Helpful AR Drone Flying Tips

Even though our getting started guide was pretty complete, there are always a few extra tips will make your flying experience more enjoyable. We have compiled a handful of tips for you.

1. Set Flat Trim
Before every flight and after and non-optimal landing, be sure and set the Flat Trim to ensure the AR Drone understands what “level” is so that it can be as stable as possible.

2. Have a High Contrast Ground
Always make sure there is a big high-contrast pattern underneath the Drone before you take off.  Carpeting is NOT a high-contrast pattern, you both very dark and very light patterns.  The Drone uses motion tracking with its underside camera to stabilize its left/right/forward/back position.  It uses the on-board sensors to stabilize its altitude, but the bottom camera doesn’t have enough resolution to track the pattern of a carpet.  That’s why you see people taking off from the box.  Parrot made that “H” landing pad on the box for a reason, it just happens to make an excellent pattern that the AR Drone can easily track.  Without a high contrast pattern, the AR Drone can end up floating around versus staying put in one position.

3. Turn the settings down
Before your first flight, go into the applications and turn down some of the settings such as yaw, tilt, and climb. This will slow down to reaction of the AR Drone to your inputs making it easier to fly and less prone to accidents. As you improve, speed up the settings.

4. Stabilize before flying away
After you use the take-off button and the AR Drone lifts into the air, be sure and let it just sit there and hover there for about 10 seconds. This allows the on-board systems to get used to the environment and be ready to fly around.

5. Let it land itself
It is usually a good thing to let the AR Drone land itself by pressing the Take-Off/Land button. It really does a good job for you.