How much wind can a mavic handle?
- Thread starter Swaggy Evan
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maxfaxdude
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Numerous weather reports that day (3/5/17) and my own portable anemometer readings. Furnace Creek, where I was staying, recorded 35+ mph winds with gusts up to 45+ mph.
First, I went to Ubehebe Crater where the surface winds were gusting to up to 41 mph from the SE. Took the Mavic up and it was very stable. Drove down to Badwater and that's when the fun really began. It was not too windy at the parking lot, 15 to 26 mph; however 3 parked cars had just had their windows shattered from flying rocks and/or debris. I took off from the parking lot and flew out onto the salt flats to just under 400 feet AGL. Big mistake -- despite full throttle in sport mode with me heading due south, the Mavic couldn't hold it's position and was drifting northward with the wind at about 18 to 21 mph. I momentarily panicked, but then descended to 10 to 15 ft AGL and flew in a NE direction, still away from me but somewhat with the wind which allowed me to fly up to Badwater Road. I believe that the large Bajada just south of the Badwater parking lot provided enough shelter from the wind that I was able to fly back to the parking lot with 19% of battery left. That was enough flying for me that day. I walked 1.1 miles west the from parking lot onto the salt flat. Initially, the wind wasn't too strong, but as I got further out, it became absurd. I took a reading of 59 mph heading north. As I walked backed to the parking lot, I saw 2 people on the salt flats fall over in the wind. I've been to Death Valley many many times, but never have I seen it so windy.
Well it sure did well to handle those conditions. You were pretty much along for the ride though. 26 mph at your take off point is very different proposition to the 59 mph you recorded after the flight at the nearby location. Good thing you wised up and did not send it up again into that. Outcome might not have been pretty.
Unfortunately we cannot put your flight log into health drones to see what it thinks the wind was up there, because it only calculates it in P mode. Would have been interesting to see. The algorithm cannot crank out a derived wind in S mode.
Unfortunately we cannot put your flight log into health drones to see what it thinks the wind was up there, because it only calculates it in P mode. Would have been interesting to see. The algorithm cannot crank out a derived wind in S mode.
maxfaxdude
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When I get the chance, I'll post video. It may be several days as I'm upgrading to a new computer from my 6 year old computer which is completely full of Mavic video footage!
Boblelezard
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I experienced the exact same thing yesterday here in France over 60kph gusts. Lucky I had over 53% battery left and "Sport Mode".
rydfree
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Look at the last few seconds of this video where you get a view of my Mavic from the Inspire 2 . At 167' you really could not tell with the naked eye that the Mavic was correcting that much as it stayed pretty much in the same spot . You definitely could not tell from the FPV view onscreen as the video was rock solid . Just from putting a race quad up in atti mode and watching it drift we estimated the wind at 20 MPH sustained .
Maybe the Mavic was just frightened of the Inspire ??
Anyway the point is ,even if it seems to handle it well it sure has to expend a lot of energy to do so .
Maybe the Mavic was just frightened of the Inspire ??
Anyway the point is ,even if it seems to handle it well it sure has to expend a lot of energy to do so .
TerryJ
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Did you fly straight forward in the tail wind? I found the Mavic is the fastest when you go diagonally in a tail wind. First full speed forward then you go diagonally while yawing to make sure you stay in the tail wind. I hit 83.5km/h in DJI GO4 a few days ago. It does try to throttle back quite quickly but it doesn't seem to be as good at it when flying diagonally.
swoodhall
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I receive the 'high wind velocity' waning on every single flight, even on very calm days. I'm rather tired of it now, It knocks my confidence when flying the Mavic.. I am also getting camera vibrations on every flight when flying smoothly. I feel like going back to the Phantom,
Roo
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Officially DJI say the "maximum wind resistance" is 29 - 38 kph (approx. 18 - 24 mph), though no doubt this is conservative and results would differ in the field. It handles very well in wind. I personally haven't knowingly flown in winds above about 25 kph, but I am a wuss. Now to watch noka's video!
Over the weekend i was flying in about 15 mph winds. Going against the wind my Mavic could only go about 5 mph
I flew my MP in a 30 mph westerly wind that was folding back roof shingles in the adjacent subdivision. A Delta Airlines pilot was out walking his dog stopped by and remarked how stable the craft was in that high wind. To had to return to home at about 15' altitude, though.
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