Articles like “How to Fly a Quadcopter” from My First Drone are useful, but in my experience, it’s more effective to teach a skill like operating a UAS hands-on. Having an instructor available creates a real-time feedback loop for potential new pilots and this helps them move through their curriculum at a faster rate.
That being said, how do you get the most from articles like this? I see value in using guides like the one referenced below as supplementary or complementary educational material. Combined with high quality, in-person UAS training, and practice, and you have the recipe for a successful UAS pilot.
This guide will show you everything you need to know about how to fly a quadcopter. These tutorials will also apply to flying any other multirotor. After reading this page, be sure to check out the flying lessons.
THE CONTROLS
Below is an example of all the controls for flying a quadcopter and how each control works.
Roll tilts the quadcopter left and right by speeding up the rotors on one side and slowing them down on the other.
Pitch tilts the quadcopter forward and backward the same way that roll does.
Yaw rotates the quadcopter by speeding up all of the rotors spinning in on direction and slowing down all of the rotors spinning in the opposite direction.
Throttle controls the up and down axis by varying the overall speed of the rotors.
These controls also have other names, for example: roll = aileron, pitch = elevator and yaw = rudder.
If you’d like to learn how to operate a UAS from the experts, then I recommend Drone Universities. Drone Universities is a recognized leader in the UAS training space and they offer FAA Part 107 preparation and UAS flight training nationwide.
