12 BIGGEST Drone MISTAKES New Pilots Make (Updated 2024)

Follow these 12 EASY Steps To Get CINEMATIC Drone Footage - https://youtu.be/8ulZOXTtZxg

I work for a DJI certified sales/rental and repair shop which I run, so I get a ton of crashed DJI drones into my shop and have seen it all! Without getting into the weeds as this is for beginners I will suggest a few basics. 1) I have had several come in because the owner forgot to remove the gimbal cover which caused the gimbal motor to overload and fail. This seems trivial but is very easy to do! 2) People tend to start up a drone in a garage or covered area and then walk it out to the take off point without resetting the home point, then freak out when it tries to or does (in low light conditions) auto return into their roof or some other obstacle above or around the original home point.

If a bird is trying to ruin your day just fly straight up. birds are shit at gaining altitude quickly.

Another tip - I always switch to 'Cine' mode on the controller when manually landing, to give more precise control.

As a beginner my biggest challenge is remembering that when the drone flies away the controls work one way and when it returns to you the controls are the opposite. I've had several near misses. Great video, thank you for sharing.

The two I learned the hard way are 1) Always look up first to confirm your liftoff path is clear. No upward obstacle avoidance! Stray branches ended my very first mini 3 pro flight. Ugghhhh. 2) be very gentle when unfolding the arms, especially the front ones. It is easy to confuse which axis they are rotating on and accidentally twist in a direction that snaps the attachment point. With a light <249g drone heavy duty parts are non existent

If you’re travelling on a boat then the best setting for lost connection would be to tell the drone to just hover so you then can return or get nearer to it.

Not covered in this video these 10 more don't: Noobs should not fly 1) through tunnels; if the signal is lost and the drone returns to home, it will smash into the ceilings or walls 2) along (with) the wind down to 50% battery; the return against the wind requires more energy then the initial part 3) draining the battery up to single digit percentages; the complete discharges affect the battery longevity, but even its maximum output current 4) without a spotter; looking at the screen and at the drone might overload the new operators and a friend that is instructed to look at the drone and at the surrounding area, communicating both if things are fine and if there is any possible risk, is valuable 5) outside with the GPS disabled; besides the risk of losing the drone, it can inflict harm to pople, animal or property while getting lost. 6) indoors with drones that are not specifically beginner-friendly indoor drones with obstacle detection (and avoidance); it's more fun to fly inside with a $50 (non-GPS, garbage camera) toy drone with some rudimentary obstacle avoidance and prop guards than risk an Autel, FIMI, DJI, or other fancy drone 7) a new drone that is totally unfamiliar to them beyond visual line of sight and beyond the distance where they can no longer see the orientation of the drone; I'm not talking about the new regulations that appeared in some countries, but developing good piloting habits where the reliance for safe flying on the camera and phone is kept at a minimum 8) in headless mode; it just hinders developing proper habits 9) surounded by distracting elements; a beginner needs a quiet and predictable environment as not to get overloaded with information and sensorial saturation 10) over places where walking access is prohibited; if something goes wrong and the drone lands (hopefully not crashes), then it would be difficult to recover it, while an experienced pilot might prevent the thing going wrong in the first place (proper maintenance and pre-flight checks, flying recovery skills, identification of problems before a catastrophic failure, etc.)

Other mistakes yes, This weekend I flew in frozen fog (Foggy day and the temperature was -1 C). I had severe ice build up on the blades and the drone began flying eratically and slowly drifted down which it fought. Luckily I too was over level short grassy area and the rate of decent was slow. once I stopped the drone, I was shocked at how much ice covered the leading edges.

So I tend to take off from the hand most of the time now, with the Mini 3. But I don't ever use the sticks. I simply press the takeoff icon, then hold down on the takeoff "button" when it pops up...then just let the drone leave the hand. You don't have to press up on the left stick to take off. You just need to make sure your hand is not in a position to get clipped by the props, and then just make sure you hold your hand still until the drone pops up and hovers.

Another beginner mistake: flying around birds without realizing they’ll attack the drone and break it

This video is really informative. This is the drone I’m considering to purchase as my first and having these hands-on tips gives a pre-flight advantage from someone who has experience certainly can save the drone from accidents, along with wildlife as you mention and not forgetting other people. Some of the advice seems obvious once you had mentioned but I don’t think I would have thought of until you had mentioned so glad to have watched this video.

Excellent video. Haven't had my first flight yet and glad that there're experts like you going to the effort of helping people like me out. Thanks again from New Zealand.

Tradesmen tip I used with drill bits, driver bits and pin punch was to wrap high visibility tape around the circumference of the neck. This would work for this application. If you are that worried carry a magnet stick for picking up screws on a construction sight.

Another great and very useful video here, one tip I'd like to add on safely flying sideways without sensors is before pulling off the sideway flight, make sure your gimbal is lined up straight forward, aim the camera towards the direction you want to fly sideways and simply check if nothing sticks out above the horizon. That's pretty much a guarantee your drone won't crash into anything. This can be very effective on checking out if you'll fly over trees instead of into them, for instance.

Another great video. Im not a beginner but I always get something out of Matthew's videos aimed at newbies. Another tip I would add for lightweight drones is to start the flight upwind if you're in any doubt about its ability to cope with wind speed. That way you're not fighting against the wind trying to return home on low battery.

Thank you for this very informative video. I do not have a drone yet, but I think there is a DJI Mini 3 pro under the Christmas Tree. I just want to use it for gold prospecting and exploring.

By far the best description on operation of a drone for beginners seen yet .

Super helpful! I feel more comfortable going out for my first flight after watching this :) Thanks so much!

There is sand in the air, in the wind, on the ground. The motors and the air vents are like vacuums. And there is salt in the air. They will damage your motors and corrode the metal housing and circuit boards. Try to avoid sand and salty air as much as possible. Clean the drone with a clean cloth after flying while avoiding the propellers.