I have an area in Newark, CA, near the bay, where I've been flying my new drone around. There are two high-voltage power lines which run through the area and then run out across the bay; one is roughly 100' high at the wires, the other is possibly twice that. I've been finding it *very* difficult to tell where the drone is relative to the wires, because my depth perception really doesn't give me much useful information about their relative positions.
I was out yesterday, and wanted to fly out over a field and take some pictures, but I needed to get past those lines... it is *really* challenging!! The drone was about 200' from me, about 100' up, with high, hazy clouds but nothing near the ground. I could see the drone and lines clearly, but because I myself was well below the lines, I had major parallax issues!! I tried setting the camera to facing level, then try to visually detect the lines (i.e., trying to estimate the altitude of the lines), but cannot really see them in many cases.
I eventually set the drone to 120' feet, then slooooowly moved over the lines... I got away with this, but never *did* get obstruction warning from the drone... interestingly, though, when I was coming back again, I *did* get obstruction warnings, saying the lines were about 18' "below", which was only partially useful info because the drone was still some horizontal distance away from them, so this was a 'hypotenuse' measurement.
info: Mavic 2 Pro, in normal P mode. Using a 10' tablet for DJI app.
Anyway, is there some more predictable, consistent way to interpret proximity to power lines?? This is a location where I would like to practice at regularly, as there are no houses or people or anything to object, and other drone fliers operate in the area as well.
I was out yesterday, and wanted to fly out over a field and take some pictures, but I needed to get past those lines... it is *really* challenging!! The drone was about 200' from me, about 100' up, with high, hazy clouds but nothing near the ground. I could see the drone and lines clearly, but because I myself was well below the lines, I had major parallax issues!! I tried setting the camera to facing level, then try to visually detect the lines (i.e., trying to estimate the altitude of the lines), but cannot really see them in many cases.
I eventually set the drone to 120' feet, then slooooowly moved over the lines... I got away with this, but never *did* get obstruction warning from the drone... interestingly, though, when I was coming back again, I *did* get obstruction warnings, saying the lines were about 18' "below", which was only partially useful info because the drone was still some horizontal distance away from them, so this was a 'hypotenuse' measurement.
info: Mavic 2 Pro, in normal P mode. Using a 10' tablet for DJI app.
Anyway, is there some more predictable, consistent way to interpret proximity to power lines?? This is a location where I would like to practice at regularly, as there are no houses or people or anything to object, and other drone fliers operate in the area as well.