Air 3 Problems: Is it defective or am I doing something wrong?

[Droning on and on...]

Can't fly at night guys. We're talking daylight, blue skies.

 

[bonzo]

Um, you are in AZ, yes? Isn’t >1 mi just barely out of VLOS?

BVLOS Waiver <-----------
I live in KS as shown in my profile location to the left.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Can't fly at night guys. We're talking daylight, blue skies.

Since when? Citation please…

 

[Droning on and on...]

Since when? Citation please…

Before 2021, night operations without an FAA waiver was prohibited.

In October 2021, the FAA issued new regulations allowing for night operation under p.107 if property equipped, and authorization obtained through the LAANC system (for night flight, not altitude).

In February of this year, the FAA added recreational pilots to this process.

So, if you are not getting authorization through LAANC prior to flying at night, you are not doing so legally.

Do your own research on this, assuming you want to follow the law.

 

[mavic3usa]

My experience as a recreational pilot is a little bit different. In uncontrolled airspace, flying my drone at night has never been prohibited (for several years now) in my opinion. No waiver, no permission, no nothing required. I (and other recreational pilots) flew our drones at night, all night long, and into the morning. And as far as we were concerned, it is legal.

Today, recreational pilots can get LAANC approval in controlled airspace but only up until a certain time of the evening and after that, you are unable to fly until the next morning. No process, no waiver...it's dark enough to experience night flying but it ends from around 9pm to 10pm. Perhaps this is when "night" flying technically starts. Perhaps there is a process if you want to fly recreational beyond this.

But again, today in uncontrolled airspace, recreational pilots can fly 24/7. Been that way since I was flying Mavic 2 long distance with strobes for night.

*this post does not contain the official technical terms and references, so please don't get triggered since it's a "recreational" post.

 

[Droning on and on...]

My experience as a recreational pilot is a little bit different. In uncontrolled airspace, flying my drone at night has never been prohibited (for several years now) in my opinion.

This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of regulatory law.

EDIT: Further research has thrown this into ambiguity. Pilot's Institute says only anti-collision lights visible for 3 miles is necessary for recreational night flight in uncontrolled airspace. Several other sources said otherwise.

I'm inclined to believe Pilot's Institute, so @mavic3usa is probably right, but the ambiguous info out there is a bit disconcerting.

On a different, related topic, 3 miles is a long way. Those of you flying at night – do your strobes have this much distance? I am talking strictly at night, where it's much more possible than day, but again, that's still a long way for a tiny battery-powered strobe...

 

[GadgetGuy]

EDIT: Further research has thrown this into ambiguity. Pilot's Institute says only anti-collision lights visible for 3 miles is necessary for recreational night flight in uncontrolled airspace. Several other sources said otherwise.

This has been the rule all along…

"only anti-collision lights visible for 3 miles is necessary for recreational night flight in uncontrolled airspace."

 

[Torque]

This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of regulatory law.

EDIT: Further research has thrown this into ambiguity. Pilot's Institute says only anti-collision lights visible for 3 miles is necessary for recreational night flight in uncontrolled airspace. Several other sources said otherwise.

I'm inclined to believe Pilot's Institute, so @mavic3usa is probably right, but the ambiguous info out there is a bit disconcerting.

On a different, related topic, 3 miles is a long way. Those of you flying at night – do your strobes have this much distance? I am talking strictly at night, where it's much more possible than day, but again, that's still a long way for a tiny battery-powered strobe...

My Firehouse strobes are visible for 3 nautical miles to any approaching aircraft, as per requirement.
I have not tested this myself, but rely on The Pilot Institute's reviews and testing.
If you haven't watched their video review, it is interesting. Green and Red lights lose their visibility at a shorter distance than clear lights, which surprised me. I thought a red strobe would be the most visible.

 

[mavic3usa]

My Firehouse strobes are visible for 3 nautical miles to any approaching aircraft, as per requirement.
I have not tested this myself, but rely on The Pilot Institute's reviews and testing.
If you haven't watched their video review, it is interesting. Green and Red lights lose their visibility at a shorter distance than clear lights, which surprised me. I thought a red strobe would be the most visible.

I have tested 2 miles away with the firehouse strobes and the white seems to have barely any loss when compared to red and green. It's way brighter and the green is brighter than the red (honestly the red is sorta weak). When I rotate the drone with red/green on the front and white on the rear to tell orientation and even at 2 miles, you can determine when drone is head on (red/green flashing, no white) or on the side (green only, no other lights visible). When all three pointing the same way, you can't even see the red/green any longer as the white is too bright (when constant on). I have no doubt these can be seen for an additional mile and probably even further.

 

[DJIAir3]

Hello all.

I just got an Air 3 after flying the Air 2 and Air 2s for a few years.

