First flight today. It was hard. Some things to note:

1. I didn't try fpv. Just LOS hovering. I mostly used angle mode.
2. Throttle was harder than pitch and roll.
3. Yaw was tricky because I would accidentally increase throttle when trying to yaw. I was moving the stick at an angle rather than side to side.
4. I was in a small park. Thought there was enough open area away from trees (75 foot open area) but I still clipped some branches. Next time will be in a larger open space. Since I don't know what I'm doing the quad was moving much more and faster than I wanted.
5. I did do well with hitting the disarm switch when things got scary. Most disarms happened below 10 feet so no damage from any of them.
6. When I got too high a couple times it was because I was overcorrecting the throttle and bouncing up and down, higher and higher. Clipped a tree branch. This was my highest fall, around 25 feet.
7. It was a bit windy and that forced me to constantly make adjustments. I was a bit annoyed by the wind on my first flight.

Damage? Just a bit.
1. Rotors scuffed with a few small dents/chips. This was from flying into branches a couple times.
2. Propeller cracked the balance cable connector on one battery because I didn't secure it well. It was cracked on the edge so I was able to glue the pin in place and the battery charger reads all cells okay. Ordered some replacement 6S balance cables.

Will practice again tomorrow at a bigger park. I need to probably adjust the sensitivity on the throttle and/or reduce max power until I'm more comfortable with how sensitive the throttle control is. I just could not operate it smoothly. Any tips on this would be appreciated.

I feel like using this thread as a diary of sorts. Is that okay with the mods or should I make a new one in another part of the forum?

Overall it was a exillirating, heart pounding first flight. It was very mentally taxing but a lot of fun and I've been thinking about it all day. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow! My 6 year old daughter joined me and she had fun watching too.

You can add some throttle expo in Betaflight if you want to which will make the throttle less sensitive in the middle. Alternatively, you can add throttle scaling to reduce the overall power of the from min to max which means that the throttle will have less resolution for smaller stick movements while also meaning that the quad as a whole will have less power which might be good to start off with. Once you get used to throttle control you can then wean yourself off expo or throttle scaling, although some experienced pilots do fly with expo permanently configured so it's up to you what you decide do going forward. I personally don't fly with any type of expo.

If you thought a LOS flight was exhilarating then wait until you strap the goggles on and do an FPV flight. Cherish the first few times you do that when you haven't been used to it because it will feel like an out-of-body experience

Yea just take it slow and build up your confidence. I remember it took me almost 6 months just to learn how to flip and roll when i started.

A few learnings from the last week:

1. I updated the Speedybee F7 V3 FC to Betaflight 4.4 and the GPS module stopped working.  Rolled back to 4.3.
   
2. I had never been able to flash the FC in Windows 10 Betaflight.  Kept getting the "failed to open serial port" error.  Not a big deal because I was able to do it with the Speedybee mobile app.  I tried all the suggestions about installing different drivers and using the Impulse RC Driver fixer tool but nothing worked...my Windows 10 PC would not recognize the FC when in bootloader mode.  But yesterday I tried something different - I put the FC in bootloader mode FIRST and then ran the Impulse RC Driver fixer tool...and it worked!  Previous times I just plugged in the FC and the tool would just sit there and do nothing.  So, in my case the fix was to run the tool with the FC in bootloader mode.  
   

Next on my list is to get the OSD setup in a useful way.  I'm using DJI goggles V2 with a Caddx vista TX.  

• Any tips for what the best telemetry to have in the goggles is? Not rooted, I have not gone down that particular rabbithole yet, lol.
  

I've also been spending a lot of time configuiring the TX16S MK2 (EdgeTX 2.8) and it's all making more sense now.  

• One question:  If I backup the SD card, no matter what I mess up or change on the radio everythying will be back to normal if I simply copy the backup back to the SD card?  Is it really this simple?
  

Didn't get to fly this weekend but I will today!

(06-Feb-2023, 07:07 PM)cali_quad Wrote: A few learnings from the last week:

1. I updated the Speedybee F7 V3 FC to Betaflight 4.4 and the GPS module stopped working.  Rolled back to 4.3.
   
2. I had never been able to flash the FC in Windows 10 Betaflight.  Kept getting the "failed to open serial port" error.  Not a big deal because I was able to do it with the Speedybee mobile app.  I tried all the suggestions about installing different drivers and using the Impulse RC Driver fixer tool but nothing worked...my Windows 10 PC would not recognize the FC when in bootloader mode.  But yesterday I tried something different - I put the FC in bootloader mode FIRST and then ran the Impulse RC Driver fixer tool...and it worked!  Previous times I just plugged in the FC and the tool would just sit there and do nothing.  So, in my case the fix was to run the tool with the FC in bootloader mode.  
   

Next on my list is to get the OSD setup in a useful way.  I'm using DJI goggles V2 with a Caddx vista TX.  

• Any tips for what the best telemetry to have in the goggles is?  Not rooted, I have not gone down that particular rabbithole yet, lol.
  

I've also been spending a lot of time configuiring the TX16S MK2 (EdgeTX 2.8) and it's all making more sense now.  

• One question:  If I backup the SD card, no matter what I mess up or change on the radio everythying will be back to normal if I simply copy the backup back to the SD card?  Is it really this simple?
  

Didn't get to fly this weekend but I will today!

