Flight Video & Airdata telemetry

[Gkinghrn]

Ok I run this flight as a bit of a test to understand the limits of the mm ( it was fine to take off) but I thought it might be a bit of a blustery day up high so I wanted to get some experience of how the mm would react.

Seems like I got completely lost but at the time thought it was the mm and not me - Airdata confirmed that.

So all I was trying to do was see how high this would go directly up to the 400 ft ceiling set and take some video.... as it got up there I was looking solely at the Height indicator and avoiding the distance until I suddenly notice its some 600 feet away .... and due to sun on the phones screen I literally have NO idea where it is (cant see the map either due to glare (now going to buy a sun hood!) ) ... so I hit the RTH thinking it would drop to 90 feet then come back .... I now know if it is above that height it just comes back at the height it is at.

When i look at the Airdata it shows the flight going up and then backing itself out to sea then back in however I didnt think I was moving it back out to sea and it might have been caught in a strong wind but I saw no wind warnings on the screen (I saw one on an earlier flight but not on this) but looking back at the Airdata I can see I made it back out to sea (and it wasnt blown by wind)

On a positive side I think I enjoyed that heart stopping moment when you think 'I think I've lost my drone' but the technology in terms of RTH works 100% ... otherwise id have been flying blind for hours!


Also while I am here is there any way to have the telemetry data stamped on the actual video itself on the mm?

 

[slup]

You had the elevator (right stick) full negative (down) during the backwards travel out to sea ...

But you were a bit lucky in your experiment there ... it was enough winds to perhaps cause a blow away ... what saved you was the wind direction this time. If the wind had been to strong there the Mini haven't had power enough to power it self out over the sea, it had been moved in land. Now the Mini were flown out as the winds weren't over the top & you had tailwind back to shore.

If it had been 180 degree different wind direction it had been really easy to fly out over the sea with a tailwind ... but then it had never been able to make it back with a headwind ... IF the winds had been a tad stronger.

 

[Gkinghrn]

agree I was a bit lucky with that one .... i think it just proves how easy it is to get confused with what you are doing when you do not see the screen properly due to glare. When I said 'Airdata confirmed that' I meant it confirmed it was me

Not surprised about wind speed - it was pretty much what i thought but my lack of control was the biggest issue on it ... not sure at what speed the high wind warning would have come in - didn't see it on that flight at all...

 

[m80116]

According to your report you didn't bother reading the manual, learning the basics of flight (with a drone) and still you did dare to test out the MM.

You've been lucky... this was very close to a fly-away case.

MM videos can have subtitles w/ GPS, distance, height and other useful info.

 

[Chipuav]

Yep, you got lucky with the wind being on your side while flying back to shore. One thing I have done as a ‘security’ measure is to limit the distance to around 300 ft. (note, the height remains under 400 ft.). This has saved me a few times while flying, as the drone just stops and you hear a warning that max distance is reached.

You were also lucky that it was an open area (no tall buildings/trees/etc.), otherwise many folks have lost or destroyed their MM while performing RTH and not focusing on the surroundings they are flying in. RTH is good to have, but the pilot must know what s/he is doing.

If you cant hear/see (yeah, yeah… I know always fly VLOS ?) your MM, try using the orientation information at the bottom-center of the DJI Fly app, it shows RC’s orientation and MM orientation in a semi-circle around the RC. You can always rotate yourself to align with the orientation of MM (front with front and back with back) and then use the sticks ‘normally’ to bring it close to you by paying attention to the distance. Do this till you start to see/hear your MM and then RTH it, if required.

I have used the above technique few times and its has saved me from panicking and calling RTH for help.

Safe flying.

 

[Gkinghrn]

According to your report you didn't bother reading the manual, learning the basics of flight (with a drone) and still you did dare to test out the MM.

You've been lucky... this was very close to a fly-away case.

MM videos can have subtitles w/ GPS, distance, height and other useful info.

You are Incorrect - I read the manual a fair few times before I flew it and I am continuosly learning , watched numerous video's on it - all the fly away ones , the dangers of wind etc ..also done some other flights before this ... and minutes before this very brief trip I had an earlier flight - the BIG difference is I couldnt see where the very small drone was in the air when it went high and I also couldnt see the screen due to glare on it ... THAT was the confusion

I agree it was close to a fly away - that was never in doubt.

 

[Gkinghrn]

as stated above my biggest issue was the inability to see anything on the screen due to glare and that was why I invoked RTH ....

The open area very deliberately chosen

Yep, you got lucky with the wind being on your side while flying back to shore. One thing I have done as a ‘security’ measure is to limit the distance to around 300 ft. (note, the height remains under 400 ft.). This has saved me a few times while flying, as the drone just stops and you hear a warning that max distance is reached.

You were also lucky that it was an open area (no tall buildings/trees/etc.), otherwise many folks have lost or destroyed their MM while performing RTH and not focusing on the surroundings they are flying in. RTH is good to have, but the pilot must know what s/he is doing.

If you cant hear/see (yeah, yeah… I know always fly VLOS ?) your MM, try using the orientation information at the bottom-center of the DJI Fly app, it shows RC’s orientation and MM orientation in a semi-circle around the RC. You can always rotate yourself to align with the orientation of MM (front with front and back with back) and then use the sticks ‘normally’ to bring it close to you by paying attention to the distance. Do this till you start to see/hear your MM and then RTH it, if required.

I have used the above technique few times and its has saved me from panicking and calling RTH for help.

Safe flying.