Drone Terminology and Abbreviations

Drone -  A drone is an unmanned aircraft.  Drones are also referred to as UAVs - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UA's - Unmanned Aircraft, as well as Quadcopters or Multicopters.  A quadcopter is the most popular form of drone for leisure use.  Drones differ from RC Planes in that they have a secondary purpose (e.g. filming), whereas an RC Plane is designed to be flown for fun. 

Pitch - Up and down movement along the vertical axis.

Yaw - Left and right movement along the horizontal axis.

Roll - Side to side movement along the horizontal axis.

Trim - Feature which allows you to adjust the roll, pitch, yaw and throttle if they are out of balance.

Brushless Motors - Used in the more expensive quadcopters, brushless motors are more powerful for their weight than brushed motors, and they last longer.

LiPo - Lithium Polymer battery found in most drones due to its light weight and high charging capacity.

Gimbal - A moveable mount on which a drone's camera sits.  Allows the camera to stay in the same position despite the drone's movements, resulting in smoother footage.

Flight Controller - The software brains of a multicopter, which controls what it can do and how it flies.

Gyroscope - Measures the rate of the rotation of the drone and helps keep it stable.

Mulitcopter - An aerial vehicle with multiple rotor blades.

Quadcopter - A type of multicopter with 4 rotor blades.

Hexacopter - A type of multicopter with 6 rotor blades.

Octocopter - A type of multicopter with 8 rotor blades.

Headless - A drone which doesn't have a front or a back, so you dont need to worry about which way it is facing when you are flying.  If you push the rudder forward, it will always go forward away from you.

Waypoint Navigation - A feature of more expensive drones whereby the drone can fly on its own between GPS Navigation Waypoints pre-planned and configured into the controller.

RC - Radio Control.

RTF - Ready To Fly. Packaged drone includes everything you need to fly, just charge the batteries, install them and away you go.

RTH - Return to Home, a GPS feature that returns the drone to either the controller, or where it took off depending on settings.

ARTF - Almost Ready To Fly. Packaged drone includes everything you need to fly but requires minor assembly.

FPV - First Person View.  Means you can view live video transmitted from your drone to an LCD screen on the controller, allowing you to fly your drone further away from you.

FPV Goggles - Live Video from your drone is transmitted to compatible goggles for a more immersive flying experience.

LOS - Line Of Sight, when you are flying your drone by watching it directly, as opposed to FPV.