Another warning about wind...

[Tonewheel]

Yesterday, I was shooting footage above a river valley here in Alberta, and the Mavic was out about 2000 feet, altitude 100 feet. The wind was up, but the battery was fine.

I would say that the wind velocity suddenly increased to well up there at 60-80 kph, but there were gusts that may have been higher.

The Mavic was unable to hover directly over the POI, and drifted, albeit gracefully.

But the problem was that I actually thought it was not going to make it back without a forced landing. I dropped the altitude to 50 feet, and for some of the time, the drone was unable to advance beyond .5-1 mph, and actually drifted backwards occasionally.

Fortunately, there were interludes where the wind was not as strong, and the Mavic made it back in one piece with the battery at 62%. 10 minute flight, 4 minutes just to get back at full power (1.3 minutes to get out to the site at full power).

Lesson learned: don't do this again, at least with the wind up like it was.

One question: would sport mode have helped, not withstanding that the battery reserve would have been less?

 

[msinger]

would sport mode have helped

Yes. The Mavic is able to fly faster when in sport mode.

 

[ricklaw]

i had a similar issue the other night. i flew right at sunset. went out with the wind about 3000' from my house and then hit RTH. it just hovered for a minute. then i canceled it and flew it back a bit manually. then i hit RTH again (my hands were cold and i didn't bring gloves ) and it made no progress once again. so i flipped it into sport mode and came back myself. the winds were probably 20-25mph at 200'. but it also could have been me trying to fly back into the sun. so maybe obstacle avoidance kicked in or something. i don't remember seeing a warning but who knows.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

It's also a good idea to do a quick test run in out/in direction at full speed and observe displayed ground speed to gauge the wind and feel what it'd be like coming back. I used to do this when I was a long distance runner in cold months, when it was windy - I'd do a short 50m out/back run to feel what it'd be like running back home to test if I dressed up warm enough.

 

[black_magic100]

Not to hijack your thread.....but.....

In a situation like this I guess flipping it into sport mode is the best option seeing as otherwise you would be making no progress (assuming the wind never let down).

Is it generally best to fly the bird back manually in normal mode since hitting RTH will make the bird fly up and sport mode does not give you the best miles per battery %?

 

[Tonewheel]

These are all good thoughts.

I forgot to mention that this is all open prairie above the rivers except for our home on 65 acres which has about 85 mature trees. So for the return I swung around on the leeward side of the trees, and that, with the drop in altitude, helped. Have not tried sport mode yet, so I'll plug that into the equation.

One other point to make is that the same wind speed may have different effects on your rig depending on the the air density. In southern Alberta, it's a fairly dry climate, so when the 60mph+ chinook winds hit, the impact is far less than other zones. It has been fun as a passenger on a STOL airplane where, looking out the pilot's windshield, the landing strip is a few degrees off to one side as they come in high winds, and then they quickly correct as rubber hits the strip.

 

[4wd]

Obstacle avoidance considerably reduces top speed when flying forwards too.
You need to be very conservative and cautious if going downwind. It will usually be at least 2x stronger just above treetop height.

 

[black_magic100]

Obstacle avoidance considerably reduces top speed when flying forwards too.
You need to be very conservative and cautious if going downwind. It will usually be at least 2x stronger just above treetop height.

So should you disable the front facing sensor i you are low on battery?

 

[Mossiback]

I have had my MP get pushed by high winds and Sport mode is what allowed it to make progress. The RTH speed is ~22 mph but you can speed it up by pushing on the stick. The 22 mph setting is to allow your forward sensors to work in time.

Watch your airspeed and if it is faster than normal you have a tailwind. A general rule to remember is Fast Speed Out means Slow Speed Back.

 

[black_magic100]

I have had my MP get pushed by high winds and Sport mode is what allowed it to make progress. The RTH speed is ~22 mph but you can speed it up by pushing on the stick. The 22 mph setting is to allow your forward sensors to work in time.

Watch your airspeed and if it is faster than normal you have a tailwind. A general rule to remember is Fast Speed Out means Slow Speed Back.

So for a new mavic owner what is the general rule of thumb if you do get yourself in a sticky situation and are running low on battery? Should you throw on home lock and fly it like that? fly it manually? Flip it into sport mode if it's to windy? Turn off sensors?

