How does the Air 3s handle wind compared to the Air 2?

[Kyle76]

These two drones are similar sizes. Can the Air 3s perform better in windy conditions?

 

[kenjancef]

According to DJI, the Air 2 takeoff weight is 570g (1.25lbs), with wind resistance of 18-24mph. The Air 3S takeoff weight is 720g (1.6lbs), with wind resistance of 27mph.

Even though the weight difference isn't much, I'd think the Air 3S would do way better in windy conditions than the Air 2. I've only had my 3S since March, and haven't had a chance to take it out on a windy day yet.

 

[Meta4]

These two drones are similar sizes. Can the Air 3s perform better in windy conditions?

The only thing that matters when dealing with wind is how fast can the drone fly in still air.
The faster the drone can push through the air, the better it can deal with wind.
Air 2 Max speed = 19 metres/sec
Air 3S Max speed = 21 metres/sec.

The Air 3S has an extra 4.5 mph over the Air 2

 

[a2tomm]

just my opinion ,I own both since the air 3s is newer technology even though the props are the same is better in windy conditions but both rock

 

[CraigVMN]

I would think the span between the props would come into play as well

 

[Phantomrain.org]

As someone who flys in severe Storms, chasing the lighting what matters most to ME is not how fast I can go in the wind but how safely I can get my drone up from the take off point. This is the Critical Moment

In heavy winds you really need to find a Breaking Wall this will help out immensely in the take off. Once in the Air your safe if you dont panic on both drones.

With that Said, the Air 3s has a Better Design overall over than the Air 2S and is the better drone in the Wind and overall.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your DJI drone in the Rain, Land on the Water.

 

[Octavio]

just my opinion ,I own both since the air 3s is newer technology even though the props are the same is better in windy conditions but both rock

Yes, that's true. Both have to compensate for the wind factor. It should be interesting to compare their performance side by side.

 

[Meta4]

Yes, that's true. Both have to compensate for the wind factor. It should be interesting to compare their performance side by side.

Their performance has been compared and the results are that the Air 2 can push through air at up to 19 metres/sec, and the Air 3S can do it at up to 21 metres/sec.
That's all anyone needs to know about their abilities to deal with wind.

Other factors like their weight, size, the newness of their technology, the pan between the props or what someone describes as "Better Design" is irrelevant.

 

[wco81]

Ran into wind on the last 3 days of my trip to Greece. First was on the island of Santorini. I didn't attempt to fly because I had to contact the airport and coordinate with them anyways. If the conditions were better, I would have jumped through hoops.

This morning, my last day before flying out tomorrow morning, I hiked up to the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounio.

It's a beautiful hill jutting out into the sea and there's a reconstructed Greek temple on top of it. I knew from forecasts that it would get windy today so the plan was to try to get there in the morning because the winds were forecasted to really pick up in the afternoon.

Ideally, I would have gone there more around 11:30 to 2 PM for the position of the sun but I made it maybe around 10 AM. Wind was strong and there's a little restaurant up there with the Greece flag and the wind was making the flag stand up horizontal already.

Flew around for about 4-5 minutes was okay for the most part but then switched to photo to shoot some panos and started having problems, warnings that it may fail to stitch due to the winds. I attempted about a dozen panos -- Free Form and a couple of 180s. About half of them it aborted and said the reason was wind, which caused the aircraft to move too much apparently.

I haven't checked the media yet. It will be awhile before I attempt to stitch what it did capture.

Also had a warning that RTH may not work because of the wind, though I landed twice and it was okay for the most part but even when I initiate RTH, it told me me to drop in altitude and manually RTH. Yet it was doing the automated RTH during which you can't change the altitude so once I canceled RTH and dropped to like 30 meters above Home.

So the Windy app said by noon the winds would be over 25 MPH at 364 feet above the area I was in. Weather Underground app said it was 22 MPH winds with 35 MPH gusts.

I seem to recall flying in 25 MPH and greater winds with the Mavic 2 Pro. But the app is different so I got warnings but DJI Fly is telling you to land the aircraft ASAP.

Maybe the almost 200 extra grams made a difference or maybe the older DJI Go 4 app just wasn't as conservative as DJI Fly app.

Again I haven't reviewed the media yet. Maybe if I did, it will become apparent that the gusts were strong enough that the aircraft couldn't maintain a stable attitude, which besides flight control would mean you wouldn't get smooth video or sharp photos/panos.

It's odd, just after I landed a couple of low flying planes whizzed by the top of the hill, probably to get as close a look of the Temple for the passengers.

So just as well I stopped.

 

[Meta4]

then switched to photo to shoot some panos and started having problems, warnings that it may fail to stitch due to the winds.

Although the automated process might cancel, if you were shooting panos manually, you'd have no problem stitching successfully as long as there are no foreground elements close to the camera.

Also had a warning that RTH may not work because of the wind, though I landed twice and it was okay for the most part but even when I initiate RTH, it told me me to drop in altitude and manually RTH. Yet it was doing the automated RTH during which you can't change the altitude so once I canceled RTH and dropped to like 30 meters above Home.

I seem to recall flying in 25 MPH and greater winds with the Mavic 2 Pro. But the app is different so I got warnings but DJI Fly is telling you to land the aircraft ASAP.

Here's the actual message you saw:

It shows when the drone detects winds of >7 m/s or 15.5 mph, which is not particularly strong and will even show if you are flying home with a strong tailwind.
The wording is confusing and many think it's warning that RTH won't work, but it's just a warning that the wind could be an issue and gives some hints on actions that can help if you have to battle a headwind.

Again I haven't reviewed the media yet. Maybe if I did, it will become apparent that the gusts were strong enough that the aircraft couldn't maintain a stable attitude, which besides flight control would mean you wouldn't get smooth video or sharp photos/panos.

The camera/gimbal would smooth things out and even in very strong wind, you can still get good results.

 

[kenjancef]

A few months ago, the second largest floating crane in the world docked in an area near me. The day before it left, I was able to go down to get some video of it. The winds were 25mph, gusting to 35-40mph. I wasn't able to come back another day, so I decided to try it. I got plenty of high wind warnings, but it handled WAY better than I thought it would.

Here is a link to the video:

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