ok so this has been bugging me for a while. i feel like i can fly pretty competently in normal GPS mode, i can get decent footage, compose shots, whatever. but i have this nagging feeling that i don't actually know how to fly, like if GPS dropped out tomorrow i would probably panic and crash within 30 seconds.

started messing around with atti mode a bit on my old phantom 4 that i keep around for practice and it is humbling. even in calm conditions just keeping it in one place requires way more active input than i expected. the drift is obvious immediately and you have to constantly think about where the nose is pointing relative to wind.

has anyone gone through a deliberate process to actually build these skills or is it mostly just stick time. wondering if there's a smart way to practice this stuff without wrecking a drone in the process. considering picking up a tiny whoop or something just to fly in the house without stakes.

tiny whoop is genuinely one of the best things you can do and i say this as someone who flew fixed wing for years before getting into multirotors. the low stakes thing is real ? you just learn faster when crashing isn't expensive or dangerous. i'd get something like a mobula or even a cheap eachine, throw betaflight on it if it isn't already, and just fly in rate mode inside. it will feel impossible for like the first week and then something clicks.

the other drill i'd suggest once you're comfortable in atti mode outdoors is figure-8s. sounds boring but doing smooth consistent figure-8s forces you to think about orientation constantly because the nose is always changing relative to you. do it close to the ground, do it slow, then speed it up gradually. it exposes every weak point in your orientation sense pretty fast.

simulators honestly helped me a lot before i even touched atti mode outside, Liftoff and Velocidrone both have settings where you can simulate GPS loss or just fly acro from the start. it's not perfect but it trains your hands without any risk. though i'll admit nothing prepares you for the wind factor in a sim the way real air does, the sims still feel a bit too clean to me.