Drones are everywhere. People love flying them. You can find them at sporting events, areas where Mother Nature caused damage, and soaring around most neighborhoods. They are ideal for giving you a bird’s eye view of the world around you. However, they are tiny little aircraft that fly up while you stand on the ground using a remote control. This often means that there are problems you must face if you want to fly again another day.

Here are the most common drone problems and ideas that you may be able to use to fix the issues.

Signal Issues

Some drones have a “return to home” feature. What it does is mostly enable the drone to return to you if it goes out of range of your controller. It is very useful since most drones will go beyond the remote’s range at some point. To work properly, your drone relies on a GPS signal to tell it its location and yours. If your drone is constantly losing signal, you may first try a different location to fly in, especially if there are rocks and buildings close by that could block a satellite signal. If the location isn’t your issue, you should restart your remote and reset the drone. Afterward, take shorter flights to see where the “problem” seems to develop.

Problems Taking Off

Drones are not easy to fly. They require a lot of hand/eye coordination. However, there are some drones that have a frequent habit of flipping and they shouldn’t; even if you are a new pilot. If your drone flips or has other issues on take-off, you may need to check how it is put together. Most often, it is a problem with the propellers. Are they upside down or are they spinning in the wrong direction? Another very common issue is that the mounted flight controller may not be mounted on the drone correctly. Most of these issues stem from the drone being a DIY type drone that is built by the new owner of it. There are RTF (Ready to Fly) drones here if you hope to avoid all potential issues as a beginning drone operator.

Poor Battery Life

Poor battery life is something that is very common. Drones do not have a long-lasting battery as it is, but if you notice your drone use to fly for 15 minutes and now it only lasts ten; it is noticeable. Drone batteries need to be fully charged on takeoff and fully used up before you stop flying if you want to keep the battery healthy. When not in use, you should store it, uncharged, in a cool, dry place. If you have a new battery and you still have issues, it could be a defect with that battery. Once you find a good battery, you should do what you can to take care of it.

Wrong Flight Direction

What happens if you steer your drone to the left and it goes to the right? A confusing mess that you will want to find a solution to quickly. You should not rule out human errors on this one and the most common solution is to look at your remote control. Are you holding it properly? Some controllers look the same regardless of how you are holding them, so it could be an issue with you holding it and steering it backward. If you have ruled out this possibility, you may want to uninstall and reinstall the app on your smartphone to make sure it doesn’t have bugs. If you do not have the app or you have ruled out that as an issue as well, check the drone to make sure it is set up properly and hasn’t been damaged by a crash or anything else.

When to Seek Help

Drones are somewhat delicate devices. They are not often able to handle crashes. If you have at some point, crashed your drone and have started to notice it not flying the way it should, you should consider bigger issues. Search the manufacturer’s website for potential “known” issues with the drone and ask others who fly drones. Eventually, you will find the help that you are seeking and then you will be able to start working on what should be a simple repair.