How high have you been with your Mini 2?

[Laborous]

PhiliusFoggg, the string method is the best explanation I’ve heard for the 400ft limit to date. If you can’t understand that, you shouldn’t be fying!

 

[Merrill277]

I’m so jealous. The ma2 maxes out at 1,640 ft agl.

 

[Prop Wash]

PhiliusFoggg, the string method is the best explanation I’ve heard for the 400ft limit to date. If you can’t understand that, you shouldn’t be fying!

Have you directed your comment to the right person? @PhiliusFoggg (in post #7) is the one that mentioned using the string method.. I would say by that, he understands it just fine.

To the subject @ hand, I've flown mine to 300' AGL (450' MSL). I was going to go to 400' AGL, but the little guy was quite small @ 300' so I chose to not go any higher, for me it was a VLOS thing. Would I see it well enough @ 400'? Wasn't sure, so I didn't.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I’m so jealous. The ma2 maxes out at 1,640 ft agl.

So do all DJI drones that I know of.......unless their firmware has-been hacked...... But that ceiling is not the one under discussion.

 

[cgmaxed]

Well, I don't think "authorities" are worrying as this was completely legal and by the book. This park has no rules governing drones and I'm sharing that with those here. Do you think we should keep legal flying under wraps? I followed VLOS although it is a dot to me at 399' above me and it was not over people and winds were negligible so a safe and legal flight.
I was just wondering how high (legally) others have gone. To me, it's a matter of taking off from a higher-than-average location. Probably those out west have an easier time of it as they have real mountains out there and much higher than the paltry 3,800 - 6,000 "mountains we have here. Although our 6,000+ footer is Mount Washington and that is off-limits to drones.
I follow the rules if they say no drones, I don't fly, simple... Questions?

Why a 5-15 minute drone flight in a mountainous region or even in a 100 square mile nature preserve has been determined by our law makers to be detrimental to the environment is beyond logic. The idea that these drones will stress out birds or other fauna and cause reproductive issues is a joke. The only logical reason, but still a ridiculous one, would be a scenario where a drone crashes and it's battery is damaged severely enough to cause a fire. Environmentalists who believe a few tiny little drones will affect the local animal population, is ridiculous. The safest place to fly drones is probably in the confines of nature preserves. They make these laws against it, but provide weak arguments and no data to support their opinions. Does anyone here, have anything data or good arguments to support these rules? I think there are more arguments to support the flight of drones in nature preserves than their is against it.

 

[blubyyou]

I don't mean being impaired due to intoxicating substances... I know we all know better.

I took mine up to 4,255 feet and before the drone police jump me... that's 4,255 MSL. its only 399 AGL.
But over Mount Equinox in Vermont's southern "Mountains," I arrived at the top on a sunny day and nearly windless. The exact altitude is a guess since it depends on where the measure as the exact highest point. But it is close.
So what is the highest "legal" height have you flown to? I wanted to drive up the Mount Mansfield auto-road but they don't allow drones so I wrote that Mountain off. But Mount Equinox has no posted drone rules. at least as of now... Now that I drove up there, that may change.

View attachment 136644

I fly at or above ten thousand feet in the Rockies all the time. Battery drains faster, you fight more wind and the temp is ALWAYS lower than down on the flat land. Other than that, my A2 doesn't seem to mind.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Why a 5-15 minute drone flight in a mountainous region or even in a 100 square mile nature preserve has been determined by our law makers to be detrimental to the environment is beyond logic. The idea.............................

Perhaps you would be better served by sending that to the relevant authorities. Who knows, they might even be swayed by your knowledge.
I doubt that you can bring about their enlightenment by posting that here.

 

[PepperBird]

What is the point here? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. My concern is all it will take is a couple of high-altitude mishaps to ruin it for everyone. What did you accomplish? A picture that would have been pretty much the same at 400ft?

My approach to flying my drone has never been "how close can I come to breaking the rules, without actually breaking them?"

