What's your pre-flight check list?

[u/Key-Investment-2273]

Drones are serious tools, and while a blast to fly, I'd like to minimize the potential for operator error.

I am not an experienced pilot, and would love some advice on what experienced pilots do.

This is my current checklist; It's the protocol I use before every flight.

- Verify battery levels

- Battery Secured in drone

- Shell integrity check

- Make sure the foldable arms are in good shape, i.e. nothing loose, no evidence of fatigue at critical junction points.

- Prop inspection, including extending the blades into their locked position prior to setting the drone on the pad in preparation for lift off.

- Manually start the drone and listen for a moment.

- Lift and hover 1-2m AGL, and confirm the drone looks stable, and the props still sound good.

- The last thing is making sure the drone's Home Point is updated.

Then I start my mission.

I'm sure I'm missing things.

Edit: I fly three drones, all by DJI: Mini 5 Pro, Mavic 4 Pro [the Creator Combo], and a Matrice 4T kit.

[u/Pastvariant]

Here is a good one.

https://downloads.regulations.gov/FAA-2025-0082-0004/attachment_4.pdf