Flying in the wind (video)

LibbyLA · Nov 25, 2019

Sorry for the long video, but I wanted to show what my MM did in a pretty brisk breeze this weekend. I got wind warnings a bunch of times but just flew to see what would happen.

This is only my second day to fly (MM or anything else). Line of sight can be a challenge in an area with the tree cover I have, but that's where I can fly. MM is going to be decked out with four strobes for Thanksgiving to help with visibility. I hope I don't develop a permanent crick in my neck!

I took the advice not to fly with prop guards. Filmed at 1080P 30 FPS, standard P mode. Might get a chance to try C mode over Thanksgiving just to see what it's like.

Warning: if you are prone to motion sickness, this may not be the video for you. The MM did amazingly well, but the tree tops are moving a lot through most of the video.

bebbe · Nov 25, 2019

Yes, the MM seems to be really capable! I was out on saturday flying by the ocean. The wind gust was suppoused to be around 12-13 m/s. And the MM made a really nice jobb. But I guess flying far away could be really risky [emoji846]

Back Country · Nov 25, 2019

Similar story here, new drone pilot, my second day out today ever, with a MM in really high winds. I should have filmed it but did not, there was a point on the RTH when the drone was pushed backwards a handful of meters and its return path was anything but straight. In future I'm going to avoid flying away in a tailwind and flying at all in winds like those I saw today, was a bit worried I might not get my drone back intact.

Phantomrain.org · Nov 25, 2019

Back Country said:
Similar story here, new drone pilot, my second day out today ever, with a MM in really high winds. I should have filmed it but did not, there was a point on the RTH when the drone was pushed backwards a handful of meters and its return path was anything but straight. In future I'm going to avoid flying away in a tailwind and flying at all in winds like those I saw today, was a bit worried I might not get my drone back intact.

Does not matter what drone you have wind is always going to need to be negotiated and the best way to do that is to fly with intent and purpose. Use the RTH for quick orientation of your drone than get out of it, and use sport mode to blast thu the wind, its not going to give you great video but it the extra your going to need to get back home, especially if your flying over open water where wind can whip you around.

Phantomrain.org
Elite gear for your Mavic

Back Country · Nov 25, 2019

Phantomrain.org said:
Does not matter what drone you have wind is always going to need to be negotiated and the best way to do that is to fly with intent and purpose. Use the RTH for quick orientation of your drone than get out of it, and use sport mode to blast thu the wind, its not going to give you great video but it the extra your going to need to get back home, especially if your flying over open water where wind can whip you around.

Phantomrain.org
Elite gear for your Mavic

Thanks for that advice, I will do that in future, though ideally I'll try to stay out of really high winds. Do you know if using the sticks on the remote has any effect at all on the drone while it's in RTH? Presumably not, but I just noticed on my flight data that my flight path appeared to get straighter after I stopped holding forward on the right stick(I just wanted to try and make sure it was putting everything it had in to flying against the wind and I'm now wondering if I was just causing more issues as the RTH had to try and fly against my input possibly?)

Phantomrain.org · Nov 25, 2019

Back Country said:
Thanks for that advice, I will do that in future, though ideally I'll try to stay out of really high winds. Do you know if using the sticks on the remote has any effect at all on the drone while it's in RTH? Presumably not, but I just noticed on my flight data that my flight path appeared to get straighter after I stopped holding forward on the right stick(I just wanted to try and make sure it was putting everything it had in to flying against the wind and I'm now wondering if I was just causing more issues as the RTH had to try and fly against my input possibly?)

No you cannot control the drone once RTH is initiated, but you can control the camera while it comes back.
The idea is when you take control back of the drone you can keep your finger on the trigger adjust quickly for
heavy winds and come back faster than RTH using sport mode or fly back at a better angle that that of RTH sloping lower as you come back with greater speed to minimize wind speed.

Back Country · Nov 25, 2019

Excellent, thanks for the information. It must have just been the wind pushing the drone around then as I initially thought. I will have to play around in Sport next time I'm out, as these were my first 2 days piloting a drobe ever I just left it in Position mode.