Are you ever worried it won't come back?

[BigJack73]

I had a phantom 3 before my Mavic Pro. I flew the phantom a lot and just let it go to see how far it would fly. I have a lot of interference and I think 4k ft was pretty much the max. At that distance I could not see it and it always returned to me. With the Mavic I am afraid to send it out for fear it will not come back. I've really only done a few line of sight flights. Each time I've gone farther and farther. So how do I learn to trust the range?

 

[THE CYBORG]

If you can see it you can get it back

 

[BigJack73]

That's the problem. I want to fly past my sight.

 

[Torcan]

you titled your post
Are you ever worried it won't come back?

for me... every time, it is mechanical, and remotely controlled, a million things can go wrong
wind, birds, interference, wrong settings, panic....you name it
but if I fretted about it everytime, it would never leave the case.

So just get out there, do all your checks before lifting off and go for it, surveying the area you wish to fly is a big one as well
enjoy yourself and just do it.
Think back to when you first bought and flew your phantom...eventually you got over the initial worries and had tons of fun with it. (I assume)

You said:
So how do I learn to trust the range?
The same way you trusted your phantom, trust in yourself, it's called a learning curve, everyone goes through it


Just have fun,

 

[Rigsby01]

I like you always think I wont see it again when I fly so I always keep it in sight ,there is just to much can go wrong not so much because there is a £1000 pound gone but more of hurting or damage it can cause,so I only fly in the middle of no were and found that to be the most interesting no built up areas and always by the book have fun be safe.

 

[Carl36]

I had a phantom 3 before my Mavic Pro. I flew the phantom a lot and just let it go to see how far it would fly. I have a lot of interference and I think 4k ft was pretty much the max. At that distance I could not see it and it always returned to me. With the Mavic I am afraid to send it out for fear it will not come back. I've really only done a few line of sight flights. Each time I've gone farther and farther. So how do I learn to trust the range?

Only ever had the Mavic pro and feel concerned about NOT returning every time but I've lost contact a few times and its always returned, i can only see it on my monitor as have poor eye sight, wonderful flying machine. I would not want to deliberately create more risk by pushing distance, better to change your starting point.

 

[JMagnus]

I had a phantom 3 before my Mavic Pro. I flew the phantom a lot and just let it go to see how far it would fly. I have a lot of interference and I think 4k ft was pretty much the max. At that distance I could not see it and it always returned to me. With the Mavic I am afraid to send it out for fear it will not come back. I've really only done a few line of sight flights. Each time I've gone farther and farther. So how do I learn to trust the range?

I feel the exact same way. I don't have trust and hate to lose the drone due to cost, etc.

I have some great wooded areas near me that I would love to flyover, but I've read reports about losing drone contact due to the trees so I'm very apprehensive about flying over them. Can anyone tell me if this distrusts warranted or not? Thanks.

 

[peterc4]

Since buying a mavic pro on pre order back in 2015 i think i have had the mindset of one day it wont come back and in April this year my mp2 didnt Fly Away gutted but expecting it for so long softned the blow

 

[Coco 60]

I never got worried my drones not cumming back but always concerned that some or all props would stop in mid air and fall like a rock !

 

[apeel]

That's the problem. I want to fly past my sight.

So you WANT to break the law? VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) is mandatory in the USA. as well as South Florida.

 

[Fergy]

So you WANT to break the law? VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) is mandatory in the USA. as well as South Florida.

I watch many many videos of Drones obtaining beautiful footage of the country side and in MOST cases they are way beyond VLOS, when flying my Drone I lose sight in 300m so at that range I am very limited in getting the footage I really want from my Drone, it has this great technical ability but by law I am restricted in how I want to use it.
I would be interested in all honesty how many pilots do fly by using their device only?

 

[dronerdave]

So how do I learn to trust the range?

Before the FAA cemented the rules, I got used to distance flight the same way I learned to feel comfortable when flying over water and/or at night with no chance of recovery on my part. Just did it. But I've mostly stayed w/i VLOS using strobes these days. During daylight my max distance out is around +/-3000' depending on conditions.

But I've always try minimize factors that can get me in trouble like bird activity or stronger winds. Besides being illegal, BVLOS is just another bad factor like strong winds. Add in too many bad factors together during one flight and there is more chance that things can go wrong.

 

[apeel]

I agree. Too many people break the rules. I fear that as a result, we will only see the FAA institute even more rules (eg Remote ID), which will destroy our hobby.

You could try putting on some Firehouse Arc II stobes to increase your visual sight of the drone. They are not cheap, but I do find they help locating the drone in the sky, even during the daytime. Here is an Amazon link to help you review it (no affiliate, I do not get paid if you buy them).
Firehouse Technology "Arc II White Four Strobe Light System Approved FAA 107.29 for Night Flights Drone Quadcopter UAS DJI Inspire 1 2 Phantom Mavic P

You could also search this site for other people's recommendations. For the most part, people seem to narrow in on the Firehouse Arc II as being some of the brightest. You could also use colored versions to help with the craft orientation, but apparently they are not as bright as the white ones.

Also, I bought some mounts from Aerial-Pixel. Again, they seem kind expensive for what they are, but they are handy and work well. They make different mounts for different strobes and drones.

Hope you find this helpful.

 

[Curve9090]

So i have been flying over water since I got in to drones with my Yuneec q500 and it is just a thing about trusting the equipment. I have never lost or crash a drone due to be ultra conservative with my flying .. yes I have pushed them to way beyond 400ft but only in areas where I knew there was not traffic above. at the end of the day .. you did not buy the thing to sit on the shelf.. Push it to its limits and hope you did not just burn $1k .. if you did hopefully you got it on video.

 

[macoman]

I never experienced any issue with fly aways in a DJI product. I had own a phantom 3 standard, DJI spark, Mavic pro platinum and now I have a Mavic Air 2 and flew all these drones beyond VLOS and never lost any of them. They always return to me in RTH mode or manually. I Also owned previously an autel Evo and a Fimi mi 4K drone and they worked as good as the DJI drones.

 

[Order66]

Aside from all the VLOS arguments (which I'm 100% in agreement with), at the end of it all, if your drone is set up correctly (and you keep checking those settings during every preflight), not coming back shouldn't ever be a concern because it'll come home if it loses contact with you. As for external factors like conditions, birds, idiots with guns, etc... well that's just part of the deal when you're flying. Things can happen. What you can do is minimize things happening as best you can by controlling what you can control. And making sure it's set up correctly to take the proper action should connection issues arise is a huge part of that.

 

[kidroc]

Or maybe they should relax the rules a bit.. In certain situations there is no danger to anyone but your bird who cares with all the new tech in some of these aircraft its a shame to tether them. Let the hate begin lol..