400 ft Height limitations

[dogman1313]

I am trying to film a rock formation from the base of it. It is about 450 ft. tall, with a Mavic 2 pro, is there a way to fly above it? If I were above it and launched, I would be able too fly 400 ft legally in height. So what gives?

 

[Meta4]

I am trying to film a rock formation from the base of it. It is about 450 ft. tall, with a Mavic 2 pro, is there a way to fly above it? If I were above it and launched, I would be able too fly 400 ft legally in height. So what gives?

Your drone has two different altitude limits.
One is a hardwired 500 metre (1640 ft) limit above your launch point.
The other one is a user-configurable Max Altitude limit which is set by default at 400 ft.
You can adjust that to any height up to 1640 ft.

 

[Desert Sands]

I am trying to film a rock formation from the base of it. It is about 450 ft. tall, with a Mavic 2 pro, is there a way to fly above it? If I were above it and launched, I would be able too fly 400 ft legally in height. So what gives?

You can fly 400 feet above the rock... so 850 feet above launch point... BUT... you still may only fly 400 feet Above Ground Level. So if there is a steep cliff on the rock you would need to follow the terrain of the rock to avoid exceeding the 400ft rule. When I fly around rock formations here in Nevada, I slowly follow the terrain up to the top and circle the top. And slowly follow the terrain back down. As a previous poster mentioned the limit for altitude of the aircraft is 1640 feet above the launch point. It doesn't matter what elevation (the ground is) that you start at... you can fly 400 ft AGL (barring any restricted air space limitations of course. My first drone, a Mini 2, has flown at 10000 feet AMSL.... flying 400 feet over a 9600 AMSL mountain... and no... it didn't perform well, but still got some awesome footage.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more.

 

[Rich QR]

If I were above it and launched, I would be able too fly 400 ft legally in height. So what gives?

The legal limit has nothing to do with the altitude of your launch point. The legal limit is generally 400' AGL. AGL means above ground level, that is, above the ground which is below the aircraft.

So if you launch from the base of the rock, you can still legally fly up to 400' above the rock, provided you never reach a point where your drone is more than 400' above the ground that is directly below it.

Since the drone reports only height above launch point, the height it reports won't be AGL if you're flying over ground that's at a different altitude from your launch point. You may reset the soft limit of 400' above launch point to something more suitable. You, not the software, are responsible for making sure your drone doesn't exceed 400' AGL.

 

[lilewis]

So. to put it in other words......If you're taking off at the bottom of a pure vertical cliff, 400 ft agl is the limit.

But if the contour of the 'hill side' of the cliff is not vertical, but more like a typical hill, you can stand at the base and continue to climb to 400 ft over the top, as long as you move laterally, tracking the hill's surface as you climb, and keep the drone 400' over the ground all the way, it's ok.

Having this mental image makes it easier for me to remember, if what I said here is accurate?

 

[cgmaxed]

You can fly 400 feet above the rock... so 850 feet above launch point... BUT... you still may only fly 400 feet Above Ground Level. So if there is a steep cliff on the rock you would need to follow the terrain of the rock to avoid exceeding the 400ft rule. When I fly around rock formations here in Nevada, I slowly follow the terrain up to the top and circle the top. And slowly follow the terrain back down. As a previous poster mentioned the limit for altitude of the aircraft is 1640 feet above the launch point. It doesn't matter what elevation (the ground is) that you start at... you can fly 400 ft AGL (barring any restricted air space limitations of course. My first drone, a Mini 2, has flown at 10000 feet AMSL.... flying 400 feet over a 9600 AMSL mountain... and no... it didn't perform well, but still got some awesome footage.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more.

That 10000 feet height was only doable because you took off at 9600 feet, correct? Otherwise you would get stuck at the 1640 feet, if you took off from the base of the mountain.

HOWEVER , THERE IS ONE WAY TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN WITH A DRONE AND START AT THE BOTTOM AND GET TO THE TOP EVEN IF ITS HIGHER THAN 1640FT FROM YOUR LAUNCH POINT. What you do is, as you go up the mountain, every 1600 ft or so look for a landing spot. Land the drone and it will reset the home point and altitude to 0 feet. Then you can continue going up the mountain another 1600 feet, land again, the altitude will reset to 0ft and you can go another 1640 ft up the mountain. Obviously, you would have to find safe landing points and maintain a decent signal between the drone and r/c.

 

[Meta4]

That 10000 feet height was only doable because you took off at 9600 feet, correct?

Obviously

HOWEVER , THERE IS ONE WAY TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN

That's much easier said than done.
You'd need to find a series of safe, landing points that all have a clear, unobstructed line of sight to where you are standing.
Hard enough to find one.
But hoping for even more would be unrealistic.

