dead stick landings, never the less its all doable with patience and slow perseverance it is very rewarding.
Where was this video 2 years ago? Do you know how many quads I trashed?...lol Even after a couple of seasons under my belt. I still learned something new from you guys today. TYVM :)
This video would be so helpful to me 1 year and an half ago when I first started... I didn't even knew what control (throttle, ruder, pitch an roll) to put in what stick. Really good video, although I would say you are better off flying it with the wind in your back, but with nothing around you. If the wind blows strong and you can't control it, let it crash away from you, not in your face. I started with a big quad and hexa, but got used to Mode 2, and it is really hard to change to Mode 1. I'd say, start with stabilize mode, not gps or auto level, but not with acro/manual either. That way, it will be easier to learn (it will keep itself upright), and you can get it to acro later without much problem.
I, i bought a quattro copter last week and try time and time again to make it fly straight but can't, but since i watched your video 'How to' i did the exercise you suggest and now i can fly my quattrocopter in a 'S' patern easily, thanks guys for helping me, cheer ;0)
I like the walking the dog tip. Instead of chasing the quad around. I would send the quad out and back, Then turn 90 degrees(both the quad and myself) and send it out and back, then turn back the other way until I was able to go out back, left, back, right, back. After a while, I didn't need to turn my body and then I connected the different sections before coming back. I kinda like the stabilization for new flyers. Even that Nano QX has limiting and self leveling. It sure makes learning much easier when you can let go of the stick and slowly land it.
