thanks, so as long there is ground 120m under the drone its ok to fly. Before I posted my questions and read your replies yesterday, I went to Mt. Tibrogargan (one of the Glasshouses). It's height is 364m and very steep (more than 120m straight down) on one side. I need to avoid flying over the edge on the steep side (although the youtube videos I've seen don't).
Now I have more questions.
1) I walked the 4km trail around the base of the mountain but the trail is through thick forest and there was no clearings to take off/land the drone. Back at the carpark I tried to take off but the app would not connect to the controller. I have never been to this location before, and I was using a phone with no internet connection. When I got home later there was no problem connecting. Does this mean you need internet to download the local map into your device's DJI app?
2) VLOS - my
m2P is the DJI dull grey colour, and very hard to see flying most of the time. How do other DJI pilots get around this problem?
This is getting a fair way from the intro thread theme (and someone elses intro thread at that), but will reply no worries.
If you have further questions, maybe start a new thread and copy / paste whatever from here to the new thread post.
I, and I'm sure others, would be most happy to help further.
I would post such a question in the Australia section, as it pretty much applies to only here.
Yes, 120m under the drone or less, you have to guess this as the only telemetry you will have shows height above the take off point.
In some countries, you can stay 120m from a vertical face, but CASA here don't have anything in writing I have seem about this.
Of course you could easily fly within a much more reasonable distance from a vertical face, even 30m if paying attention should be safe.
1/ The thick vegetation is going to have an effect on your flights from such locations, VLOS and signal.
You don't need internet connection to fly, but you can cache maps of an area if you really feel good having them.
They aren't needed either, you still get your HP and drone position, the line back to home on the map etc, and of course great telemetry of distance, altitude etc on both device screen and controller, gotta love the old Go4 and controllers
I've never had to (or bothered to) cache maps, but searching here and / or youtube, you'd find this easily if unsure.
2/ VLOS, many don't worry it too much, but it's pretty important to know your drones position etc and if anything like small aircraft or helis are coming into the airspace around you / your drone.
Yes, my M1P would be same colour, and some things can help.
Not so much benefit, but drone 'skins' or 'wraps' in a bright colour can assist with reasonable VLOS against background sky or terrain / trees etc.
Strobes are by far the best option, you'll find heaps of posts searching that word here on the forum.
I'm a fan of small, light strobes, velcro mount . . . good bang for buck like the FHT ARCII or Dual, have purchased quite a few over the years.
Hard to get, and $$$ here in Oz, I bought from FHT in the US, but had to get delivered to a niece in the US, she forwarded them on (once), another order I had my younger brother in SEQ, pick up some more from her when he visited.
Try searching for Firehouse Technology strobes here and on google, sometimes their or other Amazon store will ship, where FHT won't from their website.
If buying something right now, I think I'd try the Vifly . . .
https://www.amazon.com/VIFLY-Strobe-Collision-Phantom-Inspire/dp/B096VCKR97?th=1
Can get shipped to Oz, just found this one first, but some Oz stores (Amazon or other) might have them too.
On my M1P I just had one FHT ARCII mounted on the back, can easily see it at a decent 600m - 700m (depends on background etc), a simple rotate from any position, and using the map to look for it where it should be, fairly easy to pick up.
If concerned about seeing it on a return flight, fly it backwards back, but usually it's a moot point, I am usually not too far out (see below *).
* VLOS
Even though you can often see such a strobe out to say a km or so, VLOS is not really happening there in regards to drone rules.
An aircraft / heli entering close to your drone from the far direction could easily escape you attention before it was too late, or if you know an aircraft is about, you might not know where in relation to your drone, or how you need to fly the drone to avoid an aircraft . . . if just bringing down lower at a distance, you can easily lose signal, and find it entering RTH which can be even more problematic.
So think of a strobe not as something to allow you to fly the drone to the extreme distance possible, but to be able to find it in difficult circumstances of background etc, and be able to genuinely monitor it in relation to airspace regulations (drone to yield / avoid).
Maybe as a pre flight precaution, google joyflight glasshouse mountains, see if there are regular joylights by aircraft / helis to the area, I'd say quite likely, and just so you know what might be expected . . . those are the sorts of flights that will go down to the 150m (500') or so level, and often do break the general aviation rule and descend further sometimes.
The 30m (100') or so separation between aircraft and drone isn't a great deal.
I just googled that, and first hit by an aviation coy, says "Flying with
the Glass House Mountains just off the wingtip".
So VLOS is well worth being very cautious with flying around here, I imagine their popular times would also be sunrise / sunset just like we drone pilots.
Don't be put off flying here, just be aware of things a little more cautiously, enjoy and maybe post the video up in that section for us to see later.
