Sidenote before flying a drone

Before we will talk about the do’s and don’ts of flying a drone, we hope you know how to fly responsibly and safely. Would you like to know more about the rules and legislation regarding flying your drone? Then read our blog ‘3 Important Drone Rules to Know Before Flying a Drone‘

#1 Flying a drone inside is a NO GO

The first thing that comes to mind is: please don’t fly inside and fly very carefully if necessary. When we took our drone out of the box, we immediately wanted to try it out. But at home, the drone usually has no GPS signal due to the different layers in the house. This allows the drone to drift in the air and is less controllable. Our drone flew straight into a wall. Also, we had not attached the supplied inner protection to the drone, but luckily the drone had no damage.

#2 Look around before flying a drone

If you want to take off outside, it is important that you choose a good spot. First of all, find a place with a lot of space, such as a wide field. Follow the steps of the DJI Fly App and let the drone take off from an object. We use the box from the Fly More Combo as a platform. This way the propellers do not touch the ground and cannot be damaged. Tip: Always check the propellers beforehand to make sure they are all intact. If you decide to take off, first check that there are no trees, branches or power lines in the area you can fly into. And keep checking this continuously while flying.

#3 Choose a good ‘Return to home’ spot

Don’t panic if you lost sight of your drone at some point and don’t know how to get back. You can always use the ‘return to home’ button on your remote control to return your drone to the spot where you started the flight. Therefore, choose a suitable place where the drone can easily land or return to. The return to home button works even if the app loses connection to the drone. Once we flew near a village and the drone disconnected, we pressed the return to home button and the drone came back perfectly.

Tip: You can set the altitude at which the drone will fly back. Make sure not to let it fly back too low, because the drone will fly back in a straight line without paying attention to obstacles. Too high, on the other hand, is also not useful; the drone will have to take a long time to get to the correct, unnecessary height first. So explore the neighborhood and make sure you set the correct flight height.

#4 Try to start from a 0 point

Always try to launch the drone from a 0 point. One time we launch the drone when we were on a hill and then wanted to fly to the salt lakes below us. The app indicated that we were flying at -50 meters. This is confusing and you can no longer estimate when you are near the ground (in this case the water). To see if we could fly a little lower, we had to point the camera down. At one point it was hard to see and of course we didn’t want to risk the drone falling into the water, so we had to fly back.

#5 Check the weather conditions

If it is windy outside, but you still want to fly your drone don’t let your drone take off too high at first and test whether the drone can handle the weather conditions. A drone can only handle a certain wind force, otherwise there is a chance that your drone will be blown away and you may never find it again. Some drones are stronger than others, so keep that in mind. For example, the DJI Mavic Mini can reach 46 KM/H and the DJI Mavic Air 2 72 KM/H. We have flown in high winds. First we flew with the wind and our drone went really fast! On the way back, however, the drone had a lot of trouble and was moving about 2 meters per second. That is quite slow when you are 250 meters away. At such a time, try to fly as low as possible so that the drone catches less wind.

Tip: With several apps, such as UAV Forecast, you can check the weather conditions and see if it is possible to fly.

#6 Return back after the ‘low battery’ warning

You are completely in your element and you take all the shots you could only dream of! But then the notification ‘low battery’ appears. Make sure you always fly back if you get such a notification. If you are far away, the battery drains pretty quickly and especially when it’s windy, the drone can’t return in time.

Tip: If you want to start flying again after the ‘low battery’ notification, buy the DJI drone with the Fly More Combo. This package includes extra propellers, 2 extra batteries, a charger in which all 3 batteries can be charged + a box in which you can take the drone with you. We always take the box with us, so that our drone is well protected in our backpack. The Fly More Combo is slightly more expensive, but we really recommend it. With 1 battery you can fly for almost half an hour, but that includes preparation and take off. If you often go to different places in one day and want to show different place from the air. Then you need at least 3 batteries to get the most out of your drone.