If headless mode was not activated then forwards on the controller would just make the controller move forwards relative to its own direction – which in this case would be left of your own position (as you have rotated it left). So you rotate the drone to the left you will still only need to push forward on the controller (type 2 controller) to make it move forwards. Headless mode allows you to fly the drone in any direction based on your own orientation rather than that of the drone. It essentially allows you to control the drone based on your own orientation and not that of the quadcopter itself. Headless mode is a different method of controlling a drone so that you don’t have to worry about the orientation at all. If this is difficult to picture, imagine taking the steering wheel out of a car and using it as a remote control – now imagine trying to control not knowing which end is the front – hopefully you start to see the picture. For beginners, identifying the front and back of the drone from a distance will be even more difficult.Īssuming you are controlling your drone using standard controls it stands to reason that the direction your drone is facing will largely determine where your drone heads when being controlled remotely. It can be tricky to identify which is the front end of the drone and which is back end – especially if there is no camera – and that’s when you are close up. The front will usually have one of each directional motor and so will the rear. We are not going to get in to the why’s and how’s of that right now but you do need to realise that there is a front an a back to the drone. You usually have two motors that rotate in a clockwise direction and two that rotate in an anti-clockwise direction.

At first glance, you might be forgiven for thinking that these motors are all the same – but they are not. Unlike most other vehicles, drones have four motors that usually equidistant apart from each other.

One feature that crops up often in the cheaper drone category is ‘headless mode’.īefore we take a look at exactly what it is, it may be helpful to understand the dynamics of a drone and essentially how they work at their most basic level. With so many drones on the market and with so many of them having a new feature (or an old feature renamed) it can feel a little overwhelming to someone new to drones to understand what everything means.

Headless mode drone meaning