It’s going to rain for the next couple of days so I had one fully charged battery I wanted to burn through.
I was setting up and I noticed it was dead calm air on the ground. Hit auto take off and got in the air. I shot straight up to 400 feet and on the way I got a high wind warning. I switched over to map view and tried to find the direction of the wind by flying big circles and watching the speed.(my assistant was sitting next to me in a bikini with a pair of binoculars spotting the drone at all times). It only took a few circles and I was able to find the direction of the wind/head wind when my full forward ground speed dropped to anywhere from 1 to 4 miles an hour, sometimes zero.
Sport mode helped, but not by much, I got to 12 mph headed straight into the wind. I kept my eye on the map and flew into the wind for about 10 minutes. I did not get that far.
Any who, I did a 180, flew the green line back home in sport mode at 43.6 mph back home, making sure to get down to about 75 feet when I got close to landing spot to ensure I would not get blown down wind.
Lesson learned that there can be a significant difference in wind from take off to 400 foot ceiling, without any indication on the ground. It’s still possible to fly, but one has to know where the wind is coming from to ensure a safe trip home. One must fly directly into a strong wind. Any other flight direction at altitude surely could have resulted in a lost drone especially if the starting leg was down wind.
So don’t Ignore the high wind warnings, know where the wind is coming from, and keep an eye on your batteries.
I was setting up and I noticed it was dead calm air on the ground. Hit auto take off and got in the air. I shot straight up to 400 feet and on the way I got a high wind warning. I switched over to map view and tried to find the direction of the wind by flying big circles and watching the speed.(my assistant was sitting next to me in a bikini with a pair of binoculars spotting the drone at all times). It only took a few circles and I was able to find the direction of the wind/head wind when my full forward ground speed dropped to anywhere from 1 to 4 miles an hour, sometimes zero.
Sport mode helped, but not by much, I got to 12 mph headed straight into the wind. I kept my eye on the map and flew into the wind for about 10 minutes. I did not get that far.
Any who, I did a 180, flew the green line back home in sport mode at 43.6 mph back home, making sure to get down to about 75 feet when I got close to landing spot to ensure I would not get blown down wind.
Lesson learned that there can be a significant difference in wind from take off to 400 foot ceiling, without any indication on the ground. It’s still possible to fly, but one has to know where the wind is coming from to ensure a safe trip home. One must fly directly into a strong wind. Any other flight direction at altitude surely could have resulted in a lost drone especially if the starting leg was down wind.
So don’t Ignore the high wind warnings, know where the wind is coming from, and keep an eye on your batteries.