I've taken three flights now and have noticed some deficiencies in the Air 3, as compared with the 2 & 2s:

1) The new controller's batteries do not last near as long as the older controllers, even though they take just as long to charge.
2) I get "Check your WiFi signal" message a lot, even if I'm only 10 feet from my router (outside on my back porch).
3) After switching to Sport mode, it seems to take about two seconds to kick in. Is this normal?
4) And the worst is I'm getting the "Weak signal, adjust antennas" message after just over a mile. Flying in open areas, no hills, wires, etc.

Again, I experienced none of these problems with the Air 2 or 2S. I searched the manual and can't find anything addressing the problems.

I should also note, on two of the flights I flew in the same areas and took pretty much the same routes.

Bonus question! What is an 'LRF' file?

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Livingston

WEAK Signal ADJUST Antenna just over a mile, flying in open areas, verbatim I had the exact same problem. I flew it straight as an arrow and some one mile out it gave me the Weak Signal Adjust Antenna, and then ....... it went black. I lost reception on my screen altogether. GONE ! What you do here is nervously hit the Return Home and it did. It was unpleasant and shocking enough for a drone that brags a 32KM range to black out, risking a fly away this quickly out the gate. This thing was 4 minutes into flight when it did this. Although I had insurance I returned this puppy. I am not here to do a Beta Test on this thing.

 

[Droning on and on...]

So everyone, please just factor in to your judgement the fact that RF transmission conditions are highly variable, and it's not surprising to see reports now and then like this.

Alongside other reports of great range.

Something as seemingly innocuous as haze can attenuate the signal. Humidity reduces range. There's so much impacting signal transmission that simply reporting a problem without knowing a lot more about the whole context doesn't demonstrate much of anything in a general sense.

 

[DJIAir3]

Its comical to hear humidity may be effecting transmission as no one ever talks about humidity with drones.

Besides I live in California. We have no humidity. So that variable is completely gone.

There also was no haze at all whatsoever as I never fly during haze, or any cloudy conditions as it affects the photo quality dramatically. It was on a perfectly crisp clear sunny day, with zero clouds, zero haze, not much humidity if any at all. Under these conditions, four minutes later, flying it straight as an arrow I found the controller adjust your antennas alert followed immediately by a black out - screen was gone.

I hit Return Home and thankfully it came back.

I was frankly surprised to see the exact same situation reported by someone else.

DJIAir3 is being shopped around and bragged about with having a very long range.
Where it malfunctioned and went black on me didn't even hit 10% of that range.

It keeps asking me to adjust the antennas.

This RC has no antennas.

On this particular day when the screen blacked out on me after alerts of adjust your antennas, it was four minutes into the flight, going in a straight line, on a beautiful crisp cloudless sky, no fog, no humidity, not that is ever reported by DJI to ever be a factor. It reached 10% of its reported range and was at risk of Flying Away.

I'm not sure if you can claim something has a 32 KM range when at less than ten percent of that it can't even communicate with its own Remote Control.

I noticed there were a hell of a lot of sattelites locked in. At the same time the RC was at zero and
begging to adjust the antenna. That's an odd combo. Saying you can go far.
While your Remote says, ahhhh, nahhhhh, better not,
I'm going to black out your screen now
and may be flying away if you
don't return.

To answer the original thread, I had the exact same issue happen.
And am very surprised to see someone else had the exact same issue, out the gate, four minutes into the flight.

 

[Torque]

I've flown far past VLOS twice now with the air 3. Once while surrounded by 150 ft Cottonwoods and still had penetration to fly out 6000 ft. The second time was the same distance in a flat rural area with nothing in between the controller and drone. I turned back at that distance both times and still had full bars.

 

[mavic3usa]

The drone industry will have to suffer thru the same considerations as anything else; other electronics had to go thru the same thing for more than 10 years. Par for the course. As long as there are physics, there are excuses abound.

 

[Torque]

It keeps asking me to adjust the antennas.

This RC has no antennas.

Which controller are you using?

 

[mobilehomer]

It keeps asking me to adjust the antennas.

This RC has no antennas.

If you are using the RC-N2, the clamp for the phone is the external antenna. Check the manual.

 

[Torque]

That why I asked, is he using a tablet with a holder, and not extending the antennas?
Both controllers have antenna

 

[GadgetGuy]

It keeps asking me to adjust the antennas.

This RC has no antennas.

All RC's have antennas. You may not be able to see them, but they are still there. "Adjust the antennas" is Chinglish for pointing the RC and its antennas at the drone. In all cases, the antennas are at the front end of the RC, so point the RC at the drone.

However, given your description, it sounds like a defective RC or drone, unless you are facing away from the drone with your back to it, with your body also blocking the signal, which I doubt.