 

[cgmaxed]

Perhaps you would be better served by sending that to the relevant authorities. Who knows, they might even be swayed by your knowledge.
I doubt that you can bring about their enlightenment by posting that here.

Trying to persuade those who legislate with a single voice is impossible. My statements have no intension of changing things. I'm just interested in seeing what others opinions in this forum are regarding these seemingly illogical rules. Governments always say they are doing "this" for "that". When the "that" isn't isn't the truth. They just want the unquestioning masses to agree to their "that". Question everything.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

In that case would you not do better to start your own thread?
For the record I think protection for nature preserves is a good thing and I do think drones can harass wildlife, particularily when flown by idiots, so I guess we differ in that.
With regards to mountains etc. we agree providing wildlife would not be harassed nor, in the case of the USA, areas sacred to indigenous peoples, violated,

 

[Drbobk]

You are correct. I missed the double negative. Sped redding gets me again.

Sped riting got you, too!

 

[cgmaxed]

In that case would you not do better to start your own thread?
For the record I think protection for nature preserves is a good thing and I do think drones can harass wildlife, particularily when flown by idiots, so I guess we differ in that.
With regards to mountains etc. we agree providing wildlife would not be harassed nor, in the case of the USA, areas sacred to indigenous peoples, violated,

Believe me, as an adult, I have no interest in harassing or alarming wildlife in any way. If I noticed birds or other wildlife being stressed, I would pack my gear up. It's not worth stressing the local wildlife. Most places, if I fly in them at all, usually have no wildlife to speak of in my vicinity. I don't fly around looking for them either. I just take a few pics of the environment and land as quickly as possible.

 

[JMC3]

I don't mean being impaired due to intoxicating substances... I know we all know better.

I took mine up to 4,255 feet and before the drone police jump me... that's 4,255 MSL. its only 399 AGL.
But over Mount Equinox in Vermont's southern "Mountains," I arrived at the top on a sunny day and nearly windless. The exact altitude is a guess since it depends on where the measure as the exact highest point. But it is close.
So what is the highest "legal" height have you flown to? I wanted to drive up the Mount Mansfield auto-road but they don't allow drones so I wrote that Mountain off. But Mount Equinox has no posted drone rules. at least as of now... Now that I drove up there, that may change.

View attachment 136644

you need to keep in mind that winged aircraft fly at the altitude all the time its not just am I legal its more am I safe or causing a potential hazard. As a pilot i flew all over the country at 4-5000 feet and as low as 500 just hanging around enjoying the country. how well can you hear a manned glider. gliders dont often show up on apps i use flightradar24
and even some helicopters dont show up. I dont see the value of flying at 4000 feet. I fly in mountains away from controlled airspace I pretty much scrape tree tops and occasionally go maybe 100 feet above terrain. BUT that's just my opinion not meant to change anyone's habits or make fur fly

 

[Deleted member 103366]

you need to keep in mind that winged aircraft fly at the altitude all the time its not just am I legal its more am I safe or causing a potential hazard. As a pilot i flew all over the country at 4-5000 feet and as low as 500 just hanging around enjoying the country. how well can you hear a manned glider. gliders dont often show up on apps i use flightradar24
and even some helicopters dont show up. I dont see the value of flying at 4000 feet. I fly in mountains away from controlled airspace I pretty much scrape tree tops and occasionally go maybe 100 feet above terrain. BUT that's just

The OP is not talking about climbing to 4000ft above the ground, to quote your quote ".....mp me... that's 4,255 MSL. its only 399 AGL......." they are talking about taking off from something like 3856 ft above sea level etc. etc..

 

[cgmaxed]

I’m so jealous. The ma2 maxes out at 1,640 ft agl.

Are you joking? If you stay at 400ft AGL while flying up a mountainside, your not going to get very far. But 1640 ft is probably about the distance of most people's VLOS abilities. Though I have seen some people boast they can see their drones at 2000 ft. Note: Autel's drones can go about 2600ft AGL. With Drone Hacks, some of DJI's drones have no AGL limit.

