Do you ever fly over 400 ft in US?

[Gealousy]

Well you fall in to the other half that has not claimed to fly over 400ft, however I will gladly buy you a pizza for dinner tomorrow

LOL deal.

 

[swooshdave]

I'm sure this has been discussed to death, but since this discussion is timely I thought I would ask again.

If I take off from a hillside that's 400ft ASL and fly to 400ft AGL (which as I understand it in the DJI world to be the Homepoint) I'm actually at 800ft above the ground below the drone.

I'm still legal, right?

Now if there is another higher hill (within VLOS, of course) that's more than 800ft ASL and more that 400ft AGL (Homepoint) I don't think the software will currently allow me to fly high enough to clear the hill.

What am I missing?

 

[LazerMan]

I haven’t. I’d tell you that to your face because it’s true. Thanks. What’s my reward? lol

yea me too I have never been over 400 ft whats the point. I don't need to lose my drone .Oh and I guarantee you I can take a picture from under 400 and you'll think I was a thousand feet up.

 

[sar104]

View attachment 101781

I'm sure this has been discussed to death, but since this discussion is timely I thought I would ask again.

If I take off from a hillside that's 400ft ASL and fly to 400ft AGL (which as I understand it in the DJI world to be the Homepoint) I'm actually at 800ft above the ground below the drone.

I'm still legal, right?

Now if there is another higher hill (within VLOS, of course) that's more than 800ft ASL and more that 400ft AGL (Homepoint) I don't think the software will currently allow me to fly high enough to clear the hill.

What am I missing?

You are missing two things:

1. At 800 ft AGL you are not legal - did you misunderstand the meaning of 400 ft above ground level or do you think it doesn't apply in a valley, for some reason?
2. The maximum altitude setting in the firmware is 500 meters, or 1640 ft, above the home point, and so it will allow you significant extra ascent to deal with a hill. And that is legal as long as you keep the aircraft no more than 400 ft above the ground below it.

 

[ChipDjipro]

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jonatious to answer your question, absolutely I have maxed it out at 1600+ ft one time only, to see how far it can go. I was in the middle of the woods yesterday, just me and my MA2. However I usually do not fly over 400 ft.

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I wish we were in person to see half of you guys tell me to my face that you have not flown over 400ft.

You all get a reward for being outstanding citizens when no one is looking, but a delusion and a white lie are different things.

Wow. I actually would not think it would go that high that’s actually impressive.

 

[dronerdave]

I've always just thought about it as a 400 foot string attached to your drone that hangs directly below your aircraft. If the string lifts off the ground you are out of compliance (in the US) unless you are 107, then the rules differ.

 

[swooshdave]

You are missing two things:

1. At 800 ft AGL you are not legal - did you misunderstand the meaning of 400 ft above ground level or do you think it doesn't apply in a valley, for some reason?
2. The maximum altitude setting in the firmware is 500 meters, or 1640 ft, above the home point, and so it will allow you significant extra ascent to deal with a hill. And that is legal as long as you keep the aircraft no more than 400 ft above the ground below it.

Why I point it out is that some pilots may think that if they have the max height set to 400ft AGL they are not taking into consideration that the app only looks at the takeoff altitude and not the actual height about the ground.

If in the example I provided I have the max height in the app set at 400ft I don't think I can modify the value while flying. So one option would be to set the max height to the max and manually insure I don't exceed 400ft above actual ground level.

The real challenge is that the drones do not tell you the actual altitude. Correct?

 

[gnirtS]

The real challenge is that the drones do not tell you the actual altitude. Correct?

.
Not above 30ft or so no.

(Its actually not good to try, things like buildings and trees would make it change all the time whilst flying so not overly useful).
Thats one reason why real aircraft dont (other than the radar altimeter for final approach stages).

 

[Clipper707]

Not to be the drone Police but if I see a video that looks to be over 400 feet I am going to start reporting them. It is because of these people, there are so many rules and regulations that are hurting our hobby and because of the time and effort I put in to be legal I just don’t feel like my fun should be ruined by them.

I don't understand the first six words of your post. "Not to be the drone Police..."

Other than perhaps wearing a shiny badge, it sounds like you couldn't be any more drone police-y.

 

[gnirtS]

are you that good that you can tell how high a drone is from looking at a picture or video wow

To be fair to him, its not exactly hard in the same way its not hard to roughly estimate distance on land. Id be more worried if someone couldnt.

Telling 300ft for 400ft maybe not but telling 400ft and 1600ft apart is very very easy.
However it doesnt prove any illegality.

