The attitude indicator will be added to the FLY APP

A small and simple compass heading would be so nice

There is hope? As they get closer to the Go4 app, maybe I’ll jump back in on something that uses the the fly thing.
Always fun to watch how DJI progresses. Bad or good, still fun.

So much grief, such a simple solution. Would have saved them a bundle if done originally. And saved a lot of heartache.
Better late than never? If it happens, might keep it after all.

This looks promising! Attitude indication will be quite useful! In its current guise I don't find the orientation indicator useful, especially given its notoriety to incorrectly showing the drone position relative to operator.

boblui said:

The heading can be seen on the map but the attitude indicator tells you two very important things : the wind speed and direction. This will help to avoid a lot of blow-aways

Click to expand...

Wait, what? That Go4 app indicator is bizarrely confusing. What exactly is it trying to show? Watch the video.

When flying forward the dividing line between the dark blue (sky?) and the light blue (ground?) appears to be accurately indicating the horizon. When flying forward the nose of the aircraft pitches down, aimed below the level of the horizon. As the nose drops down the horizon rises up on the attitude indicator. Ok, that makes sense.


Similarly, when flying backward the nose comes up and the horizon drops down. So far that also makes sense. Pitch angle, either nose up or nose down, is accurately indicated relative to the horizon in both cases.


But when the aircraft rolls to the left, the horizon should roll to the right, no? It makes no sense as displayed on this indicator. It's reversed. Now the dividing line between the dark and light blue no longer appears to be indicating the horizon. Now it's displaying the wing angle as the aircraft rolls to the left.


Similarly, when the aircraft rolls to the right the horizon line should roll to the left. But that's not what's being indicated here.


That Go4 app indicator hurts my head. It's showing the horizon moving properly in pitch, but showing something completely different in roll.

So the question is, what exactly will the new Fly App indicator be showing? Do those white lines indicate the position of the horizon, or the position of the aircraft's wings, or some weird hybrid combination of both?

What do you think? To make sense it should be showing one or the other of these:

1. The white lines indicate the horizon, with the aircraft nose down and banked to the left, or
2. The white lines indicate the aircraft, with its nose high and banked to the right?

Case#1, nose-down and banked left, would make the most sense to me.


Or, it's yet another weird hybrid like the Go4 indicator in which case it would suggest the aircraft is pointed nose-down below the horizon, while the wings are banked to the right? But that's just weird.

It's probably wrong but if you just pretend it's a view of the rear of the drone, it works. fly forward = rear of drone up = blue line on indicator up. Maybe the "horizon line" isn't the horizon at all but a line drawn through the back of the drone.

maintenanceguy said:

It's probably wrong but if you just pretend it's a view of the rear of the drone, it works. fly forward = rear of drone up = blue line on indicator up. Maybe the "horizon line" isn't the horizon at all but a line drawn through the back of the drone.

Click to expand...

That works, in a weird sort of way. ?

So what's your guess on what this new attitude indicator is showing?

I'm sure it will all make sense after flying it a few times. You learn which way it moves in response to stick inputs and adjust accordingly.

It's kinda like back when I was first taking flying lessons toward my Private Pilot Licence. All the stick inputs made sense, but to me the rudder pedals always felt backward.

You want to push the nose down, you push the stick forward. Pull the nose up, pull the stick back. Push/pull, yup, that all makes sense.

You want to roll to the right, i.e. push the right wing down, you push the stick to the right. To push the left wing down, you push the stick to the left. Push the stick in the direction you want it to go. Makes perfect sense.

But yaw? I'm picturing it like twisting the top of the control stick. To push the nose around to the right, I'd like to twist the stick clockwise to the right. Or yaw to the left, twist the stick counter-clockwise to the left. That would make sense to me, pushing the nose in the direction I want it to go. But you use the rudder pedals to do that. So, to rotate the nose around to the right, I'd want to push the left pedal forward and bring the right pedal back. But it's actually the other way around. D'oh!

It does make obvious sense when you think about how the rudder linkages work. It doesn't take long to figure that out in flight, but I never found it instinctive.

You'll still have orientation issues with the attitude indicator if your device compass is not accurate, but you do have the N indicator to provide another reference.

DJI probably chose the orientation indicator to hopefully simply things (many have been confused with Go's indicator) and to save screen space. The new indicator will be taking up the space now used for the map icon.
With Go on a phone, you could toggle map or indicator but not both. Tablet displays both.

boblui said:

I only learned recently that such bizarrely confusing indication of the banking is used on real aircraft

Click to expand...

Actually, your illustrations show an "Artificial Horizon" instrument. It makes perfect sense showing the horizon doing what it should. Blue for sky, brown for ground. And the horizontal bars on the instrument indicate the plane's wings which remain fixed level in the centre of the display. It is the horizon that moves and rolls in the display.

There is another instrument called "Turn & Slip", or "Turn and Bank" that shows the plane's bank angle left or right from horizontal, with a ball in the lower half that slides left or right in a fluid filled tube. The aim is to always keep the ball centred using rudder input to maintain a properly "coordinated" turn, i.e. not slipped.

Just installed v1.2.2

Will test this out first thing tomorrow morn and find out what the fuss is all about

Nothing on Android in the UK yet, though it seems it can take several days for worldwide rollout to happen on Android.

Why can't they also publish a simple one page pdf explaining how this thing works, given its not in the manual for the drone.

I've updated to the new app and clicked on the map icon to bring up the new indicator - but now can't get it back to the map.

PacificSkyDreamn said:

Why can't they also publish a simple one page pdf explaining how this thing works, given its not in the manual for the drone.

I've updated to the new app and clicked on the map icon to bring up the new indicator - but now can't get it back to the map.

Click to expand...

Both modes are there.

When in map mode, press the lower left hand corner of the map screen to go to compass mode.

When in compass mode, press the lower left hand corner of the compass screen to go back to the map.

It is very easy to cycle between these two displays.

So far, no I did not notice any glitches in this version.