Drop off?

adbetron · Jul 14, 2022

Newby idiot question time, If I were to fly at a set altitude like 10 metres or what ever, and I flew said drone off a cliff. would it A, keep straight flight or B nose dive to the new 10 metres bottom of the cliff?

Mavic Merrick · Jul 14, 2022

It would keep straight, no matter what the ground is doing.
Hope this helps!

adbetron · Jul 14, 2022

Mavic Merrick said:
It would keep straight, no matter what the ground is doing.
Hope this helps!

thankyou, yes I was wondering about the height settings taking effect??

AnzacJack · Jul 14, 2022

Height is relative to takeoff point. This drone doesnt know the ground height.
Its pretty much as simple as that, but im sure about 20 people are going to add to this in 20 different ways each explanation more complex than the last. But im sure you understand the answer to your question now

Mavic Merrick · Jul 14, 2022

adbetron said:
thankyou, yes I was wondering about the height settings taking effect??

Yeah, the altitude is solely based off of the drone in relation to the controller. So if your RTH altitude is 150’ but you fly over a mountain that is 900’ above the remote the drone will crash into the mountain.

LoudThunder · Jul 14, 2022

Mavic Merrick said:
It would keep straight, no matter what the ground is doing.

Now, on the other side of this coin. If you are at the base of a hill and you fly in the direction of the hill, the drone will again fly in a straight line without regard to what's underneath. That means that as the ground rises as you fly towards the hill, you ultimately fly right into the ground…

Easy test to see how this make sense. Place you drone up on a high structure, a second story balcony, or deck and take off/ Now lower your drone down towards the ground, you will see your altimeter (height indicator) shows negative numbers… The drone firmware does not care that it is flying "below ground level…"