Air 2 Almost lost it during a flight against strong headwinds

[Steve F]

I had another close call with my MA2 during a flight along some snowy mountain peaks during a backcountry ski trip in the Sierra Nevada.
Flying up along the edge of the peaks I encountered some strong headwinds while above and through a col. The drone started slipping backwards while the app was giving me a warning that it was unable to return home due to strong winds. With a bit of nail biting I was able to reorient the drone and drop its altitude a bit more to regain a positive direction while it had drifted precariously close to the rocks for one of the peaks. If it went backwards much further I would have lost the signal, and then it seems doubtful I (or the drone) would have been able to recover from this situation. You can see the specifics in the video below at about 3:00 - 3:35.

Despite not having much wind from my launch location, I guess this should be another lesson of hazards to consider when flying at higher elevations. The tip-off should have been the visible snow trails blowing off the ridges and tips of the peaks. But I would have to say, it seems doubtful that other drones would have performed as well in this situation.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[outasite]

Wicked video dude thanks

 

[Jay241]

Thanks for putting the time-frame for when it happened, but you have to watch the whole thing, this video is awesome, you can see the strong wind a few times. Music was on spot and the wind sound effects excellent. Drones are amazing, it's like having an OBE. ?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Very nice video.

 

[Meta4]

But I would have to say, it seems doubtful that other drones would have performed as well in this situation.

A drone's ability to deal with wind depends only on its speed and the Air 2 is not as fast as some other DJI drones.

 

[Gagey52]

Great video, and you can see the impact that the wind had on the drone. Too cold for me.
Regards

 

[GadgetGuy]

Winds at the top of Mammoth frequently are over 100mph, leading to the top being closed. Looks very similar! Beautiful terrain!

 

[Little bird]

I had another close call with my MA2 during a flight along some snowy mountain peaks during a backcountry ski trip in the Sierra Nevada.
Flying up along the edge of the peaks I encountered some strong headwinds while above and through a col. The drone started slipping backwards while the app was giving me a warning that it was unable to return home due to strong winds. With a bit of nail biting I was able to reorient the drone and drop its altitude a bit more to regain a positive direction while it had drifted precariously close to the rocks for one of the peaks. If it went backwards much further I would have lost the signal, and then it seems doubtful I (or the drone) would have been able to recover from this situation. You can see the specifics in the video below at about 3:00 - 3:35.

Despite not having much wind from my launch location, I guess this should be another lesson of hazards to consider when flying at higher elevations. The tip-off should have been the visible snow trails blowing off the ridges and tips of the peaks. But I would have to say, it seems doubtful that other drones would have performed as well in this situation.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Super video , was nice to watch. Two thumbs up.

 

[Yogi053]

I have an LG 65" OLED TV and I watched this full screen. Fabulous! Saw, as you described, the snow being whipped up and blown off the ridge. Glad you got your AC home safely.
Stay safe! (Envy you getting out there just now if it was a recent trip).

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

I had another close call with my MA2 during a flight along some snowy mountain peaks during a backcountry ski trip in the Sierra Nevada.
Flying up along the edge of the peaks I encountered some strong headwinds while above and through a col. The drone started slipping backwards while the app was giving me a warning that it was unable to return home due to strong winds. With a bit of nail biting I was able to reorient the drone and drop its altitude a bit more to regain a positive direction while it had drifted precariously close to the rocks for one of the peaks. If it went backwards much further I would have lost the signal, and then it seems doubtful I (or the drone) would have been able to recover from this situation. You can see the specifics in the video below at about 3:00 - 3:35.

Despite not having much wind from my launch location, I guess this should be another lesson of hazards to consider when flying at higher elevations. The tip-off should have been the visible snow trails blowing off the ridges and tips of the peaks. But I would have to say, it seems doubtful that other drones would have performed as well in this situation.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

How fantastic it is to be able to pull an MA2 out of your backpack whilst skiing in the back country and to take footage like that, something that you will enjoy watching for years to come. Add a GoPro to your kit and you have the complete package. Pity no tracking whilst on the skis! Thanks for posting. I have the same drone. Super gear. ????

 

[AMRE2ME2]

Sport mode! Stay calm and usually get lower, closer to the trees and rocks helps to breakup some of the wind. I do a lot of flying up around 12-13,000 ft. It can get challenging.

 

[spamgnome]

First, great video and love the choice of music. Question: How were you able to get that music in there without the copyright snafu that YT imposes?

