Max Wind

[Nalith]

What is the max wind you fly in? I had a flight today where the gusts were 21.1 mph and the drone seemed to have some drift and got multiple wind warnings (Popup and on the overall flight status), I ended up landing it and packing up. This is the flight HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters. I have also just noticed that apparently I landed 21 ft lower than where I took off (And it was on the same spot), any suggestions why this could be so far off?

 

[Motley]

I would say the winds you flew in are about the max you want to be in, there are tests showing it can withstand a bit more but those are extreme tests and I would play it safe.

As far as the elevation, did you take off quickly? I check and make sure I have the usual number of satellites locked and things have had a few seconds to stabilize before I start up the motors triggering the home elevation. If you start too early then GPS corrections in the first few seconds of flight can skew your takeoff numbers slightly from what I have seen.

 

[Nalith]

I would say the winds you flew in are about the max you want to be in, there are tests showing it can withstand a bit more but those are extreme tests and I would play it safe.

As far as the elevation, did you take off quickly? I check and make sure I have the usual number of satellites locked and things have had a few seconds to stabilize before I start up the motors triggering the home elevation. If you start too early then GPS corrections in the first few seconds of flight can skew your takeoff numbers slightly from what I have seen.

Yeah, I had quite a tough time getting it back down as it was on the beach and did not want to miss my landing pad at the risk of getting sand in or on my drone. I let it sit there for probably 30 or so seconds after full satellite lock just to be sure before taking off. I was speculating maybe a low pressure moved in? If I'm not mistaken it uses a traditional barometer to determine altitude?

 

[John Shaw]

Also be aware that winds increase with altitude. The terrain, trees, buildings, and surface features slow down the wind near the ground. Light plane pilots are taught that the winds at 1000 feet are twice those at the surface (and there is a direction shift). It's not linear there is more change near the ground and the change slows as you approach that 1000 feet. You need to allow some margin to what you measure at the surface or you may get a big surprise as you climb, especially as you get above the trees or buildings.

 

[kvn_roberts]

I did a test flight in windy conditions a few days ago and didn't really have any issues. winds were 15mph sustained gusting to about 25mph. Most of the flying I did was 50 feet and below and I could hear the Mavic putting in a lot of effort to hold its position. While hovering at 50 feet it would gain about 4-5 feet at times but would correct shortly after the gust died down. I went straight up to about 200 AGL and straight back down and it had drifted about 3 - 4 feet from my position. Overall I think it handled great in the wind, but that is about the max I would take it out in. Also coming back to me in the wind it would only make about 11mph. Might be challenging if you took it further out.


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[Motley]

If you do find yourself in a situation where the wind is a bit too much to bring it home don't forget about the sport mode switch on the right side of the controller. Flipping that on has helped several pilots gain more traction against the wind.

 

[Nalith]

If you do find yourself in a situation where the wind is a bit too much to bring it home don't forget about the sport mode switch on the right side of the controller. Flipping that on has helped several pilots gain more traction against the wind.

Thanks, will keep that one in my back pocket hoping never to have the need to use it .

 

[Nalith]

Also be aware that winds increase with altitude. The terrain, trees, buildings, and surface features slow down the wind near the ground. Light plane pilots are taught that the winds at 1000 feet are twice those at the surface (and there is a direction shift). It's not linear there is more change near the ground and the change slows as you approach that 1000 feet. You need to allow some margin to what you measure at the surface or you may get a big surprise as you climb, especially as you get above the trees or buildings.

Yeah, in this case I specifically kept it low down because of the wind. I used Wind Guru, UAV Forecast and Hover all saying the wind was not too bad however the values calculated on the website seem much higher and more aligned to what I was feeling while flying. Guess the best bet is just to get a anemometer to get a more accurate reading of the wind on the ground.

 

[SteveCA]

30mph max so far.


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[SteveCA]

Just be sure to start your flight flying into the wind so that you can easily make it home. Lowering your altitude may also help and definitely use sports mode for flying into the wind. The mavic is amazingly capable in high winds


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[SteveCA]

Here is a video shot in 25mph with gusts to 30

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[kvn_roberts]

Here is a video shot in 25mph with gusts to 30

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Great video! What are your camera settings for this shot?


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[SteveCA]

Great video! What are your camera settings for this shot?


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This was shot two months ago on my second flight. Everything was in the default mode which is not ideal. I desaturated the video in imovie as it was too vivid. Now I shoot with no style, no color, manual mode with PolarPro cinema filters. Here is a video with my Polar Pro cinema ND8/PL filters. 2.7K, 30 FPS, 1/60, style-none, color-none

 

[jerryflah]

Here is a video shot in 25mph with gusts to 30

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Wow impressive flies like a 747[no better] Solid as a rock. Beautiful video. Are those caves "mined" out of Limestone?

 

[SteveCA]

Wow impressive flies like a 747[no better] Solid as a rock. Beautiful video. Are those caves "mined" out of Limestone?

The mavic is incredibly stable, more so than my Phantom 4 and way more stable than I thought a tiny drone could be.It defies previous beliefs that bigger and heavier is more stable. I think the tiny wind profile helps a lot with its wind stability.

I don't believe the caves are limestone but I don't know for sure. It is very soft and are constantly eroding. Some of the caves are quite big. I wouldn't want to build a house on top of those bluffs, that's for sure!

 

[Syphon]

I filmed a lighthouse in gusts of 23mph and sustained of 17mph and it came out as smooth as butter. I was very surprised. Just make sure you know the winds and you keep it in visual sight when the winds are that bad. I wouldn't take it up if gusts are over 25mph at all.

 

[Nalith]

Here is a video shot in 25mph with gusts to 30

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Impressive video

 

[Nalith]

So I took my Mavic out for a flight along the beach today, slight breeze on the beach (11 kph / 6.8 mph) however as soon as I gained some height (10 m / 32 feet) I got wind warnings again. Didn't have any real issues flying except for lots of wind warnings and skew horizon. After landing and looking at the logs on healthydrones I see the max wind gust speed was recorded at 42.1 kph / 26 mph). Can the wind increase so dramatically or is the healthydrones calculation a little suspect? This is the flight I am referring to: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

If this is accurate then I am seriously impressed with how well the Mavic held up in the wind.

 

[Motley]

So I took my Mavic out for a flight along the beach today, slight breeze on the beach (11 kph / 6.8 mph) however as soon as I gained some height (10 m / 32 feet) I got wind warnings again. Didn't have any real issues flying except for lots of wind warnings and skew horizon. After landing and looking at the logs on healthydrones I see the max wind gust speed was recorded at 42.1 kph / 26 mph). Can the wind increase so dramatically or is the healthydrones calculation a little suspect? This is the flight I am referring to: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

If this is accurate then I am seriously impressed with how well the Mavic held up in the wind.

The winds can certainly be higher above ground level but I wouldn't expect that they were that much different unless a storm is moving in. Were the gusts at gound level changing as well? a breeze and gusts are completely different and it is possible the wind was ~10 MPH on ground with gusts to ~25MPH.

 

[John Shaw]

These curves give some idea of what's up there. They are in meters and meters per second. But mainly... it's the shape of the curves. Surface winds are a bit misleading. As I mentioned earlier Private Pilots are taught it's twice as fast at 1000 feet as on the surface and as you can see it gains most of that at a much lower altitude. So certainly if we approach the 400 foot level we are close to double. I also think once we get above buildings or trees there can be a sudden increase.