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1st Flight !

Danny Z

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Dec 11, 2016
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Hello !

I have been very busy with work and the weather has not been flyable here in Connecticut.

Anyway, I had my 1st flights today, I think it went great ! (Huge thanks to The Green Orange and Jerry !)

So here is how I got here:

When I originally decided to get into FPV I started to do my research like we all do, Having flown RC helis for many years, I already had the mindset to use what the "Pro's" use for my jump into FPV.

I had gone thru my growing pains in RC Helis , of buying entry level equipment and then out growing it, while I still believe that it is the way to go if you have never been into RC before, My humble opinion is that if you know you are in it for the long haul, go with what whomever you are inspired by fly's, they are flying it for a reason.

With that being said I was inspired by the Rotor Riot crew, while my intent is not to be diving huge buildings, I do want to be able to rip up a small course or power loop some big ole tree's.............

Soooooo, I ordered up an Alien 5", Tramp VTX, the Run Cam Swift camera, The KISS FC with the Kiss ESC's, Lumineir motors, and away I went.......

I followed the You Tube videos that Rotor Riot made for building the Alien, programming both the FC and The Taranis.

Installing the GUI on my laptop was very easy (Windows 8 machine, I could not get the Chrome version of the KISS GUI to work, so I installed the Windows 64 stand alone version), Then I upgraded the KISS FC to the latest stable version, flashed the ESC's to the latest version and that was that, very, very easy.

And just as Chad said, with stock PID's the machine flys very well, l have to say . I believe that was an understatement on his part, my machine , built to his specs and programmed with stock PID's is an incredible flight experience, it turns like it is on rails and hovers like a rock

However flying a quad LOS required a rapid reassessment of exactly how far away I would be able to go during LOS flying,

It is extremely hard to tell what the orientation is, Once I found a distance that was comfortable for me, I just took some time to get the feel of the machine, by my 3rd pack I was doing rolls and flips at ten feet, the machine is an ABSOLUTE dream to fly ! No oscillations what so ever with the stock PIDS.

And I also found out by the 2nd pack that acro is the only way for me to fly, I think level mode is still great for learning and should be used to get the feel for hovering and basic forward flight, but get into acro as soon as you can you will be thankful you did, just go slow and get comfortable........

Pack number 4, lets put the goggles on and see what happens..................

I set up a chair, put an orange construction cone 30 feet in front of me, and put my quad 30 feet out beyond the cone (just like the tutorial on the FPV Academy Youtube channel) and off I went...............well not really, As soon as I powered up, the machine was a little off level and I rolled it right over, and over and over........man this goggle stuff is tough...........

At this point I grabbed the floor mat out of my truck used it as a pad and sat in the chair again, throttled up..........and rolled it yet again........now I'm like what the heck......OK, lets try level mode..........Ah, OK this is better, I can get into the air now........now lets try hovering again....holding altitude about 3 feet........going good.......lets try and move around a bit..........not to bad.......but feels like I'm in molasses......I think the gyro is fighting me to keep the machine level.......... of course it is, that it's job !!!

OK, lets try Acro mode again while in the air........OK, I can move around better, left, right, forward, back........900 MAh alarm, lets land and change packs.............

Next pack I try and lift off again in acro mode, but this time I make the commitment, and not try and "baby" it into the air..........SUCCESS !.....I'm hovering.......well I'm holding to within a a 10 foot circle..........900 MAh alarm.............. dam.....no more packs, oh well, I think we have done enough for today........

It's really weird looking at yourself through the camera, but until I have quite a few more flights under my belt, I like the idea of knowing where I am, not knowing whats behind or off to the side's is gonna take a little getting used too.........................OK, that's it, time to go home and eat.

As a side note, I was diagnosed with MS several years ago,
As a result, my left leg doesn't work as good as my right one, walking is a tough deal, especially on grass or on uneven ground, and my left hand dexterity is not what it used to be, it feels stiff all the time, like when the weather is very cold outside, I share this in the hopes that if there is another person out there reading this that has any kind of physical challenges, DO NOT LET THAT STOP YOU FROM GETTING INTO THIS AWESOME HOBBY !
Take your time and stick with it, I know I'm going too...................

Danny Z
 
Awesome post Danny and welcome to the group!
BTW My MOM has MS and has had it for about 25 yrs now, she is in a wheelchair and in a nursing home now so she is well taken care of and she keeps fighting!

Happy flying
Mark...
 
Way to dive right in Danny! When I first started, I found a 1/4 mile running track to be a great place to practice (slow and low). I just followed the track around and it really helped me get a feel for FPV. If you can find one near you that isn't too busy and fairly isolated, You might give it a try.

You are right about the betaflight PIDs, I am still on the stock ones with my Alien clone today.
 
Thank you Mark for the welcome !, My best to your Mom, its a tough deal for sure, when I have my down days, I remember that there are other people that have tougher things in life that what I am dealing with, I still waterski and I get to fly quadcopters, I count my blessings, best to you.......

and Happy flying !
 
Green Orange,
That is an AWESOME idea !!!!
OMG, I never would have thought of that................
and if you go both directions, you wont develope a dominant side, or get lost, you are a genius !

I feel very lucky about how the machine is flying, I don't think I would have had as good of a day if I would have had to deal with PID settings on my own.........
 
Wow, glad to hear about your intro to FPV experiences. My son and I got new race drones for Christmas and we have gone thru many many batteries flying LOS, we are both still novices (although my son is much better than me, for now;) I purchased 2 Eachine EV800 goggles (should arrive soon), and in the meantime, I'm using the Liftoff simulator, which is awesome! I think by the time they get here I'll be ready. I'm sure it's still going to be freaky the first few times though. I'll post my experiences when we get to that point.


-cavalleydude
 
Cavalleydude,

I use the Free Rider Sim, I must say, I am way more aggressive with the sim than I was able to be today for real, I have about 2 hours of sim time, I can circle the tracks just above the gates, but if I try and go through the gates, I may get 1 or 2 and then I crash (I am using my fat shark dom v3 via the hdmi cable........which definitely adds to the realism, it can only help though......

What was hard for me was looking at myself through the camera and seeing "myself" on the left side of the screen, but hearing the copter off to my right......that really threw me off, until I just focused on the visual feedback in the goggles......even that is going to be a work in progress.....

I wear glasses, so I ordered a set of the diopter inserts from RHO lens in Germany, they work great !

Im a nervous nelly with the goggles on, but the tip that The Green Orange suggested is an absolutely great idea, I will be doing that as soon as I can find a running track,,,,,,,,,

In the meantime, stick with the LOS, it all helps !!

Danny
 
Danny,

Sounds like you're really getting the hang of things! I think you may just be passing me by. I'm still plugging away in Horizon mode. I am pretty comfortable with the goggles though. I'm actually more comfortable with the goggles than LOS now.

I'm really glad to see that you're having some fun with this hobby. That's what it's all about at the end of the day!

Jerry
 

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