, if I see you post something that APPEARS to be over 400 I’ll turn it in.

Youre going to be wasting a lot of peoples times a lot.
If you see something clearly *dangerous* in a video (proximity to people, planes, properly whatever) thats one thing but purely on altitude is very unreliable.



How high do you think i am here? 1000ft? 1500ft?. Feel free to report it

Because the actual answer is 80ft. Taking off from and standing on a similar opposite hill and going just high enough to clear the treeline.

 

[Niteryder]

In California we have mountains and valleys! I go below and above 400 feet due to terrain variations!

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Hey Bob,
I was in that area last Wednesday. I flew my MM just North of Limekiln. Absolutely beautiful day, light winds, very light traffic, and of course some of the most beautiful coastline anywhere.

 

[deltamike]

To be fair to him, its not exactly hard in the same way its not hard to roughly estimate distance on land. Id be more worried if someone couldnt.

Telling 300ft for 400ft maybe not but telling 400ft and 1600ft apart is very very easy.
However it doesnt prove any illegality.



Youre going to be wasting a lot of peoples times a lot.
If you see something clearly *dangerous* in a video (proximity to people, planes, properly whatever) thats one thing but purely on altitude is very unreliable.

View attachment 101811

How high do you think i am here? 1000ft? 1500ft?. Feel free to report it

Because the actual answer is 80ft. Taking off from and standing on a similar opposite hill and going just high enough to clear the treeline.

Nice shot. There must have been a fair bit of walking and climbing to get that shot. I am tired even thinking about it.

 

[gnirtS]

Nice shot. There must have been a fair bit of walking and climbing to get that shot. I am tired even thinking about it.

A pretty decent road and a motorbike

 

[Ang]

I see a lot of drone photography page with top down pictures and from the size of the area covered, I can say for sure that the drone is way higher than 400 ft. I am not sure if they are Part 107 certified and get special permission.

But as a hobbist I wonder is it unsafe to fly over 400 ft? I generally do not, but would love to

ive never gone over 400Ft, i have the 400FT limit set from the FAA. usually i go arround 100-200 if im just trying to move the drone over trees/buildings

 

[Andrex]

Perspective and projections are important if you think a photo is 'too high'. This photo was 100 m up, but as it is a grab from a spherical panorama, if I zoom right out to allow for a much wider field of view, then it can actually look like it was taken even higher (although the parallax is a bit of a giveaway that it wasn't).

It's not always as simple as it looks to tell how high a photo was taken.

 

[swooshdave]

ive never gone over 400Ft, i have the 400FT limit set from the FAA. usually i go arround 100-200 if im just trying to move the drone over trees/buildings

Unless you have only flown over perfectly flat land you have exceeded the 400ft rule. Technically is the land under the drone at any point is lower than the takeoff point and you are at the designated max height in the app you have broken the letter of the rule.

 

[swooshdave]

.
Not above 30ft or so no.

(Its actually not good to try, things like buildings and trees would make it change all the time whilst flying so not overly useful).
Thats one reason why real aircraft dont (other than the radar altimeter for final approach stages).

So on instruments-only how do you know how high off the ground you are?

We mapped a lot of places so at a given coordinations we should have a rough idea of the actual ground level, right?

 

[Ang]

Unless you have only flown over perfectly flat land you have exceeded the 400ft rule. Technically is the land under the drone at any point is lower than the takeoff point and you are at the designated max height in the app you have broken the letter of the rule.

the few times ive flown 400FT, i didnt go very far and there wasnt any major land drops. and if someone did ever stop me one day and i show them the screen saying 400ft, they most likely wont question it.

 

[allenface]

I regularly fly over 120' usually around 200' or so. I have the maximum set to 390' in DJI Go 4, so as not to go above the 400' recommendation from the FAA

I get real nervous flying that high. It's just about the point of where you have a hard time keeping a visual. Bottom mounted strobes are a must for this kind of flying. I agree, that sometimes you want a top down look at terrain or a building...but over 400' is a violation without a waiver. Either way, for me...it scares me enough not to do it.

 

[sar104]

Why I point it out is that some pilots may think that if they have the max height set to 400ft AGL they are not taking into consideration that the app only looks at the takeoff altitude and not the actual height about the ground.

If in the example I provided I have the max height in the app set at 400ft I don't think I can modify the value while flying. So one option would be to set the max height to the max and manually insure I don't exceed 400ft above actual ground level.

The real challenge is that the drones do not tell you the actual altitude. Correct?

You can change the maximum height setting at any time.