Table of Contents
How to Fly a Drone:
How to Fly a Drone? Drone Simulator Freerider, RC Simulator- How to learn flying a drone and that too without a drone, isn’t it cool? Of course it is. But if you want to learn how to fly a drone in just 5, 10, or 15 minutes, then I would say, brother, this is the right time for you, just run away.
It’s complete bullshit if someone tells you to learn how to fly a drone in just 30 minutes. You would feel like a scared cat holding your breath. When you hold the remote controller for the first time and the self-leveling mode on the drone is OFF, and you already know that you can’t afford to crash the drone.
No matter how hard you try, your drone is likely to crash when you’re a beginner Drone pilot.
In the beginning, your drone will crash about 20 to 30 times on average. Believe me, these starting crashes can be quite severe. Even I have crashed my drone multiple times in the beginning, damaging several props and even the frame in one severe crash. I also damaged a few motors.
So, if you don’t want your props to break, or your motors to get damaged, or your drone frame to break, and you definitely don’t want your flight controller to get damaged due to a crash.
Then, I recommend that before you actually build or fly a drone, you should get the Flysky FS-i6 transmitter and this RC Simulator Kit.
Learning how to fly a drone using an RC simulator kit can offer numerous advantages, including:
Cost-effective: Using an RC simulator kit is a cost-effective way to learn how to fly a drone. It eliminates the risk of damaging an expensive drone while learning, and provides a safe and controlled environment to practice flying.
Safe: With an RC simulator kit, users can learn to fly a drone without the risk of crashing or causing damage to the drone, other people, or property. This is especially important for beginners who are still learning how to control the drone.
Convenient: An RC simulator kit allows users to practice flying a drone from the comfort of their own home, regardless of the weather or time of day. This provides a convenient and flexible way to practice and learn.
Realistic: RC simulator kits provide a realistic simulation of flying a drone, with accurate physics and controls. This allows users to experience the feeling of flying a drone without the risk of damage or injury.
Improves flying skills: Practicing with an RC simulator kit can improve a user’s flying skills and technique, helping them to become more proficient in controlling a drone.
Learn at your own pace: With an RC simulator kit, users can learn to fly a drone at their own pace, without feeling rushed or pressured. This allows for a more comfortable and effective learning experience.
Versatile: RC simulator kits can simulate a wide range of drones with varying designs and capabilities, allowing users to experience and learn to control different types of drones.
Overall, learning how to fly a drone using an RC simulator kit offers a safe, cost-effective, and convenient way to practice and improve flying skills. It can help users become more confident and proficient in controlling a drone, and offers a realistic and engaging learning experience. Anyway, let’s unbox this kit. So, without any further delay, let’s get started!
Note: Read my articles on how to make your own drones and RC planes.
Amazon Links:
Other Tools and Components:
Super Starter kit for Beginners
PCB small portable drill machines
*Please Note: These are affiliate links. I may make a commission if you buy the components through these links. I would appreciate your support in this way!
RC SIMULATOR:
As you can see, this is the RC Simulator kit, and this kit can be used with all these simulator softwares. Personally, the simulator softwares that I like are FreeRider and LiftOff. In today’s video, I will be using the FreeRider simulator. And soon, I will also make a video on the LiftOff simulator. Anyway, let’s open up this box.
Inside this box, there is a USB dongle that will be connected to a PC or laptop, and some cables and connectors. Inside this box, you will also find a CD, which obviously contains drivers and some simulators. But as I said, we will be using the FreeRider simulator.
Anyway, we have got two different types of connectors, you need to check on the backside of your transmitter which connector to use.
Now, using this wire, I will connect the connector on my transmitter to the USB dongle. Next, I am going to turn ON the transmitter and connect the USB Dongle to the laptop.
FPVFreeRider Simulator Software:
FPV Freerider is a popular drone racing simulator that allows players to experience the thrill of flying a drone in a first-person perspective. This simulator was developed by FPVFreerider and is available on PC, Mac, and mobile devices.
