Flying sport mode for distance

Mavic one · May 19, 2018

Riptyd64 said:
I want to fly my Magic Pro on a dangerous mission. 1.5 miles over water and back. As far as battery life, what will last longer? Sport Mode, fly fast get pictures fly fast home. Or regular mode cruise out less time for pictures cruise back? Is there any other concerns?

It all depends on wind resistance also. If flying against the wind the it will take longer to get to where your going and batteries will drain faster as apposed to flying with the wind regardless of sport mode.

swb_mct · May 20, 2018

Mavflyer said:
For speed, yes. For distance, no. Sport mode is the least efficient way to fly.

Unless you have a headwind, then it can be the only way home . . more efficient than a very slow ground speed in normal mode.

Dragonfly · May 20, 2018

Riptyd64 said:
Thanks for your concern pal. I have plenty of flight time. I was asking for more detailed info about battery consumption between sport and regular mode. The flight round trip will be approx 15840ft. Round trip. I have several flights in excess of 26000 feet. My typical battery life is around 23 minutes with a max flight of 27 minutes. I know the drone will make the flight and back, just looking for input flying in a mode that I don't use often. The only reason I said dangerous is that if I have any problems, the entire flight is over open ocean and recovery would be impossible. I have had many shorter flights over water.

Forget the fact you are over water. The drone doesn't know its over water/trees/or desert, only in your own mind. Just make sure you start with a full battery, plan the flight and pick a day that you fly out into wind and come home with wind. Don't ignore any warnings and don't cancel RTH if battery gets down and drone initates RTH. Play on the safe side at all times and never take chances or risks and you won't end up being a causality.

Floater · May 20, 2018

Here is the data I collected. I had been playing with boundary layer trips on the blades and attempting to determine if the drag reduction of the camera bubble was detectable (neither made much difference). The 30 mph number looks about right. Note that the drop off is pretty steep. This might explain some of the land short experiences. I thought the speed vs. range and endurance was more useful than pitch angle as we do not have a screen readout of that metric.