Why it's so hard to hover an FPV racing drone

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Why is it so hard to hover an FPV racing drone? This video will go over all the reasons it's hard to maintain altitude and hover, including some suggestions about how to fix it.

[ranudar]

Good instructions and explanations. I trained a lot by hovering line of sight, then "walking the drone", then flying a lot in the sim FPV. I also had the impression that that flying simple race courses in a simulator after the initial stages is a good way to practice because you are somewhat forced to fly first this turn, then that turn and so on. In the beginning you crash maybe 30 times after the first gate, then you manage two gates, then more and more, then a whole lap for the first time (yayyy!), then you shout out because you crash 100 times just before finishing the third round (and the race) and then you manage your first recorded finishing time (congratulations! :-)).

[AA-krcx]

This made me feel much better, I have been able to fly around pretty well. But I found a tutorial to learning to fly and lesson 1 was hovering with some drills and I barely was able to do that, and I thought I just overall sucked haha. Thank you for explaining ground effect and everything in this video!

[Dorff_Meister]

Great discussion. I'm learning Acro in sims (to fly my Mobula8, which I've taken out twice and will again this weekend) and am loving it. I started in DRL and Velocidrone and when I was starting to get the hang of it and getting frustrated with the map sizes, I treated myself to Tryp. I absolutely love Tryp. The big, diverse maps have given me lots to look at and fly around and through. I was originally flying with 20 degrees, but moved to 40 degrees last night. I feel like 40 has given me a greater speed range (and/or I'm just getting better). I've been spending 30-60+ minutes a day in the sim and I see improvements every day.

[johnk]

Wow Liftoff Joshua has more hair and green grass and leaves. Glad you're doing this, it will help a lot of new pilots.

[juliansjames]

Back in 1994 I started flying RC helis. I blew a fortune on spares and repairs. Thankfully the CSM flight sim arrived before I threw the towel in and within an hour of firing it up, I was hovering (although nose in would take considerably more time to master). As Joshua says, honing your skills on a sim is one of the most prudent financial decisions you'll ever make! And the RC heli / quad skillset transfers directly to flying full size helis too. 😉

[ASR_]

More sound effects to add to the list. Really want to see a JB edition of Open TX sounds/narrations for my Tx16s

[xLUGUBRIOUSx]

Waiting on my first drone/nanowhoop to show up now. I appreciate you and your channel for helping me thus far. I already want to build a o3 3" to explore the neighborhood

[grepboy]

Best way I learned to hover FPV in Acro is with a shovel. Stick the shovel in the ground about 20 feet away from another vertical object (like a tree or fence post), then hover directly in front of the shovel keeping your altitude constant and keeping the other object lined up directly behind the shovel.

[MiniMicroFPV]

I recently started using Liftoff and I’ve been getting a kick out of virtually flying at your house!
I must have learned to hover back in my RC heli days. Nose-in LOS felt like a big step!

[neonoir__]

Hardest part of this is not being able to see forward. I have flown for 1.5 years and still can barely do this in fpv. If you need to hover for safety or something and can't land, just go a bit higher and do little dives to see down. Or you can circle

[AV-RC]

Thanks! Was just defeated with my drones and just decided to work on my ground effect control to get used to smaller adjustments. Got through 2 packs just balancing and working on finding that happy place it likes to float. A+ video

[fpvcruzer]

Thanks so much for this video! I am just learning to fly acro and look forward to using your drill to be able to fly more smoothly and with better control. Thanks for taking the time to help us newbies, I really appreciate your clear explanations!

[johnsmithe]

This Liftoff level (Bardwell's Yard) is how I found JB. After I flew around it a few times I was like "Who's this Bardwell guy? And why does he get his own map?"

I get it now. Great map too. Small but effective. Something poetic about that.

[SlanginDirt]

Yup like flying at your house! You've taught me most of what I know about quadcopters, thanks. I bought liftoff through your link, hope it helps. Just started the sim yesterday. Thanks for all the tips! Really help

[jlarson]

Perfect timing. Got my friend started in fpv. Sim and whoops for now. Sending him this lesson now. Happy flying. 🤓

[scottbattaglia]

"Ratcheting stick" 😂 is that the technical term i should look up not an anlog stick as compared to a controller with a digital is not a negative, thank you for making the hobby far more easily approachable. Your videos got my 9 year old nephew into the hobby. Its been funny having something i love so much that my nephew is interested in. 👍🏼😁

[gus]

I've found a good way to hover and fly slowly and precisely.
I've set a switch to have Angle mode, very low rates, 10 degree tilt limit, 50% scaled throttle and max expo on it.
It's almost perfect to maneuver it through tight spots and land it precisely. I'm able to take off and land it from my car's roof, and reach it through the sunroof.

I wish betaflight had a good altitude hold mode, to use with a barometer. Then it would be perfect.

[TiagoTiagoT]

I know many people don't like curved response curves; but personally, I like setting up throttle expo and mid so that at the center of the throttle stick the thrust is at about neutral buoyancy when the quad is flat, and with the expo adjusted so that there's a bit more fine-grained control around that throttle point. It does take a bit of trial and error to get it just right though.

[granatnyk]

Yoooo you quad racing guys are utterly crazy. You controll fine movements of drones inside a 1mm distamce of stick movement on controller. Why???? I respect all those guys who are capable of doing this and I will spend as much time as it takes to be able to fly my drone in acro mode. I dont give up and I adjust controller set up to the point when I float my drone as a feather. It wont happen in the near future but real men are up for fix difficulties :-) thanks for the video it helps a lot

[DexterDavidDexterSD]

I spent 4 months practicing in the sim before my first real life flight. It took some time to get the hang of things after flying irl. Also, in the sim, you have nothing to lose but irl, you can end up in $100s in damages if you crash so I tend to be more careful. Anyway, my point is that learning in the sim was super worth it. I now dive mountains and do flips and rolls without thinking too much. I think I should start an fpv channel