Close Call

[Dale D]

GF:

See this clip starting 9:06-9:13. I hit that tree but recovered and completed the circle. The trees were on a hill.

Poland Tour April-May, 2025

Please enjoy this 18 minute video of our two week tour of Krakow, Warsaw, and Gdansk, Poland. It features drone footage off the cities, as well as other photo sources,…

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Dale

 

[BossBob]

It’s just as likely to be the result of combined errors in the gps position and the barometric height. We ascribe accuracy to them but GPS can be 10m out horizontally and barometric pressure varies while you fly as comparing the takeoff height of zero to the height when you land the drone at the same point at the end of a flight would show.

 

[Cam A Kazi]

Aghh trees: can’t live with em, can’t live without em…

Good pilot attention and save.
I Had the top of a cell tower suddenly appear in front of me in doing a multiple manual orbit; stopped it just as the lost signal dropped. Luckily signal came back for me to reverse out and back. Not sure why the radius or center crept as tower was behind previous orbit but assume some pilot error.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I think I know what happened after looking at the altitude in the image data vs the flight log on the video. I accidentally lowered the drone while clicking the C1 button to create the waypoint.

Most likely scenario, easily verified by re-examining the saved Waypoint mission. Was there an altitude change recorded for that marked Waypoint?

 

[Moozer]

Am I the only one who thinks that flying in this haze/fog was not a good idea? Part 107 rules required 3 sm visibility and 500 feet vertical clearance from clouds...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Am I the only one who thinks that flying in this haze/fog was not a good idea? Part 107 rules required 3 sm visibility and 500 feet vertical clearance from clouds...

Even the OP agreed it was not ideal, but the client insisted, and the client accepted his 200 foot height restriction because of the fog. Based upon all known information, the fog did not contribute to near collision during the waypoint orbit afterwards.

 

[skycam509]

Wow! Yeah, that will get your attention! Good call stopping the mission. OA has a hard time seeing those small, bare branches. It looks like you have a potential customer for stockpile reports across the tracks there.

 

[sawman]

Am I the only one who thinks that flying in this haze/fog was not a good idea? Part 107 rules required 3 sm visibility and 500 feet vertical clearance from clouds...

The purpose/intent of the rule is to avoid manned aircraft. Unless the OP was operating in the airspace of an airport with instrument approach procedures, the chances of any manned aircraft operating below 1000ft AGL in fog is basically nill (too many obstacles).

 

[skycam509]

Am I the only one who thinks that flying in this haze/fog was not a good idea? Part 107 rules required 3 sm visibility and 500 feet vertical clearance from clouds...

I'm sure several of us were thinking it. Looking at the scenario, though, I probably would have done the same thing, given the proximity to the trees and hillside. If a manned aircraft was flying into that area, it's probably because they have a lot bigger problem to worry about than hitting a drone. I know the rules, but sometimes I consider the "spirit" of the law in addition to the "letter" of the law. I know... "Tell it to the judge."

 

[dajomu]

This is probably stating the obvious, and I'm pretty sure that you (GFields) and the other contributors to this thread already know this. But if someone new to waypoint mission setup were to read the above, they might get the mistaken impression that one can create a safe, obstacle-free mission by *simply* following the "method" described in the OP; i.e. by flying to multiple obstacle-free photo locations around a site and setting waypoints at each. This, of course, is not true, as the computed path connecting adjacent waypoints can easily intersect obstacles such as trees; you have to make sure the entire mission path is free of obstacles. Just saying.

Whatever happened here, I'm glad you had eyes on the bird, and were able to save it!