 

[Storyline]

I for one am very pleased I found this thread and it has made me change my mind in a way. When I first flew a drone I can hardly remember much debate about the risks from flying high, in fact IIRC most threads either consisted of people discussing their personal altitude records or things like techniques for descending at the fastest speed without risking the dreaded vortex ring state.

I only went really high on two occasions as I'm a bit of a scaredy cat at heart but looking back now I realise I was very stupid.

I did not own a drone during the years when the debate about safety really took off when the realisation that drones were not just owned by the odd geek but might well become a mass market product really hit home. I hardly followed this debate at all but did realise that every part of the industry got a wake up call. The legislators felt they risked getting caught with their pants down and those making money from the sale or use of the aircraft also wanted legislative control in case some kind of major disaster happened which triggered a huge backlash.

In hindsight I regret not following this debate because I confess there has been a part of my mindset which is still stuck in the past. This debate about altitude flying and how there appears to be unquestioning support for the 400' rule has exposed some dodgy beliefs I had. I fully accept that it was crass stupidity for me to fly my old drone to a height that actually made me a bit scared. I hardly dare admit that the field I used now falls within one of the cautionary fly zones due to its proximity to our local airport. I'm not stupid enough to have not thought about this but I was arrogant enough to think it felt safe because the spot was never flown over by any aircraft either coming into land or taking off. I also admit to feeling sensible because I was keeping a close watch in the skies all round in case an aircraft appeared. I now realise I had no right to make decisions just because I thought it felt safe.

The thing is though that although I realise I was an idiot then, just a few weeks ago I was up in a really remote area off the west coast of Scotland and an area I have got to know quite well from several visits there each year for the past 30 years or so. There is one region in particular where I have never seen a single over flying aircraft at any altitude and because of this up to an hour or so ago I felt aggrieved that I had lost the right to be able to decide if it was safe for me to see if the Mini 2 could climb to anywhere near 1k feet. After reading the first couple of posts in this thread I was even thinking of wading in along the lines of that old chestnut 'a law is only a law when it is sensible enough to have the support of all'

I would have never flown my Mini 2 above 400' even though there might not have been another person within several miles and the only way I could have been caught is if I was stupid enough to post any damming imagery anywhere. I will still never fly to that height but now I realise that by paying a few hundred quid to Amazon I now have to act in the best interests of the wider drone owning community which just can't afford to have self opinionated mavericks going around doing what they think is right.

Also, fwiw, I think I do accept that there is a risk by flying at a thousand feet and above in that area. It doesn't come from overflying jets who for some reason or other have been told to alter their flightpath as they are far too high but light aircraft out on a jolly from a landing strip somewhere presumably have every right to fly more or less wherever they want and providing they keep above 400' also have every right not to encounter a rogue drone in their way. The area I keep referring too also sometimes sees air sea rescue activity and I concede they are a real risk I just had not thought of.

So thanks to all on this thread - I was missing some basic education which was a valuable word used by one of the contributors.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

This might get people thinking

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mach+loop+wales+

 

[Sheppie]

I don't think that it is safe to smoke weed before flying a drone.

 

[bmcelya]

Karlewski. What fun videos, and of places close to my heart. I lived at 8500’ in the NM Rockies for decades and it was the nicest place I’ve been. There was a queer little peak that shot up from all the others and the air force pilots from Holloman used to buzz the place testing their skill, along with max wing loading. Watching fighter jets pull massive g’s around it was thrilling and well, loud. They were finally warned off it, by higher ups I guess. Nowadays with drones about, those flights could be lethal to a jet.

Anyway, from the useful posts above I now understand better about AGL as it applies to a UAV. 400’. That’s it. No more. As I’m finding out, 400’ is pretty high and the good stuff is down below that, for me anyway. The 2x gimbal gets as close as I want to see. Thanks again for those enjoyable videos and keep the rotors spinning.

 

[Chris Rees]

I don't think that it is safe to smoke weed before flying a drone.

Really? I've been high as a kite.....boom boom