I was asked a question the other day I do not think I have been asked before; when flying a drone, what is more important? Keeping an eye on the actual drone in the sky or watching the image on the controller, whether it be a unit with a built in screen or your smartphone.
And I had to think for a second; what do *I* do when flying?
The answer turns out to be a bit of both as it happens. It also depends somewhat on which drone I am flying.
First things first though. Under CASA guidelines (these are the folk that make the rules who work for the gummint), unless you are properly certified, you MUST keep your drone in line of sight at all times. This means by visual of the drone operator and does not include goggles or using a spotter.
You can see my video on all the rules here.
Next, when taking off, make sure you have received the message that the “Home Point Has Been Updated”. This means all the GPS satellites have kicked and so if something does go wrong, you can hit the Return to Home button knowing the drone will safely fly back – remaining battery power being the major variable.
If I am flying the AVATA 360, I find I do use the controller’s screen more than visual on the drone, simply as I can change the orientation of the camera to see exactly what I am filming. I do regularly keep an eye on the actual drone though.
Likewise for the MAVIC 4 Pro.
If You Get Lost
With the Flip, Neo 2 or Lito X1 though I do use eyeballs on the drone more than the screen, and the reason for this I think is that even with the controller, often in bright sunlight it is hard to see the details on the controller of how high you are and how far away the drone is. It can however give you an idea of the drone’s orientation though if you lose track of which way it is heading:
- Stop the drone
- Hover
- Then do a slow full circle to pick up a landmark that is obvious
I first learnt this is ECO Beach near Broome with a DJI Mini 2, way back when. As you may (or may not) know, in Brome and surrounds, the tides are huge, and at Eco Beach Resort (about an hour south), the distance from high water point to low water is measured in almost kilometres as against meters.
I had sent the drone out over the sand left after the receding tide and it was just a speck in the distance. I got totally disoriented, so as mentioned, stopped, hovered and did the circle thing until I could see the resort buildings on the screen and knew I was now pointing in the right direction to get the drone back.
What you may not also be aware of, is that the controller also has a map built in and you can switch from camera mode to mapping mode at any time and the GPS on the drone will show you the area you are in and the direction the drone is flying.
RTM
Here I’ll make another point I am often accused of banging on about. Read the Manual!
Often it may be necessary to download the PDF from the DJI website as against a proper paper manual, but this has the benefit of always being on your phone / tablet and therefore always accessible.
In short, for the purposes of taking stills or video, use the controller screen to frame your shots, use the mapping system to keep an eye on your exact location, if you can, use the on-screen information with regards to height, distance etc but DO keep a regular eye on the physical drone.
Caption to Photo: You need to be able to see what the camera is seing to get exact shots like this wave breaking, and therefore need to keep an eye on the controller screen when shooting video or taking stills. This was shot with a DJI AVATA 360.