 

[cgmaxed]

You can fly 400 feet above the rock... so 850 feet above launch point... BUT... you still may only fly 400 feet Above Ground Level. So if there is a steep cliff on the rock you would need to follow the terrain of the rock to avoid exceeding the 400ft rule. When I fly around rock formations here in Nevada, I slowly follow the terrain up to the top and circle the top. And slowly follow the terrain back down. As a previous poster mentioned the limit for altitude of the aircraft is 1640 feet above the launch point. It doesn't matter what elevation (the ground is) that you start at... you can fly 400 ft AGL (barring any restricted air space limitations of course. My first drone, a Mini 2, has flown at 10000 feet AMSL.... flying 400 feet over a 9600 AMSL mountain... and no... it didn't perform well, but still got some awesome footage.

Hopefully I didn't confuse you more.

Desert Sands said: ...you still may only fly 400 feet Above Ground Level. Yeah, you are legally supposed to stay 400 feet AGL parallel to the mountain face. But truthfully, nobody is going to be able to prove if you went higher or lower than that. Why, because the only altitude data recorded is from your take off point. You won't get any recorded altitude data from the point on the mountain parallel to your drones position above it. Maybe some day they will invent a small enough and inexpensive enough device that will actually measure the distance from the drone to what is actually under it.

 

[dogman1313]

Thanks everyone for the reply. I think I understand now. It makes sense now.

 

[cgmaxed]

Obviously

That's much easier said than done.
You'd need to find a series of safe, landing points that all have a clear, unobstructed line of sight to where you are standing.
Hard enough to find one.
But hoping for even more would be pushing things too far.

Yeah, I know. It would be a very difficult operation to perform. Most likely not even doable, unless the mountain has a lot of rocky faces with no trees. But even that would be hard. Especially to find a level rock to land on. But, I just thought i'd mention it. I would like to try doing that, but would probably screw up and have to trek up the mountain to retrieve the drone. But I live in the flattest state in the country, Florida. So, It isn't gonna happen any time soon.

 

[Meta4]

But truthfully, nobody is going to be able to prove if you went higher or lower than that. Why, because the only altitude data recorded is from your take off point.

Don't count on that.
There's of information in the flight data.
But no-one is checking anyone's flight data to that extent, and they aren't going to without a seriously good reason to.

 

[Greasy]

The legal limit has nothing to do with the altitude of your launch point. The legal limit is generally 400' AGL. AGL means above ground level, that is, above the ground which is below the aircraft.

So if you launch from the base of the rock, you can still legally fly up to 400' above the rock, provided you never reach a point where your drone is more than 400' above the ground that is directly below it.

Since the drone reports only height above launch point, the height it reports won't be AGL if you're flying over ground that's at a different altitude from your launch point. You may reset the soft limit of 400' above launch point to something more suitable. You, not the software, are responsible for making sure your drone doesn't exceed 400' AGL.

That’s 400 feet from take off point not the highest thing around.

 

[Meta4]

That’s 400 feet from take off point not the highest thing around.

Because the ground is not always pancake-flat, no country has a rule relating to the height above launch point.
Altitude rules all relate to the height your drone is above whatever ground is below the drone.

 

[Greasy]

Because the ground is not always pancake-flat, no country has a rule relating to the height above launch point.
Altitude rules all relate to the height your drone is above whatever ground is below the drone.

I screwed up that’s why I deleted it lol

 

[Trackerputnam]

Besides 400’, you also can be a certain distance from the object! So you can be 1600’ feet up, but also out away from an object like a cell tower. So you might be 1600’ above the ground but still with in the legal space from the tower.

 

[wardtom084]

So this 1,600 feet. I am just above 2k feet in altitude. I have a mountain up the road that will be 2k feet above my launch point. You are saying I cannot reach it?

 

[Trackerputnam]

yes not able to reach.

 

[Rich QR]

Besides 400’, you also can be a certain distance from the object! So you can be 1600’ feet up, but also out away from an object like a cell tower. So you might be 1600’ above the ground but still with in the legal space from the tower.

But only if you're flying under Part 107 rules, which would require you to have a Part 107 license. Part 107 allows you to fly up to 400' above the top of a structure that is within 400' laterally from your drone.

Those flying under section 44809, which allows recreational flight without a license, have a limit of 400' AGL (or less in certain airspaces). There's no exception that would allow exceeding 400' AGL when flying above or near structures.

 

[Trackerputnam]

True, i think in my 107 world. Sorry!

 

[Meta4]

So this 1,600 feet. I am just above 2k feet in altitude. I have a mountain up the road that will be 2k feet above my launch point. You are saying I cannot reach it?

You can reach it, but not from a point that's >1640 feet lower than the summit.