Hey guys! Merry Christmas!
Semi-experienced pilot here - I've had my Phantom 3 Pro for just over a year (in fact I bought it on Christmas Eve last year!).
I got my Mavic Pro about a week ago after being on the shipping list for a couple months. I love it, I can't wait to travel with it (whereas travelling with the Phantom was a NIGHTMARE!).
I launched my Mavic right when I got it (well, after charging) -- I was really excited to fly it. I SUPPOSE that in my excitement, I overlooked how windy it was. There was blowing snow off my roof, and it was quite cold. But, I really honestly think I would have noticed if it was TOO windy to fly. I'm thinking either I was just so excited, or, perhaps winds picked up REALLY fast shortly after I took off.
I let the Mavic hover at around 30 meters while I tried to remember how to take the training wheels off. It hovered just fine in the wind, no immediate concerns at all. But shortly after I got higher, I noticed it starting to list in one direction. I didn't think much of it as I was looking around at the controller getting used to it.
Long story short, I went through a NIGHTMARE. I literally had to consciously decide "either come to grips that this is going to crash and I wont get it back, or give it ALL I HAVE to try to get it back"! It started drifting further, so I mashed the joystick back to where I was, but the wind was *apparently* so strong that all this did was slow its drift in the wrong direction -- it did not come back to my direction at ALL whatsoever. To the point where I decided to just get in my car, mash the joystick to the home direction, while driving to try and find it. I ended up driving 4 kilometres from my home and got to a road where I thought I could land it. It was simply drifting WAY too fast to have any chance of landing it once I got out of the car, so I decided to let her down in a snowy field (assuming I would be crash landing, and then going on a salvage mission).
I was able to point the camera down, and get the drone to hover around 10 cm off the ground, and SURPRISINGLY I got it to land very calmly. I then had to trek about 20 minutes in knee-deep snow -- thank goodness for the GPS! I was able to trek to its exact location. Of course, 20 minutes later, there it was sitting pretty with its lights flashing, not even a scratch.
My concern is, according to the weather that day, winds were only 30km/hr -- I googled it and apparently this is only considered a "light breeze" lol. So, I'm confused as to whether or not this was some sort of issue with the drone? Or is the Mavic really unable to operate in that kind of wind? Perhaps it was the cold, too? I just know that my Phantom has been through much crazier winds, albeit in warm temperatures.
I'm in no way blaming the Mavic though -- if it can't fly in winds that heavy, then it just can't and that's fine. I learned a lesson (and I thought I was a pretty good pilot) to REALLY assess the wind before taking off.
Anyone else have this problem in this level of wind?
I've flown it since -- no problems at all, it seems even more stable than the Phantom. Although MUCH slower!
Thanks!
Semi-experienced pilot here - I've had my Phantom 3 Pro for just over a year (in fact I bought it on Christmas Eve last year!).
I got my Mavic Pro about a week ago after being on the shipping list for a couple months. I love it, I can't wait to travel with it (whereas travelling with the Phantom was a NIGHTMARE!).
I launched my Mavic right when I got it (well, after charging) -- I was really excited to fly it. I SUPPOSE that in my excitement, I overlooked how windy it was. There was blowing snow off my roof, and it was quite cold. But, I really honestly think I would have noticed if it was TOO windy to fly. I'm thinking either I was just so excited, or, perhaps winds picked up REALLY fast shortly after I took off.
I let the Mavic hover at around 30 meters while I tried to remember how to take the training wheels off. It hovered just fine in the wind, no immediate concerns at all. But shortly after I got higher, I noticed it starting to list in one direction. I didn't think much of it as I was looking around at the controller getting used to it.
Long story short, I went through a NIGHTMARE. I literally had to consciously decide "either come to grips that this is going to crash and I wont get it back, or give it ALL I HAVE to try to get it back"! It started drifting further, so I mashed the joystick back to where I was, but the wind was *apparently* so strong that all this did was slow its drift in the wrong direction -- it did not come back to my direction at ALL whatsoever. To the point where I decided to just get in my car, mash the joystick to the home direction, while driving to try and find it. I ended up driving 4 kilometres from my home and got to a road where I thought I could land it. It was simply drifting WAY too fast to have any chance of landing it once I got out of the car, so I decided to let her down in a snowy field (assuming I would be crash landing, and then going on a salvage mission).
I was able to point the camera down, and get the drone to hover around 10 cm off the ground, and SURPRISINGLY I got it to land very calmly. I then had to trek about 20 minutes in knee-deep snow -- thank goodness for the GPS! I was able to trek to its exact location. Of course, 20 minutes later, there it was sitting pretty with its lights flashing, not even a scratch.
My concern is, according to the weather that day, winds were only 30km/hr -- I googled it and apparently this is only considered a "light breeze" lol. So, I'm confused as to whether or not this was some sort of issue with the drone? Or is the Mavic really unable to operate in that kind of wind? Perhaps it was the cold, too? I just know that my Phantom has been through much crazier winds, albeit in warm temperatures.
I'm in no way blaming the Mavic though -- if it can't fly in winds that heavy, then it just can't and that's fine. I learned a lesson (and I thought I was a pretty good pilot) to REALLY assess the wind before taking off.
Anyone else have this problem in this level of wind?
I've flown it since -- no problems at all, it seems even more stable than the Phantom. Although MUCH slower!
Thanks!