 

[Gbower]

Beautiful video and I was watching the snow whip up the slope and figured that's some strong wind up there. Sure glad you got the drone back and especially able to save the great video. Too close for comfort though. Good job!!!

 

[eaglesurfing]

Very nice video.
Perfect tune for the vid.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[macfawlty]

Hard to imagine you could maintain VLOS at that distance! Hah!
I’ve been in similar situations with my drones (and in a hang glider), recalling wind resistance along a ridge is a combination of headwind as well as lift. Somewhat equal forces as these drones don’t descend very rapidly in normal mode. RTH altitude would also be an issue in the event of signal loss if it ascends into stronger winds. Switching to Sport mode is critical. Also, tacking would help a bit if you have the lateral airspace to do so.
It’s great to fly in remote locations, but always consider the difficulty of locating and retrieval in the event of flyaway or crash... a lesson I’ve had to learn several times.

 

[RkyMtnHigh]

I had another close call with my MA2 during a flight along some snowy mountain peaks during a backcountry ski trip in the Sierra Nevada.
Flying up along the edge of the peaks I encountered some strong headwinds while above and through a col. The drone started slipping backwards while the app was giving me a warning that it was unable to return home due to strong winds. With a bit of nail biting I was able to reorient the drone and drop its altitude a bit more to regain a positive direction while it had drifted precariously close to the rocks for one of the peaks. If it went backwards much further I would have lost the signal, and then it seems doubtful I (or the drone) would have been able to recover from this situation. You can see the specifics in the video below at about 3:00 - 3:35.

Despite not having much wind from my launch location, I guess this should be another lesson of hazards to consider when flying at higher elevations. The tip-off should have been the visible snow trails blowing off the ridges and tips of the peaks. But I would have to say, it seems doubtful that other drones would have performed as well in this situation.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I can kind of relate. I live in the Colorado mountains and the wind blows here at the house almost constantly. On the rare days where there's little to no wind there can still be quite a bit of wind up at altitude. Several times I've launched with barely a breeze only to find my drone to be drifting and struggling to hold position, at which point I RTH so that I can fly another day.

 

[Prismatic]

Oy! What a flight! I'm glad you got her back, that appears to be some serious wind along the ridge.

What's the name of the small lake visible on the return trip, below the actual ridge? I'd like to ask my bro. if he's hiked there, Sierra rat that he is (or was, not so much any more).

On the tech side: There's still a need for motion blur, but I didn't notice the compression artifacts that were so serious in your last Sierra-winter video. Did you change something in the video settings between the two?

You're doing great work in tough conditions!

 

[Steve F]

I have an LG 65" OLED TV and I watched this full screen. Fabulous! Saw, as you described, the snow being whipped up and blown off the ridge. Glad you got your AC home safely.
Stay safe! (Envy you getting out there just now if it was a recent trip).

Thanks. Yes I captured this video during a trip out there last week. There are more of these type of videos on my channel.

 

[Steve F]

First, great video and love the choice of music. Question: How were you able to get that music in there without the copyright snafu that YT imposes?

Find an existing video already posted on YouTube with the music you like. In this case I found the original Pink Floyd music video for this song. Then I used the YouTube to MP3 website to extract the music (YouTube to Mp3 Converter). Apparently YouTube allows such videos under its screening criteria that allowed the original music to be posted. There is probably some sort of watermark on the music, as I have tried to upload the same video and music as sourced from my own music collection and have had it rejected. The other trick I have noticed is if I overlap different music tracks and other sound sources in my video editor (I do a lot of motorcycle ride videos as well), YouTube will sometimes fail to recognize the song.

 

[Steve F]

Oy! What a flight! I'm glad you got her back, that appears to be some serious wind along the ridge.

What's the name of the small lake visible on the return trip, below the actual ridge? I'd like to ask my bro. if he's hiked there, Sierra rat that he is (or was, not so much any more).

On the tech side: There's still a need for motion blur, but I didn't notice the compression artifacts that were so serious in your last Sierra-winter video. Did you change something in the video settings between the two?

You're doing great work in tough conditions!

Thanks. The main difference is that I uploaded a higher quality version of the video in the first place. I just recently switched from the dreadful DSL internet service of AT&T to Xfinity. So what used to take hours to upload can now be done in 15 minutes. This latest video is over at nearby Carson Pass to the south about 30 miles from the Echo Lakes basin.