1. Did you include GPS in Cloud Build before you flash the flight controller? More detail here: https://oscarliang.com/gps-mini-quad/#Ca...Betaflight
If you flashed through the speedybee app then it's likely it's not included in BF4.4 (happens to some FC for some reasons)



To your EdgeTx question, yes, models and radio settings are stored in the SD card, back up your SD card you are golden.

(06-Feb-2023, 10:52 PM)Oscar Wrote: 1. Did you include GPS in Cloud Build before you flash the flight controller? More detail here: https://oscarliang.com/gps-mini-quad/#Ca...Betaflight
If you flashed through the speedybee app then it's likely it's not included in BF4.4 (happens to some FC for some reasons)

Thanks for the tip Oscar.  Now that I can flash on my PC I will try again and see if it works.

Went to practice at the park.  Crashed a bunch of times.  Noticed that the footage recorded in the DJI Goggles V2 has embedded telemetry that is overlayed when playing back in VLC media player.  Can turn it off and on.  Pretty neat.

I need to find a larger open space with less trees to practice in!

Short clip here, this was my best attempt today, hahaha!!

Nice! Watch out for those trees. They’ll reach out and grab ya.

(07-Feb-2023, 03:19 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: Nice! Watch out for those trees. They’ll reach out and grab ya.

I think one of my issues is object fixation.  I overcorrect and still run into the thing I was trying to avoid.  Riding a motorcycle is way easier and that's where I first learned about "looking where you want to go".  Need to apply this to flying a quad.  Super fun!! 

Worth noting that I was using angle mode for my first tries at LOS but have been strictly using acro mode for FPV.  Tried angle mode for a bit today and it did not feel right.

So far I have done:

• 15 minutes of LOS 
  
• 1o minutes of FPV
  
• 1 hour in Velocidrone
  

I need to take some time off from work, for real.  Or maybe get a tiny quad that I can fly in the house.  I'm upset that I can't practice more and don't have any large parks nearby.

Its tough to get the hang of acro mode, but its where the real freedom to fly kicks in. Both sticks have to coordinate your turns or else you end up doing side flying like that. I picked it up ok but it took my buddy forever to figure it out lol

youll get there, glad to see you in the air!

I’m a biker as well, and yup, same concept applies- look where you want to go.

I mean, there’s a hell of a lot more to it when you get deeper into acro mode, but the same concepts apply as far as riding a bike- anticipate and prepare for your movements, etc.

That’s pretty damn good for starting out in acro mode. At some point it will just all click and become natural, and you won’t have to think about it at all.

My phone won’t let me load your video again, but from what I recall I didn’t see you over correcting. If anything I saw you under correcting and being too gentle with your throttle. Keep in mind that in acro mode you can give it a bit of yaw and roll and keep traveling in the same direction as you were- don’t be afraid to give it a little more roll and give it more throttle to get it to actually change direction of flight rather than just the orientation of the camera.

Y’know how you lean into and throttle out of a curve on a bike? Try applying the same thing to a quad.
You’ve gotta overcome the momentum to actually change course.

Yeah, I am also a biker, however, I don't see the comparison between
driving a motorcycle and flying in ACRO mode.

From my experience with it, it goes like this:

When you push the stick forward, the quad flys forward, but when you return
the stick to center the quad continues to fly forward, the flight angle does NOT
return as the stick returns UNTIL you get past center, then the quad's angle
reduces as you pull the stick backward. Yeah, it maintains that angle until you
move the stick forward again. It is sort of like a continual cruise control in that
the quad sort of continues in the last known angle. It is very counterintuitive.
On the positive side, you can push the right stick forward a bit and just let
it cruise...yeah, just like cruise control. Nobody ever explains it this way, but
once you understand what is ACTUALLY happening, it is easier to get a grasp
of it. This is nothing like how a motorcycle handles; when the throttle returns,
the speed slows down. 

(07-Feb-2023, 02:28 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Yeah, I am also a biker, however, I don't see the comparison between
driving a motorcycle and flying in ACRO mode.

From my experience with it, it goes like this:

When you push the stick forward, the quad flys forward, but when you return
the stick to center the quad continues to fly forward, the flight angle does NOT
return as the stick returns UNTIL you get past center, then the quad's angle
reduces as you pull the stick backward. Yeah, it maintains that angle until you
move the stick forward again. It is sort of like a continual cruise control in that
the quad sort of continues in the last known angle. It is very counterintuitive.
On the positive side, you can push the right stick forward a bit and just let
it cruise...yeah, just like cruise control. Nobody ever explains it this way, but
once you understand what is ACTUALLY happening, it is easier to get a grasp
of it. This is nothing like how a motorcycle handles; when the throttle returns,
the speed slows down. 

It's all making more sense now.  I just ordered a Mobula7 to practice in the house.  BTW my comparison to riding a bike was not about the controls but about object fixation and how you should not stare at what you want to avoid.

True.

Was into sport/super bikes for 2 decades and and the only real thing for me in common is the excitement and the locked-in feeling but with the added safety of keeping my skin in the event of a crash.

Look where you go is common for most vehicles. Same goes with object fixation.

Throttle roll-on / roll-off is not exactly the same especially if you need to chop the throttle on a quad for acro moves. Chop the throttle on a motorbike mid corner or even in a straight line will cause instability.

Flight angle not returning unless we deflect the sticks in the opposite direction is very different from motor cycles where the rear wheel that acts as a big natural gyro tends to pull the bike upright.

So who wants to start a California Super "Quad" school similar to what Keith Code did for motorcycles with his Twist of the wrist publishing.