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Actual Starting Altitude Ceiling

CamCorp

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Hey Everyone,

I’m going to be taking my Mavic on a trip and have a question about higher altitude.

I will be going to Everest Base Camp and flying in some other areas around that and them Kilimanjaro. I believe EBC is 5,380 m (17,600 ft.), and Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres (19,341 ft.) which are both obviously above the 5000m mentioned service ceiling in the manual.

Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I missinterpreting what this limit is? If it will ground the drone is there anyway around it?

THanks,
CC
 
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Good question, I will not be anywhere near your altitude but will be reading along for any tips you get.

Wonder if the 5K was more to do about RC range?

Have fun but be safe so you can get back and post what you get!!!;)
 
Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I miss interpreting what this limit is?
That's a recommendation. There is no limit.
 
I would expect shorter battery life due to the cold air. Whenever possible, keep the batteries in your pocket (body heat) just before flying. And the thin air will probably require more thrust from the motors. I'd be interested in hearing, upon your return, what kind of battery life you get at that altitude.
 
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The Mavic altitude is set at zero when you start it up. It will even show negative height if you go downhill. I think your biggest problems will be cold and thin air. Let us know how it turns out.
 
Density altitude will NOT be your friend.
 
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The service ceiling is 16,404 ft. (5000m) That is the altitude at which the performance of the Mavic drops to questionable levels. The air density above that altitude is such that your Mavic can get into trouble very quickly.

You will not be grounded by firmware, but If you decide to chance it, be advised that you will be operating with very little margin of error. Flight times will be reduced, maximum lift will be reduced, performance, especially climb will be reduced and VRE (vortex ring effect) is a very real possibility. Don't come down fast, or you might find that you cannot check its decent.
 
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Great Responses, thanks people. Yea LiPO and the cold I know don’t mix well. Will have a heating compartment for them and the remote. I will try it out and let everyone know.

The service ceiling is 16,404 ft. (5000m) That is the altitude at which the performance of the Mavic drops to questionable levels. The air density above that altitude is such that your Mavic can get into trouble very quickly.

You will not be grounded by firmware, but If you decide to chance it, be advised that you will be operating with very little margin of error. Flight times will be reduced, maximum lift will be reduced, performance, especially climb will be reduced and VRE (vortex ring effect) is a very real possibility. Don't come down fast, or you might find that you cannot check its decent.
Very informative I will keep those points in mind. Had to wiki VRE but makes a lot of sense, I will certainly have to be aware of that. Do you think when bringing it in for a landing the auto land feature would be smart to use and might be able to compensate better for issues VRE might cause?
 
Great Responses, thanks people. Yea LiPO and the cold I know don’t mix well. Will have a heating compartment for them and the remote. I will try it out and let everyone know.


Very informative I will keep those points in mind. Had to wiki VRE but makes a lot of sense, I will certainly have to be aware of that. Do you think when bringing it in for a landing the auto land feature would be smart to use and might be able to compensate better for issues VRE might cause?
I'm thinking auto land might not be a bad idea, as it does have a conservative rate of descent, but I'd just be guessing as I've really not researched it.
 
Hey Everyone,

I’m going to be taking my Mavic on a trip and have a question about higher altitude.

I will be going to Everest Base Camp and flying in some other areas around that and them Kilimanjaro. I believe EBC is 5,380 m (17,600 ft.), and Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres (19,341 ft.) which are both obviously above the 5000m mentioned service ceiling in the manual.

Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I missinterpreting what this limit is? If it will ground the drone is there anyway around it?

THanks,
CC
It is my understanding, that the only reason that you would not be able to fly is if it is an NFZ. The thin air may cause a shorter battery life since it will be working harder.
 
Had to wiki VRE but makes a lot of sense, I will certainly have to be aware of that. Do you think when bringing it in for a landing the auto land feature would be smart to use and might be able to compensate better for issues VRE might cause?

Don't worry about VRE, Mavic can descend at 10m/s no problem. It's actually more stable and consumes less battery at high descent rates, because its terminal velocity is only about 16m/s, so falling at 10m/s the body drag alone takes out about 40% of Mavic's weight off the props, reducing RPM.
 
Its seems to be true that VRE does not apply to the Mavic due to its huge thrust to mass ratio. I know of no reports of this ever happening to the Mavic.
 
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Hey Everyone,

I’m going to be taking my Mavic on a trip and have a question about higher altitude.

I will be going to Everest Base Camp and flying in some other areas around that and them Kilimanjaro. I believe EBC is 5,380 m (17,600 ft.), and Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres (19,341 ft.) which are both obviously above the 5000m mentioned service ceiling in the manual.

Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I missinterpreting what this limit is? If it will ground the drone is there anyway around it?

THanks,
CC


You need special propellers for high-altitude flying (see below for Inspire 2 high-alt props).
 

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Its seems to be true that VRE does not apply to the Mavic due to its huge thrust to mass ratio. I know of no reports of this ever happening to the Mavic.
Don’t forget he will be operating way above the operational ceiling of the Mavic. “Normal” will no longer apply. I haven’t done the math but thrust to weight ratio at that altitude will be way different. Thus the reason I mentioned being cautious.
 
Get some platinum propellers. They have far more pitch than the standard props. They will work fine even at altitudes far greater than 16000 ft.
 
Don't worry about VRE, Mavic can descend at 10m/s no problem. It's actually more stable and consumes less battery at high descent rates, because its terminal velocity is only about 16m/s, so falling at 10m/s the body drag alone takes out about 40% of Mavic's weight off the props, reducing RPM.
All true under Mavics performance ceiling. All bets are off at 17,000 ft.
 
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Hey Everyone,

I’m going to be taking my Mavic on a trip and have a question about higher altitude.

I will be going to Everest Base Camp and flying in some other areas around that and them Kilimanjaro. I believe EBC is 5,380 m (17,600 ft.), and Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres (19,341 ft.) which are both obviously above the 5000m mentioned service ceiling in the manual.

Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I missinterpreting what this limit is? If it will ground the drone is there anyway around it?

THanks,
CC
You may want to ask for advice from some experience pilots here such as @lolo780. He probably can give you some useful advice.
 
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Hey Everyone, I’m going to be taking my Mavic on a trip and have a question about higher altitude. I will be going to Everest Base Camp and flying in some other areas around that and them Kilimanjaro. I believe EBC is 5,380 m (17,600 ft.), and Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres (19,341 ft.) which are both obviously above the 5000m mentioned service ceiling in the manual.
Does that mean the drone will not even take off or am I missinterpreting what this limit is? If it will ground the drone is there anyway around it?
CC

Hi folks, I just ended a very nice trip in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, where I shot more than 75 takes (5.5 hours of footage, all flown above 3500-4000 m above sea level) with my Mavic Pro.
I started editing first the most extreme flight, done at Mina Julia, a now-abandoned Sulphur mine at the Argentina-Chile border, in the region of Salta. Take off point was at 5220 meters, max height reached was 5480-5500 m.
It is here:
I did not notice any problem flying at that height, in spite of being quite scared doing it. It was sunny lunchtime, with outside temperature around 13-15 °C, very light wind (5-10 Knots, contrary to the 50 Knots that are usual in the afternoon). I flew 13 minutes, battery was around 40-45% when I landed the drone. Motors were not overheated. The MP was extremely stable, as always. No sign of difficult lift in the reduced pressure environment. I was more in need of Oxygen than the MP of dense air! Later I flew another 12 minutes at 4200 meters, on the abandoned miner's village and Sulphur processing plant. Again, no flaws at all. Maybe I was only lucky, who knows?
All my drone videos are available here.
 
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