APAS & obstacle detection effectiveness

[G Randy Brown]

Hi all, I live in the middle of a desert and haven't been using obstacle avoidance.
I occassionally fly around hilly terrain where it is difficult to determine how far I am from the ground and have been shocked more than a couple of times when coming upon a steep hill that I almost crash into.
My question is if I turn on APAS/obstacle detection can I trust the AC will rise enuf to clear the hill if I'm going say 20 mph?
Thanks,
Randy

 

[Howard70]

Hello Randy:

I suspect it depends on the drone. I notice you’re also from NM - I was flying my MA2 in the Chama River Valley last fall. One shot I wanted involved sweeping down a ridge to cross a small gully and pass close over the next ridge. I thought I’d passed over the second ridge and so dipped to follow the next gully but I was still ”behind” the highest point on the ridge. The MA2 stopped at the same time I saw grass on the monitor! So while the drone didn’t fly over the obstacle, it did sense it and stop forward flight in time.

Howard

 

[G Randy Brown]

Hello Randy:

I suspect it depends on the drone. I notice you’re also from NM - I was flying my MA2 in the Chama River Valley last fall. One shot I wanted involved sweeping down a ridge to cross a small gully and pass close over the next ridge. I thought I’d passed over the second ridge and so dipped to follow the next gully but I was still ”behind” the highest point on the ridge. The MA2 stopped at the same time I saw grass on the monitor! So while the drone didn’t fly over the obstacle, it did sense it and stop forward flight in time.

Howard

oops, sorry I thought I had posted in the MA2 forum (I have a MA2).
I'm down in Las Cruces, NM and flying around the Organ Mountains where hilly terrain can meet with a giant vertical boulder.
I'm not sure when/why I chose to turn off obstacle avoidance (prolly annoyed by the beeping) but after so many butt puckering flights I've had lately, it finally dawnwed on me that maybe I wouldn't be freaking out so much trying to get that perfect reveal shot if I just turned on obstacle avoidance...even stopping before crashing would be great.

 

[slup]

...if I turn on APAS/obstacle detection can I trust the AC will rise enuf to clear the hill if I'm going say 20 mph?

Absolutely no guarantees at all ... I say very likely not in 20mph.

 

[G Randy Brown]

Absolutely no guarantees at all ... I say very likely not in 20mph.

I know I can't expect guarantees but how do u feel about 10mph or less?

 

[slup]

I know I can't expect guarantees but how do u feel about 10mph or less?

Why don't you test it off ... it's easy, just go towards a hill on a collision course near LOS & see what you can get away with.

And once figured out a speed where it mostly works ... take it again with a grain of salt as different lightening conditions, ground angles & if you have bushes or not can influence the end result major in the end.

 

[G Randy Brown]

Why don't you test it off ... it's easy, just go towards a hill on a collision course near LOS & see what you can get away with.

And once figured out a speed where it mostly works ... take it again with a grain of salt as different lightening conditions, ground angles & if you have bushes or not can influence the end result major in the end.

I will definitely try it 1st at very low speed but after it dawned on me that it could quell some of my anxiety I wanted to throw it out there to see what u guys thought...thanks for the responses!