How to Fly a Drone (Tips for Beginners)

Mastering the art of drone piloting is an exhilarating journey that combines skill and excitement. Although it might seem daunting initially, all you need is practice and a willingness to learn. Flying a drone becomes surprisingly simple once you bypass the complexities of configurations and calibrations.

I will explain to you how to fly a drone for beginners with a few easy tips. 

Know the Jargon  

Much like any hobby, drones have certain words that you need to get familiar with. If you have played airplane games, these words should be familiar to you. Otherwise, don’t worry, I’ll list the most common ones:

• FPV - Also known as First Person View, this is the most used word for drones. It refers to your drone’s vision which you can see via a display screen or VR headset.
• Line of Sight - Referring to the visibility of the drone through your own view
• Camera - The source of the FPV. Without a camera, you will never get to see what your drone sees.
• Remote control - Also known as Transmitter or Radio Transmitter; this is the controller that allows you to move, fly, hover, roll and do all sorts of maneuvers for your drone.
• Propellers - spinners that cause the speed and altitude of the drone. They are similar to a helicopter’s propeller.
• Pitch - refers to the movement of your drone as you push the right stick forward or backward. This causes the drone to move forward by bending down or backward by leaning back
• Roll - refers to literally making your drone roll by moving the right stick left or right.
• Throttle - refers to the altitude and height of the drone. You do this by pushing the left stick forward or descend by pushing the left stick back.
• Rotate - also known as Yaw. This happens when you push the left stick to the left or right, making your drone rotate to those directions.
• Bank turn - a full rotation either clockwise or counter-clockwise.

You don’t need to memorize them but it’s always best when you are totally familiar with the terms. At the same time, you’ll put these words by heart if you spend enough time toying around with your drone.

Know Where You Want to Fly Your Drone  

Naturally, you would want to fly in your backyard or the front yard - given that they are wide enough to fly a drone. For safety purposes, you should practice flying a drone on drone hotspots located around the country. You should be able to find one easily via Google. After all, the last thing you want to happen is your neighbors falsely accusing you of spying on them when you’re just learning how to fly a drone.

These include open areas, large courts and flat empty plains. This is in case your drone comes crashing down and nobody gets hurt. And thanks to the wide area, you can freely test your drone however you want.

Always Push the Left and Right Sticks Slowly   

Whether you are yawing, lifting off, rolling or landing, the safest way to do so is to push either stick slowly and stop from time to time. Much like a car, immediate maneuvering will cause your drone to sway or accelerate immediately, giving you no room to control its speed.

Start Practicing Hovering and Landing First Before All Else  

Before you go crazy with the controls, the best way to learn how to fly a drone is to repeat on hovering and landing. Doing this will give you a sense of how much control you need for your drone. It is just like driving a car; where you will need to practice how to start-up the engine, move, and then park. 

Move on to Rotating and Pitching  

Once you are familiar with controlling your drone’s altitude, it is time to start on acceleration, decelerating and turning. As always, keep everything slow and steady and your drone shouldn’t be wobbling lay haywire. 

Move in a Square Pattern  

The best way to understand how you should rotate and pitch efficiently is to move like a square pattern. This should exercise yourself in knowing the four basic directions. Do this clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Try to Circle Around   

Now that you know how to do corners, you should start practicing on doing a circle pattern. To do so, you must pitch, roll and throttle simultaneously. Do this repeatedly until you are used to it.

Just Keep on Flying!

Just like learning how to ride a bike, drive a car, sail a boat or fly a plane, flying a drone is similar when it comes to getting used to it. If you absolutely want to get better, simply spend a lot of your time repeating the basic patterns and know the controls by heart. But if you wish to just fly for fun, try headless mode. Most drones have that feature.

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