Sentinel First Flight
WARNING
Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones) are sophisticated, and can be dangerous. Please use caution when using this or any other drone. Do not fly in close proximity to people and wear proper eye protection. Obey local laws and regulations.
Preflight Checks
Disconnect the power supply now and move Sentinel to a safe location where you wish to fly and connect a battery for flight while the Sentinel is on the ground.
Wait for the connection with QGroundControl to be established.
Attitude Check
Lift the vehicle and move it around, verify that the attitude reported in QGroundControl GUI looks and responds correctly. Try not to cover the tracking camera during this process.
Arming Vehicle Without Props
With the propellers off arm the vehicle.
- Set killswitch to off (“Aux2 Gov” switch down)
- Left stick hold down and to the right
Validate the motor rotation is as expected and the vehicle responds to throttling up momentarily.
Disarm the vehicle:
- Left stick hold down and to the left
Correct rotation direction of motors:
Install Propellers
Every sentinel comes with propellors as well as a set of spacer adapters. The first step is to install 1mm spacer adapters into the propellors.
Simply pop them in as shown.
Then unscrew the bell caps and remove the washers.
Two of the propellors labeled ‘R’ are designed to turn clockwise and correspond to motors 3 and 4 in the diagram above. Check your props, and slide them onto the motors according to the diagram.
Make sure the adapters have not fallen off your propellors, and check the motors for adapters that may have fallen from previous flights
Slide the washers back on as shown, then screw the bell caps on.
Tighten by sliding a tool through the holes. Make sure to hold the motors, and not the props while tightening.
Safety Check
Before flying, make sure to conduct a thorough safety check:
- Make sure all connectors and cabling is secure and not loose
- Make sure none of the wires are cut, frayed, or damaged
- If you have any connectivity add-ons, make sure the antennas are secure and are not loose
- Make sure the SD and SIM cards have not popped out
- Make sure the reciever is properly plugged in
- Make sure the cameras are free of any grease, dust, or debris
- Make sure the battery you are using is fully charged
- Make sure the props are on correctly and that they are securly attached
First Flight (Manual Mode)
We recommend you start with a manual flight to make sure everything works properly and to get a sense of Sentinel’s flying characteristics.
You should be comfortable flying before proceeding!
Arm the vehicle, now safely fly in manual mode! No instructions here, you should know what you are doing if you’re flying!
Land and disarm.