Flying at minus altitude.

[DavidGlennPDX]

After watching some videos and understanding the value of waypoint flying which had eluded me before I was anxious to try a run over at Oregon City falls. Just beautiful but I am often afraid to get too close to the abandoned factories and structures in a smooth motion so runs look jerky as I get close and nervous.
With waypoints I could run it careful and nudging to get my angles and path locked in and then let it auto run it smooth, nice.
So, problem.
It requires a min height for waypoints. The overlook I use to launch, which has the best overview to maneuver from with LOS is actually above the river, factories and falls. So when I descend the mavic thinks somehow it is underground and any presets that have a height restriction fail. Any suggestions?

 

[Exphantomflyer]

Not sure what you mean.

If you take off from a cliff and want to fly below your take off point then set the waypoint to a negative figure, so if you want to drop 200 ft then set the waypoint to -200 and the quad will descend down to that height.

 

[DavidGlennPDX]

The waypoints will not record if the copter is below a certain height

 

[Exphantomflyer]

The waypoints will not record if the copter is below a certain height

Really ?

Then why does the mission planner allow you to set a negative height ?

 

[okw]

Sounds like the OP is using the DJI Go 4 Waypoints feature, which has a minimum height limit for the waypoints.

I haven't tried it, but Litchi may allow you to set negative altitude waypoints. Though I don't know if I'd want to try to get very close to anything using it. GPS signal isn't perfectly accurate, especially down in a valley. So when it tries to get back to the GPS coordinates that it's set for, it could be 10-15 feet (or more) off, thinking that your next waypoint is on the wrong side of an object. It may work just fine, but then again, it may not.

 

[DavidGlennPDX]

Really ?

Then why does the mission planner allow you to set a negative height ?

I am unable to set altitude in the app, you may be thinking Litchi?

 

[DavidGlennPDX]

Sounds like the OP is using the DJI Go 4 Waypoints feature, which has a minimum height limit for the waypoints.

I haven't tried it, but Litchi may allow you to set negative altitude waypoints. Though I don't know if I'd want to try to get very close to anything using it. GPS signal isn't perfectly accurate, especially down in a valley. So when it tries to get back to the GPS coordinates that it's set for, it could be 10-15 feet (or more) off, thinking that your next waypoint is on the wrong side of an object. It may work just fine, but then again, it may not.

Ya, DJI Go 4 for me, not Litchi. I have Litchi but have not really played with it yet. But it seems, and I could be wrong here that Litchi like the mission planner for 3dr Solo in Solex (The only other drone/app I am familiar with) lets you plan a mission on a map, which is great, while the DJI App lets you fly to those points and record them then.
I like this method for the falls as I can see my POI through the lens, setup my points and angles and then make the run. I never plan to get more than 50 feet from any of the structures at this point and likely not even that close as I am still pretty new and like to give myself wide buffers to compensate for my usual idiocy.