The simulator offers a variety of modes, including free flight, time attack, and race. Players can customize their drones with different components and adjust settings such as camera angle, rate profile, and physics settings to match their real-life drone.
FPV Freerider uses realistic physics simulation to accurately model the behavior of the drone and the environment, allowing players to practice and hone their flying skills in a virtual environment before flying their real drone.
This FPVFreerider simulator also supports a variety of controllers and input devices, including gamepads, joysticks, and RC transmitters, making it accessible to both casual and serious drone enthusiasts.
You can see that I have already installed the FPVFreerider demo software. You can search for it on Google and download it for free. And you can install the drivers and other softwares from the CD. It’s the same method as you install drivers for a sound card, mouse, and other devices.
So, let’s go ahead and open the Freerider simulator.
Set the Graphics Quality at Highest and set the Audio Volume as per your taste. And on the Right side, you can see the Input. I have already selected USB Controller as I am using a USB dongle, but if you click on this button you can select a different controller. Anyway, for now I am gonna go with the USB Controller.
First of all, you will need to calibrate your transmitter, so for this click on the Calibrate Controller.
The calibration process is very simple just follow the on screen instruction.
If your stick inputs are not centered, for this you can use trim keys on the transmitter or you can use the digital trim sliders.
The control sticks are centered and now we can click on the OK button. The controller has been calibrated.
As I am using free version of the FPV FreeRider; so, I am only allowed to use the Desert Scene while all the other scenes are only available in the Paid version. Anyway, for now let’s go with the free one.
By default the first person view or FPV is ON. But if you don’t have the FVP Goggles and you want to practice freestyle then you can click on the Camera button.
In freestyle without the FPV you can’t do much. You will only be able to go forward and backward. Trust me you won’t be able to control the drone when you turn the drone. The drone right will be your left and the Drone left will be your right and the same thing applies to the Drone front and back. So, I won’t recommend to practice in freestyle.
And one more thing, if you want to be a Pro Drone Pilot then you need to keep the Acro Mode ON.
Never activate the Self-Leveling. Because in the self-level mode, controller does all the things. Drone Racer never uses the Self-leveling. So, I won’t recommend Self-level mode. I know acro mode is difficult but trust me if you learned how to fly a drone in acro mode then you will be able to fly any drone.
And I am also going to activate the FPV mode. It feels like as if I am flying it in real and the control sticks are so responsive. And I am sure practicing on this simulator will make a big difference.
The more you practice the more you will improve your piloting skills. At the beginner level, I am sure you couldn’t make such a turn without crashing your drone. I am also not a good drone pilot and that’s why I purchased myself this simulator kit. Nowadays I am practicing simple turns and how to use both control sticks at the same time for making sharp turns… I’m not saying that if you practice on this simulator, your drone won’t crash when you fly it in real life, but the number of crashes you were going to have would significantly decrease. Because when you practice repeatedly on this simulator, it will build up your finger’s muscles’ memory. And you will know how to turn the drone to the right and how to turn it to the left. And one more thing you guys need to keep the horizon horizontal if you don’t want to crash your drone.
As you can see the horizon is horizontal even when I am rotating the drone. If your drone is moving in the forward direction and you only use the Yaw to make a turn; your drone will tilt to one side and you will know this from the horizon. So using the roll stick you can level your drone. So use the Yaw and Roll together to make nice and smooth turns. I myself practicing on this a lot. And you guys should also practice a lot if you want to quickly improve your piloting skills.
While practicing on a simulator just forget about the PID tuning and the type of drone you have or you plan to build. Just focus on how to level the horizon, how to make smooth turns, how to make sharp turns, how to move it in circles, and how to rotate it around an object, etc.
This is exactly like learning to drive a car, and once you become an expert, you can drive any car. You just need 2 or 3 minutes to understand a new car, such as the accelerator response, brakes, turns, etc. Then you adjust your mind accordingly. It’s the same thing here. Once your muscle memory is developed, you can fly any type of drone. So, that’s all for now. For the practical demonstration watch the video tutorial given below.
Watch Video Tutorial:
