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Flying in a gorge advice?

SCAREDY CAT

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Hi, I have been flying my air2s for a year or so but now feel confident to have a go at exploring some deep narrow river gorges in my area. Any advice greatly appreciated, as I said its an air2s and dji rc.
One I want to explore is up to 200ft deep but in places only maybe 10ft wide.
Any thoughts?
Cheers
 
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My first thought would be lack of a GPS signal in those gorges - my last crash was due to having a poor GPS signal when I was trying to video a waterfall in a relatively small amphitheater. If you lose GPS signal the drone will most likely go into ATTI mode which will require you to ACTIVELY control where it is - it will drift and not stop like you are probably used to - if you've only got 10' to work with, you will be taking your chances, IMO.
 
I would be very wary of such flights, loss of GPS signal and or loss of control signal could create all sorts of problems.
E.g. no GPS leading to no RTH and possibly severe height restrictions.
A combination of loss of GPS & control signal leading to an immediate landing.
ATTI mode, unexpected air currents.
@Meta4 can probably explain the possible height restrictions.
 
@SCAREDY CAT as others have mentioned ,the biggest issue is loss of GPS ,then comes signal loss between the RC and drone, also you have to have plenty of battery left to allow for the long climb back to the home point where you launched from
also be aware that the wind can be very unpredictable ,both in direction and strength ,as it blows through ,and bounces off the surroundings
 
Not for the Feint of Heart, you are going to loose signal but your drone is designed for that contingency so you can try to fly within those limits and warnings.

If your willing to practice loosing your signal by turning off your controller than your good to go an set off on your adventure.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. land on the Water
 
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With the height restriction of no GPS, you may get too far down to fly back out. That has happened to people in slot canyons before. Then you are in for a hike to recover the drone if that's even possible.
 
Hi, I have been flying my air2s for a year or so but now feel confident to have a go at exploring some deep narrow river gorges in my area.
One I want to explore is up to 200ft deep but in places only maybe 10ft wide.
In a deep, narrow canyon, most of the sky, and all the satellites in that part of the sky will be blocked.
If more than 2/3 of the sky is blocked, you'll probably lose GPS which needs sats from a broad area of the sky.
Without GPS, the drone will be in Atti Mode and have no horizontal position holding ability and no "brakes".
It will also have a very limited (3 metres according to the latest manual) unless there is good lighting in the canyon.

Are you intending to fly from inside or outside the canyon?
 
I live and fly in a canyon, so I may have some relevant experience. It's wider and deeper than you describe (it's the canyon that runs from Lake Tahoe to Carson City), but many of the issues are the same.

Loss of GPS is a real risk, for the reasons others have described. During my early training I lost a Mini-2 because I had gone deep down into the canyon, and lost the GPS signal. Which might have been fine with RTH, but I was also just a wee bit under a tree branch at the time...

It was a true PITA to recover, but I did, and I had Care Refresh, so the financial impact was minimal.

I'd suggest that your first forays should be very slow, watching for the very edges of signal degradation, either the GPS signal or the controller to aircraft link. If the canyon is squiggly, as some of the sub-canyons are here, you can lose signal surprisingly fast.

Make sure you're RTH is set properly, and don't fly *under* anything!

Other than that, screaming around canyons, particularly with an FPV, can be a hoot!

:cool:
 
Thanks everyone, yep plenty to think about! Will take it slowly and build up to explore the limits. Thinking of looking into some sort of tether line maybe....
Cheers all
 
I may be wrong, but wouldn't you possibly have interference based on certain types of ore/metals in the canyon sides?Wouldn't you want to check to see if there are common deposits in that area your will be flying?
 
I may be wrong, but wouldn't you possibly have interference based on certain types of ore/metals in the canyon sides?Wouldn't you want to check to see if there are common deposits in that area your will be flying?
In my canyon, there are places where the control signal gets hinkey that aren't easily explained by distance or line of sight issues.

There are no buildings or roads or people or electrical equipment of any kind on the opposite wall of the canyon.

Metal deposits? Maybe. This *was* a silver mining area, back in the day...

;-)
 
I may be wrong, but wouldn't you possibly have interference based on certain types of ore/metals in the canyon sides?Wouldn't you want to check to see if there are common deposits in that area your will be flying?
Possibly, the response has all been fairly similar, ' risky'
I will start very carefully and maybe try some kind of tether ....

I wont be rushing into anything.
Thanks to everyone
Cheers
 
Please don't take anything I said as suggesting you shouldn't do it! It's a hoot!

Just do it incrementally.

I'd fly up and down the canyon at the elevation of the edge first. Watch carefully for any variations in GPS or controller signal strength.

Then drop down 25', and try it again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Be sure to set your RTH well above the highest point along the rim...

Try it; you'll like it!

:cool:
 
Please don't take anything I said as suggesting you shouldn't do it! It's a hoot!

Just do it incrementally.

I'd fly up and down the canyon at the elevation of the edge first. Watch carefully for any variations in GPS or controller signal strength.

Then drop down 25', and try it again. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Be sure to set your RTH well above the highest point along the rim...

Try it; you'll like it!

:cool:
No probs, I'm wirh you on takin it easy, thanks for input and your concern.
Cheers
 
I may be wrong, but wouldn't you possibly have interference based on certain types of ore/metals in the canyon sides?Wouldn't you want to check to see if there are common deposits in that area your will be flying?
No .. that's not a concern.
 
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