 

[Montypaks]

Home lock and head home! If dangerously low, start looking for an easy place to land

 

[Mossiback]

So for a new mavic owner what is the general rule of thumb if you do get yourself in a sticky situation and are running low on battery? Should you throw on home lock and fly it like that? fly it manually? Flip it into sport mode if it's to windy? Turn off sensors?

Step 1, don't panic. Sport mode will help against a strong headwind but will deplete your battery quicker. It would be better to try and find less headwind. If you still have video then drop down a little to try and find slower wind speed or even a different wind heading. If over water take the shortest route to shore, then to home. I have flown ultralights and the rule there was to fly with a landing spot reachable at all times, so look for suitable landing spots while on the way back. The only reason to use RTH IMHO would be if you lost track of where it is (app crashed, Go 4 device dead), then when you see on the RC display that the distance is getting smaller cancel RTH and use the stick. Assuming you set your RTH height parameter correctly you should not run into anything.

With all that said, do try to estimate wind direction at flight altitude and fly accordingly. Start your trip back before the battery indicator tells you to because it does not take wind direction or speed into account. If you can manage this you will not find yourself in a sticky situation or on safari looking for your Mavic.

 

[Mossiback]

One more thing: Do land before the Mavic does it for you. You do need to preserve some battery to help find it.

 

[black_magic100]

One more thing: Do land before the Mavic does it for you. You do need to preserve some battery to help find it.

If I land it with battery what is the easiest way to find it if I don't know my landmarks? I should be able to just pull up the map in the bottom left, correct? What if it dies, will I still be able to look at the map?

 

[Mossiback]

If I land it with battery what is the easiest way to find it if I don't know my landmarks? I should be able to just pull up the map in the bottom left, correct? What if it dies, will I still be able to look at the map?

The map is maintained by Go 4 so will be available. If the Mavic battery dies you can see its last known location in the Go 4 log map. The reasons you want to land with some battery are: 1) You can (hopefully) choose a landing site that you can later get to, 2) You will actually be able to see the RC location and the Mavic location on the map which will help get you there, 3) You will be able to use the Find My Drone feature. There is a short video here:

Find My Drone has the ability to make the front LED's flash and the Mavic beep to help find it in heavy vegetation but of course needs battery power to do so.

The best tip I can give is don't get yourself in that situation in the first place. Keep it in LOS, watch wind speed aloft, bring it back before the battery is "half gone", and fly the last bit of juice from the battery with it close to you. The battery life indicator is useful but cannot be counted on for complete accuracy. Each battery may have it's own problems and the "bottom half" of the charge may run out quicker than the top half. I know that my cars fuel gauge works like that.

 

[Anthony]

I have a few locations that I fly in and depending on the wind direction I change my location As I always try and have my out bound part of my flight into the wind so I always have a tail wind for my return leg.

 

[Tonewheel]

Very nice discussion, Thanks to all.

 

[Porto]

Best answer is #12 above by Mossiback. If I may summarize how to deal with very strong wind:

1. Obviously, don't fly too far when the wind is strong
2. Turn off Obstacle Avoidance.
3. Try to fly as low as possible without losing signal, but make sure nothing is higher around your drone along the return path (to make sure if it drifted sideways it won't hit anything).
4. If with #2 and #3 above you still don't get enough forward speed (say, less than 12 mph), switch to Sport mode.
5. If still progressing too slowly with Sport, fly diagonally against the wind instead of head on while still getting closer to the Home Point (zig zag).

6. If all of the above fail: find a suitable place to land, switch the camera down and take pictures to help you locate the drone, switch Signal Loss to Land instead of Return to Home. Land your drone. You are probably flying in gale force wind of over 35mph

I like to fly in strong wind for 1 reason: speed!

 

[dbyantis]

I have a few locations that I fly in and depending on the wind direction I change my location As I always try and have my out bound part of my flight into the wind so I always have a tail wind for my return leg.

Agreed. Always.

 

[Tonewheel]

Gale force in Alberta? We get velocities of 60-70 mph at times.

On that flight back, I can see that I was running diagonally until I was a few hundred feet from the trees.

Saw a cow fly by. Alberta beef, you know....